CodeIgniter 3 Bootstrap

Note: This project is still in progress, but welcome for any issues encountered

A starter template that supports multi-tenant (Frontend / Admin Panel / API) website in a single application.

This repository is developed upon the following tools:

• CodeIgniter (v3.0.3) - PHP framework
• CodeIgniter HMVC Extensions - modular structure by wiredesignz
• codeigniter-base-model - more advanced CRUD functions for models by jamierumbelow
• Ion Auth - authentication library for CodeIgniter by Ben Edmunds
• Bootstrap (v3.3.5) - popular frontend framework
• Grocery CRUD (v1.5.2) - feature-rich library to build CRUD tables
• Image CRUD (v0.6) - CRUD library for image management
• AdminLTE (v2.3.2) - bootstrap theme for Admin Panel

Features

This repository contains setup for rapid development:

• Multi-tenant (e.g. Frontend Website, Admin Panel, API) website in single application
• Modular design by CodeIgniter HMVC extension
• Custom config files (sites.php, locale.php) for easy configuration of website behavior
• Admin Panel with AdminLTE v2 theme, and Grocery CRUD integration
• Admin Panel includes usage of Sortable library
• API Site to handle RESTful endpoints, with shortcut functions to grab parameters and display results
• User authentication for Frontend Website (Sign Up, Login, Forgot Password, etc.)
• User authentication for Admin Panel (Login, Change Password, etc.)
• Preset layouts and templates
• Preset asset pipeline (e.g. minify scripts, image optimization) via Gulp (reference from gulp-starter 2.0 branch)
• Preset data structure for Blogging (with pagination) and Cover Photos (carousel), which can be managed from Admin Panel
• Form Builder library to help with form rendering with Bootstrap theme, form validation, etc.
• Breadcrumb and Pagination handling fit with Bootstrap theme
• Custom 404 pages for Frontend Website and Admin Panel
• Multilingual support
• Email config setup
• Functions to be called from CLI (e.g. daily cron job, database backup)
• ... more coming!

Server Environment

Below configuration are preferred; other environments are not well-tested, but still feel free to report and issues.

• PHP 5.5+
• Apache 2.2+ with rewrite mod enabled
• MySQL 5.5+

Folder Structure

Explanation on the folder structure which supports HMVC (only showing the highlighted folders and files).

application/                    --- Main CodeIgniter source files
    config/
        production/             --- Configuration when ENVIRONMENT is set as "production"
        autoload.php            --- By default, some files are loaded for this repo
        database.php            --- Need to verify to ensure connection with MySQL database
        email.php               --- Created to centralize email configuration (preset: using Mandrill service)
        form_validation.php     --- Created to centralize validation forms for all forms, include ReCAPTCHA settings
        routes.php              --- Changed default controller from Welcome to Home
        site.php                --- Core configuration file for Frontend Website; same format also applied to Admin module
    controllers/                --- Controllers for Frontend Website; extends from MY_Controller (except Cli)
        Cli.php                 --- Utility function that can only be called from command line
        Home.php                --- Default controller for Frontend Website        
        Language.php            --- Controller to handle language switching
    core/                       --- Extending CodeIgniter core classes; can also be used within modules
        MY_Controller.php       --- Important class which contains shared logic of all controllers
        MY_Form_validation.php  --- Contains additional rule for validation
        MY_Loader.php           --- Required for HMVC extension
        MY_Model.php            --- Contains shared function for model classes
        MY_Router.php           --- Required for HMVC extension
    helpers/                    --- Contains custom helper functions being used throughout this repo
    language/                   --- Preset language files
    libraries/                  --- Custom libraries (e.g. Ion Auth, Form Builder, System Message)
    models/                     --- Sample model extending from MY_Model
    modules/                    --- Each module can be accessed by http://{base_url}/{module_name}/{module_controller}/, etc.
        admin/                  --- Module for Admin Panel
            config/             --- Configuration for Admin Panel (overriding application/config/)
            controllers/        --- Controllers for Admin Panel; also extends from MY_Controller
            helpers/            --- Helper classes, e.g. to generate AdminLTE widgets
            libraries/          --- Libraries from Grocery CRUD and Image CRUB
            models/             --- Models only being used in Admin panel
            views/              --- Views for Admin Panel; can reuse Frontend views, or override by using same path/filename
        api/                    --- Another module specific for API endpoints
    third_party/
        MX/                     --- Required for HMVC extension
    views/                      --- Views for Frontend Website, can also be used by modules unless overrided
assets/
    css/                        --- Custom CSS files append to each site
    dist/                       --- Minified scripts, stylesheets and optimized images via Gulp tasks
    fonts/                      --- Font files copied via Gulp tasks
    grocery_crud/               --- Asset files from Grocery CRUD library
    image_crud/                 --- Asset files from Image CRUD library
    images/                     --- Source image files before optimization
    js/                         --- Custom CSS files append to each site
    uploads/                    --- Default directory of upload files, where permission should set as writable
gulpfile.js/                    --- Task runner following gulp-starter 2.0 practice
screenshots/                    --- Screenshot images for preview
sql/                            --- MySQL files
    backup/                     --- Files which will be created when backup database from CLI
    core/                       --- Files contains core data (e.g. Ion Auth)
    demo/                       --- Files contains demo data
    latest.sql                  --- Latest version of all preset data
system/                         --- CodeIgniter core files (unchanged as clean CI3 installation)
.htaccess                       --- URL rewrite for Apache web server (require mod enabled)

Setup Guide

To be completed

Screenshots

Frontend - Home:

Admin Panel - Home:

More screenshots can be viewed from the screenshots folder under this repository.

TODO

• Changelog file
• Better documentation (e.g. on Gitbook)
• Enhance Form Builder library to support more field types
• Widget helper to include reusable views (e.g. for Admin Panel components)
• Example of using Image CRUD
• API authentication (by API key or JSON Web Token, i.e. JWT)
• More helpers to enhance code reusability