README

A lightweight and expressive PHP framework built for clarity, structure, and extensibility. Ideal for small to mid-sized web applications.

Features

Built-in functionalities

• Dependency Injection Container (PHP-DI)
• Routing (FastRoute)
• Middleware support
• Templating with Twig
• Flash messages
• Database support via MeekroDB
• SMTP mailer (Nette Mail)
• Console commands (Symfony Console)
• Caching (Symfony Cache)
• Logging (donchev/simple-logger)
• Data validation and sanitization

Includes Bootstrap 5 and Bootstrap Icons for UI development.

Requirements

• PHP 8.2 or higher

Installation

You can install the framework using Composer.

composer create-project donchev/framework myapp

Configuration

All application configuration is located in config/settings.yaml. Example:

app:
  env: dev
  name: Tiny Framework
  base_url: https://framework.test
  use_sessions: true
  log_file: '%var_dir%/log/framework.log'

api:
  username:
  password:

middleware:
  dir: '%base_dir%/src/Middleware'
  namespace: Donchev\Framework\Middleware

db:
  host: 
  name: 
  username: 
  password: 
  port: 3306
  charset: utf8mb4

mail:
  host: smtp.mailtrap.io
  username: 
  password: 
  secure: null
  port: 2525
  from_name: 'Tiny Framework Mailer'
  from_email: 

Override values via settings.local.yaml.

Usage

Routing

Define routes in config/routes.php:

return static function (RouteCollector $router) {
    $router->get('/', [HomeController::class, 'index']);
    $router->post('/submit', [ContactController::class, 'submit']);
    $router->get('/blog/{slug}', [BlogController::class, 'show']);
};

Controllers

Controllers extend AbstractController:

class HomeController extends AbstractController
{
    public function index(): void
    {
        $this->renderTemplate('home/index.html.twig', [
            'title' => 'Welcome!'
        ]);
    }
}

Sending Emails

use Nette\Mail\Message;

$message = new Message();
$message->setFrom('you@site.com')
        ->addTo('user@example.com')
        ->setSubject('Hello')
        ->setBody('This is a test email.');

$mailer = $container->get(Mailer::class);
$mailer->send($message);

Database (MeekroDB)

/** @var MeekroDB $db */
$db = $container->get(MeekroDB::class);

$users = $db->query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE active = %i", 1);

Using Cache

use Symfony\Contracts\Cache\CacheInterface;

$cache = $container->get(CacheInterface::class);

$data = $cache->get('some_key', function () {
    return 'cached value';
});

Flash Messages

Set flash messages in controller:

$flash = new FlashService();
$flash->add('success', 'Saved successfully!');

Render them in Twig:

{% include '_flash.html.twig' with {'flashes': flashes} %}

Middleware

Implement MiddlewareInterface and drop your class into src/Middleware. It will be auto-loaded.

class RequestLoggerMiddleware implements MiddlewareInterface
{
    public function process(ServerRequestInterface $request, RequestHandlerInterface $handler): ResponseInterface
    {
        // logging logic...
        return $handler->handle($request);
    }
}

Twig Template Globals

Twig templates automatically have access to:

• http_get, http_post, http_cookie, http_session
• settings
• get_flash() function

Data Validator & Sanitizer

Validator:

$validator = new DataValidator();

$data = [
    'name' => 'John Doe',
    'age' => 32
];

$rules = [
    'name' => 'string',
    'age' => 'min:30'
];

$result = $validator->validate($data, $rules);

// Output:
[
  'age' => [
    '"age" must have at least 30 characters'
  ]
]

Validator & Flash Messages:

class AuthController
{
    public function login(Post $post, DataValidator $validator, FlashService $flashService): void
    {
        $data = [
            'email' => $post->get('email'),
            'password' => $post->get('password'),
        ];

        $rules = [
            'email' => 'required|email',
            'password' => 'required|secure',
        ];

        $errors = $validator->validate($data, $rules);

        if (!empty($errors)) {
            $flashService->addError($errors);
            // return or redirect with errors
        }

        //...
    }
}

Sanitizer:

$sanitizer = new DataSanitizer();

$data = ['asd123', '1.5ds'];
$sanitized = $sanitizer->sanitize($data, 'float');

// Output: [123.0, 1.5]

Console Commands

Define commands in bin/console. Example:

class HelloCommand extends Command
{
    protected string $signature = 'hello';
    protected string $description = 'Says hello';

    public function handle(): void
    {
        $this->info('Hello from the Tiny Framework!');
    }
}

Run them:

php bin/console hello

Code Style

This project uses php-cs-fixer. You can format your code using:

composer cs-fix

Check for issues without modifying files:

composer cs-check

Testing

The framework includes PHPUnit 12+ test coverage out of the box.

Run tests:

vendor/bin/phpunit

All test files are located in the tests/ folder and follow PSR-4 autoloading with the Tests\ namespace.

Development Mode

Set app.env: dev to enable detailed error pages (via Whoops) and debugging tools.

Production

Set app.env: prod to enable compiled container and cache.

License

This project is open-source and licensed under the MIT License.

Author

Developed by Donchev. Contributions are welcome.