1. Bullet: The Functional
PHP Micro-Framework
Vance Lucas • Co-Founder, Brightbit
http://bulletphp.com

2. Who are You?
• Vance Lucas
• http://vancelucas.com
• @vlucas (for heckling)
• PHP since 1999 (PHP3)
• Brightbit
• http://brightbit.com
• Design, Development & Consulting for
web apps, mobile apps and APIs

3. History & Philosophy
(Don't worry, it won't be as boring as school was)

4. MVC Frameworks
• I’ve created LOTS of MVC frameworks.
• They all sucked.
• Except maybe one.
• Alloy Framework
• Released Feb. 2011
• But it’s dead to me now…

5. “The same thing, only
different”

6. “Lightweight”
“Flexible”
“Fast”
“Simple”
“Modular”
“Artisan”

7. “The fool hath said in
his heart, There is no
better architectural
pattern than MVC”
* may not be exact quote

8. “I don't like MVC because that's
not how the web works.
Symfony2 is an HTTP framework;
it is a Request/Response
framework. That's the big deal.”
Fabien Potencier
http://fabien.potencier.org/article/49/what-is-symfony2
October 25, 2011

9. Philosophy
• Do more with less (code)
• Low cognitive overhead/complexity
• Embrace HTTP
• Leverage raw PHP without introducing too
many “framework concepts”
• Only PHP knowledge should be enough
• Shouldn’t have to “fight the framework”
• “Micro” != No Structure

10. “SharedEventManager”
“PluginBroker”
“RouteStack”
“TemplateMapResolver”
“AggregateResolver”
“DefaultListenerAggregate”
“RouteNotFoundStrategy”
“TemplatePathStack”

12. What is Bullet?
Well, it’s a Micro-framework for starters…

13. Main Concepts
• Micro-framework
•
URL Routing, Request, Response, Templates
• Built around HTTP and defined URIs
• Parses one URI segment at a time
• Declarative, functional-style nested routing
• Leverages closures for structure and scope
• Less repetitive code, cleaner routes

14. Guiding Rules
• Only one path segment at a time, and only
Closures can be used
• Response must be explicitly returned
• Path must be fully consumed (or error)
• Handlers for different behavior:
• Path, Param, Method, Format
• Method and format handlers only run
when path has been fully consumed

15. Show me some code!
!
GET /posts/42

16. // Bullet index file!
define('BULLET_ROOT', dirname(__DIR__));!
define('BULLET_APP_ROOT', BULLET_ROOT . '/app/');!
define('BULLET_SRC_ROOT', BULLET_APP_ROOT . '/src/');!
!
// Composer Autoloader!
$loader = require BULLET_ROOT . '/vendor/autoload.php';!
!
// Bullet App!
$app = new BulletApp(require BULLET_APP_ROOT . 'config.php');!
$request = new BulletRequest();!
!
// Common include!
require BULLET_APP_ROOT . '/common.php';!
!
// Require all paths/routes!
$routesDir = BULLET_APP_ROOT . '/routes/';!
require $routesDir . 'index.php';!
require $routesDir . 'posts.php';!
require $routesDir . 'events.php';!
require $routesDir . 'users.php';!
!
// Response!
echo $app->run($request);

17. Bullet Routing
$app->path('posts', function($req) {!
// Param!
$this->param('int', function($req, $id) {!
$post = Post::find($id);!
check_user_acl_for($post);!
!
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});!
});
// Method!
$this->get(function($req) use($post) {!
// Format!
! ! $this->format('json', function() use($post) {!
! ! ! ! return $post->toArray();!
! ! });!
! ! $this->format('html', function() use($post) {!
! ! ! ! return $this->template('html', …);!
! ! });!
});!

18. Quick Code
Comparison

19. Typical Micro-Framework
$app->get('/posts/:id', function($id) use($app) {!
$post = Post::find($id);!
check_user_acl_for($post);!
!
if(is_json()) {!
header("Content-Type: application/json");!
echo json_encode($result);!
exit;!
}!
!
$app->render('posts/view', compact('post'));!
});!

20. Typical MVC Controller
class BlogController extends BaseController {!
public function getView($slug)!
{!
// Get this blog post data!
$post = $this->post->where('slug', '=', $slug)->first();!
!
!
// Check if the blog post exists!
if (is_null($post)) {!
return App::abort(404);!
}!
// Show the page!
return View::make('site/blog/view_post', compact('post', 'comments',
'canComment'));!
}!
}

21. Bullet Closure Context
$app->path('posts', function($req) {!
$this->param('int', function($req, $id) {!
$post = Post::find($id);!
check_user_acl_for($post);!
!
// View (GET)!
$this->get(function($req) use($post) {!
// ...!
});!
!
// Delete!
$this->delete(function($req) use($post) {!
$post->delete();!
// ...!
});!
});!
});

22. Bullet Route Handlers

23. Path Handlers
$app->resource('posts', function($request) {!
// ...!
});!
!
$app->path('posts', function($request) {!
// ...!
});!
!
$app->path(['posts', 'articles'], function($req) {!
// ...!
});

24. Path Handlers
• Return 404 File Not Found if request path
not found
• Can be nested as deep as you want
• /admin/articles/3/comments

25. Param Handlers
$app->param('int', function($request, $id) {!
// ...!
});!
!
$app->param('slug', function($request, $slug) {!
// ...!
});!
!
// CUSTOM alphanumeric handler (returns boolean)!
$app->registerParamType('alphanum',function($value) {!
return ctype_alnum($value);!
});!
$app->param('alphanum', function($request, $alnum) {!
// ...!
});

26. Param Handlers
• Test function
• true or scalar value executes route
• false skips route
• Value passed in as extra parameter to
handler closure

27. Method Handlers
$app->resource('articles', function($request) {!
$this->get(function($request) {!
// ...!
});!
!
$this->post(function($request) {!
// ...!
});!
!
$this->delete(function($request) {!
// ...!
});!
});

28. Method Handlers
• Return 405 Method Not Allowed if
request method not found

29. Format Handlers
$app->resource('articles', function($request) {!
$this->get(function($request) {!
$this->format(‘json', function($request) {!
// ...!
});!
$this->format(‘html', function($request) {!
// ...!
});!
});!
});

30. Format Handlers
• Return 406 Not Acceptable if request
format not found

31. Other Handlers
$app->domain(‘vancelucas.com', function($request) {!
// ...!
});!
!
$app->subdomain(‘api', function($request) {!
// ...!
});

32. Return Types
• String (“hello world”)
• Integer (201 - Sends HTTP status code)
• Boolean False (404 error)
• Array (auto json_encode + headers)
• BulletResponse instance
• Custom obj. (w/custom response handler)

33. Building the URL you
want should be easy

34. $app->path('admin', function($req) use($app) {!
some_acl_check__that_throws_exception_if_not();!
!
require 'posts.php'; // For /admin/posts ...!
require 'events.php'; // For /admin/events ...!
require 'comments.php'; // For /admin/comments ...!
});

35. …And Links Too
// RELATIVE url!
// /posts/25/comments/57,!
// /events/9/comments/57,!
// /comments/57!
echo $app->url('./comments/' . $comment->id);!
!
// ROOT url (always /comments/57)!
echo $app->url('/comments/' . $comment->id);!

36. Recommended Setup
http://bulletphp.com/docs/organization/

37. Events
• Global: ‘before’, and ‘after’
• Dynamic
• [http_status_code] - 404, 500, etc.
• [response_format] - json, html, etc.
• [exception_class] - exception class name
like “InvalidArgumentException” or just
“Exception” to catch all exceptions

38. HTTP Error Handling
$app->on(404, function($req, $res){!
$response->content($app->template('errors/404'));!
});!

39. Exception Handling
$app->on('Exception', function($req, $res, Exception $e) {!
if($req->format() === 'json') {!
$data = array(!
'exception' => get_class($e),!
'message' => $e->getMessage()!
);!
if(BULLET_ENV !== 'production') {!
$data['file'] = $e->getFile();!
$data['line'] = $e->getLine();!
$data['trace'] = $e->getTrace();!
}!
!
} else {!
$data = $app->template('errors/exception', ['e' => $e]);!
}!
$res->content($data);!
});!

40. Nested Sub Requests
$app = new BulletApp();!
$app->path('foo', function($request) {!
return "foo";!
});!
$app->path('bar', function($request) {!
$res = $this->run('GET', '/foo'); // `BulletResponse`!
return $res->content() . 'bar';!
});!
echo $app->run('GET', 'bar'); // output => 'foobar'!

41. Getting Started
http://bulletphp.com
!
https://github.com/vlucas/bulletphp
!
Skeleton App (basic setup / starting point)
https://github.com/vlucas/bulletphp-skeleton
!
Obligatory blog example
https://github.com/vlucas/bulletphp-blog-example

42. MVC Framework
Anti-Patterns
Some more controversial than others

43. “REST Controller”
vs
“Base Controller”

44. Can’t use basic PHP
knowledge to change
the flow of your
application

45. !
$this->forward('someOtherAction' . $params);!

46. $this->beforeFilter('auth', array(!
'except' => 'getLogin'!
));!

47. /:controller/:action/:id

48. $response->setStatusCode(Response::HTTP_NOT_FOUND);!
!
class Response {!
// ...!
const HTTP_CONTINUE = 100;!
const HTTP_SWITCHING_PROTOCOLS = 101;!
const HTTP_PROCESSING = 102;!
const HTTP_OK = 200;!
const HTTP_CREATED = 201;!
const HTTP_ACCEPTED = 202;!
const HTTP_NON_AUTHORITATIVE_INFORMATION = 203;!
const HTTP_NO_CONTENT = 204;!
// ...!
}!
HttpFoundation Component Docs
Symfony/Component/HttpFoundation/Response.php

49. class Response {!
// ...!
const STATUS_CODE_CUSTOM = 0;!
const STATUS_CODE_100 = 100;!
const STATUS_CODE_101 = 101;!
const STATUS_CODE_102 = 102;!
const STATUS_CODE_200 = 200;!
const STATUS_CODE_201 = 201;!
const STATUS_CODE_202 = 202;!
const STATUS_CODE_203 = 203;!
const STATUS_CODE_204 = 204;!
// ...!
}!
Zend Framework 2 - Zend/Http/Response.php

50. Classes for Controllers

51. Questions?
@vlucas | vance@vancelucas.com
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