Neuron-PHP MVC

A lightweight MVC (Model-View-Controller) framework component for PHP 8.4+ that provides core MVC functionality including controllers, views, routing integration, request handling, and a powerful view caching system.

Installation

Requirements

PHP 8.4 or higher
Composer

Install via Composer

Install php composer from https://getcomposer.org/

Install the neuron MVC component:

composer require neuron-php/mvc

Quick Start

1. Create the Front Controller

Create a public/index.php file:

<?php require_once '../vendor/autoload.php'; // Bootstrap the application $app = boot('../config'); // Dispatch the current request dispatch($app);

2. Configure Apache (.htaccess)

Create a public/.htaccess file to route all requests through the front controller:

IndexIgnore * Options +FollowSymlinks RewriteEngine on # Redirect all requests to index.php # except for actual files and directories RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?route=$1 [L,QSA]

For Nginx

If using Nginx, add this to your server configuration:

location / { try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?route=$uri&$args; }

3. Minimal Configuration

Create a config/neuron.yaml file:

system: base_path: . routes_path: config views: path: resources/views

Create a config/routes.yaml file:

routes: home: route: / method: GET controller: App\Controllers\HomeController@index

Core Components

Application

The main application class (Neuron\Mvc\Application) handles:

Route configuration loading from YAML files
Request routing and controller execution
Event dispatching for HTTP errors
Output capture for testing
Cache management

Controllers

Controllers handle incoming requests and return responses. All controllers should extend Neuron\Mvc\Controllers\Base and implement the IController interface.

namespace App\Controllers; use Neuron\Mvc\Controllers\Base; use Neuron\Mvc\Responses\HttpResponseStatus; class HomeController extends Base { public function index(): string { return $this->renderHtml( HttpResponseStatus::OK, ['title' => 'Welcome'], 'index', // view file 'default' // layout file ); } }

Available render methods:

renderHtml() - Render HTML views with layouts
renderJson() - Return JSON responses
renderXml() - Return XML responses
renderMarkdown() - Render Markdown content with CommonMark

Views

Views support multiple formats and are stored in the configured views directory:

HTML Views

// resources/views/home/index.php <h1><?php echo $title; ?></h1>

Layouts

// resources/views/layouts/default.php <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title><?php echo $title ?? 'My App'; ?></title> </head> <body> <?php echo $Content; ?> </body> </html>

Routing

Routes are defined in YAML files and support various HTTP methods:

routes: user_profile: route: /user/{id} method: GET controller: App\Controllers\UserController@profile request: user_profile # optional request validation api_users: route: /api/users method: POST controller: App\Controllers\Api\UserController@create

Request Handling

Create request DTO definitions for validation. You can define DTOs inline or reference external DTO files:

Inline DTO Definition:

# config/requests/user_profile.yaml request: method: GET properties: id: type: integer required: true range: min: 1

Referenced DTO:

# config/requests/user_create.yaml request: method: POST dto: user # References config/Dtos/user.yaml or src/Dtos/user.yaml

# config/Dtos/user.yaml (or src/Dtos/user.yaml) dto: username: type: string required: true length: min: 3 max: 20 email: type: email required: true

Access validated data in controllers:

public function profile(Request $request): string { $dto = $request->getDto(); $userId = $dto->id; // ... }

URL Helpers

The framework provides Rails-style URL helpers for generating URLs from named routes. This makes it easy to generate consistent URLs throughout your application.

Route Naming

Routes are automatically named based on their configuration key in the YAML file:

routes: user_profile: # This becomes the route name route: /users/{id} method: GET controller: App\Controllers\UserController@profile admin_user_posts: route: /admin/users/{user_id}/posts/{post_id} method: GET controller: App\Controllers\AdminController@userPosts

Using URL Helpers in Controllers

Controllers can use URL helpers directly via magic methods:

class UserController extends Base { public function show($id): string { $user = User::find($id); // Magic methods for URL generation $editUrl = $this->userEditPath(['id' => $id]); $absoluteUrl = $this->userProfileUrl(['id' => $id]); // Use in redirects if (!$user) { return redirect($this->userIndexPath()); } return $this->renderHtml(HttpResponseStatus::OK, [ 'user' => $user, 'edit_url' => $editUrl ]); } public function create(): string { // After creating user, redirect using magic method $user = new User($request->all()); $user->save(); return redirect($this->userProfilePath(['id' => $user->id])); } }

Direct URL Helper Methods

Controllers also provide direct helper methods:

// Generate relative URLs $profileUrl = $this->urlFor('user_profile', ['id' => 123]); // Generate absolute URLs  $absoluteUrl = $this->urlForAbsolute('user_profile', ['id' => 123]); // Check if route exists if ($this->routeExists('user_profile')) { // Route is available } // Get UrlHelper instance for advanced usage $urlHelper = $this->urlHelper();

Using URL Helpers in Views

URL helpers are automatically available in all views through the injected $urlHelper variable:

<!-- resources/views/user/profile.php --> <div class="user-profile">  <h1><?= $user->name ?></h1>    <!-- Magic methods in views -->  <a href="<?= $urlHelper->userEditPath(['id' => $user->id]) ?>" class="btn">Edit</a> <a href="<?= $urlHelper->userPostsPath(['user_id' => $user->id]) ?>" class="btn">View Posts</a> <!-- Complex routes work too --> <a href="<?= $urlHelper->adminUserReportsPath(['id' => $user->id, 'year' => date('Y')]) ?>"> Admin Reports </a> <!-- Direct method calls --> <a href="<?= $urlHelper->routePath('user_profile', ['id' => $user->id]) ?>">Profile</a> <a href="<?= $urlHelper->routeUrl('user_profile', ['id' => $user->id]) ?>">Share Link</a> </div>

Magic Method Conventions

The magic methods follow Rails naming conventions:

Route Name in YAML	Magic Method (Relative)	Magic Method (Absolute)	Generated URL
`user_profile`	`userProfilePath()`	`userProfileUrl()`	`/users/123`
`user_edit`	`userEditPath()`	`userEditUrl()`	`/users/123/edit`
`admin_user_posts`	`adminUserPostsPath()`	`adminUserPostsUrl()`	`/admin/users/1/posts/2`
`blog_category`	`blogCategoryPath()`	`blogCategoryUrl()`	`/blog/category/tech`

URL Helper Methods

Method	Description	Example
`routePath($name, $params)`	Generate relative URL	`$urlHelper->routePath('user_profile', ['id' => 123])`
`routeUrl($name, $params)`	Generate absolute URL	`$urlHelper->routeUrl('user_profile', ['id' => 123])`
`routeExists($name)`	Check if route exists	`$urlHelper->routeExists('user_profile')`
`getAvailableRoutes()`	List all named routes	`$urlHelper->getAvailableRoutes()`
`{routeName}Path($params)`	Magic method for relative URL	`$urlHelper->userProfilePath(['id' => 123])`
`{routeName}Url($params)`	Magic method for absolute URL	`$urlHelper->userProfileUrl(['id' => 123])`

Error Handling

URL helpers gracefully handle missing routes:

// Returns null if route doesn't exist $url = $urlHelper->nonExistentRoutePath(['id' => 123]); if ($url === null) { // Handle missing route $url = $urlHelper->userIndexPath(); // fallback }

Advanced Usage

// Get all available routes for debugging $routes = $urlHelper->getAvailableRoutes(); foreach ($routes as $route) { echo "Route: {$route['name']} -> {$route['method']} {$route['path']}\n"; } // Custom UrlHelper instance $customHelper = new UrlHelper($customRouter);

Configuration

All YAML config file parameters can be overridden by environment variables in the form of <CATEGORY>_<KEY>, e.g. SYSTEM_BASE_PATH.

Main Configuration (neuron.yaml)

# System settings system: timezone: US/Eastern base_path: . routes_path: config # View settings views: path: resources/views # Logging logging: destination: \Neuron\Log\Destination\File format: \Neuron\Log\Format\PlainText file: app.log level: debug # Cache configuration cache: enabled: true storage: file path: cache/views ttl: 3600 # Default TTL in seconds html: true # Enable HTML view caching markdown: true # Enable Markdown view caching json: false # Disable JSON response caching xml: false # Disable XML response caching # Garbage collection settings (optional) gc_probability: 0.01 # 1% chance to run GC on cache write gc_divisor: 100 # Fine-tune probability calculation

Cache Configuration Options

Option	Description	Default
`enabled`	Enable/disable caching globally	`true`
`storage`	Storage type (currently only 'file')	`file`
`path`	Directory for cache files	`cache/views`
`ttl`	Default time-to-live in seconds	`3600`
`views.*`	Enable caching per view type	varies
`gc_probability`	Probability of running garbage collection	`0.01`
`gc_divisor`	Divisor for probability calculation	`100`

Usage Examples

Creating a Controller

namespace App\Controllers; use Neuron\Mvc\Controllers\Base; use Neuron\Mvc\Requests\Request; use Neuron\Mvc\Responses\HttpResponseStatus; class ProductController extends Base { public function list(): string { $products = $this->getProducts(); return $this->renderHtml( HttpResponseStatus::OK, ['products' => $products], 'list', 'default' ); } public function apiList(): string { $products = $this->getProducts(); return $this->renderJson( HttpResponseStatus::OK, ['products' => $products] ); } public function details(Request $request): string { $id = $request->getRouteParameter('id'); $product = $this->getProduct($id); if (!$product) { return $this->renderHtml( HttpResponseStatus::NOT_FOUND, ['message' => 'Product not found'], 'error', 'default' ); } return $this->renderHtml( HttpResponseStatus::OK, ['product' => $product], 'details', 'default' ); } }

Request Validation with DTOs

Define request DTOs in YAML:

# config/requests/product_create.yaml request: method: POST headers: Content-Type: application/json properties: name: type: string required: true length: min: 3 max: 100 price: type: currency required: true range: min: 0 category_id: type: integer required: true description: type: string required: false length: max: 1000

Available property types:

string, integer, float, boolean
email, url, uuid
date, date_time, time
currency, us_phone_number, intl_phone_number
array, object
ip_address, ein, upc, name, numeric

Error Handling

The framework automatically handles 404 errors:

// Custom 404 handler class NotFoundController extends HttpCodes { public function render404(): string { return $this->renderHtml( HttpResponseStatus::NOT_FOUND, ['message' => 'Page not found'], '404', 'error' ); } }

Advanced Features

View Caching

The framework includes a sophisticated view caching system with multiple storage backends:

Storage Backends

File Storage (Default): Uses the local filesystem for cache storage
Redis Storage: High-performance in-memory caching with Redis

Features

Automatic Cache Key Generation: Based on controller, view, and data
Selective Caching: Enable/disable per view type
TTL Support: Configure expiration times
Garbage Collection: Automatic cleanup of expired entries
Multiple Storage Backends: Choose between file or Redis storage

Configuration

File Storage Configuration

cache: enabled: true storage: file path: cache/views ttl: 3600 views: html: true markdown: true json: false xml: false

Redis Storage Configuration

cache: enabled: true storage: redis # Use Redis instead of file storage ttl: 3600 # Redis configuration (flat structure for env variable compatibility) redis_host: 127.0.0.1 redis_port: 6379 redis_database: 0 redis_prefix: neuron_cache_ redis_timeout: 2.0 redis_auth: null # Optional: Redis password redis_persistent: false # Optional: Use persistent connections # View-specific cache settings html: true markdown: true json: false xml: false

This flat structure ensures compatibility with environment variables:

CACHE_STORAGE=redis
CACHE_REDIS_HOST=127.0.0.1
CACHE_REDIS_PORT=6379
etc.

Programmatic Usage

// Cache is automatically used when enabled $html = $this->renderHtml( HttpResponseStatus::OK, $data, 'cached-view', 'layout' );

Manual Cache Management

// Clear all expired cache entries (file storage only) $removed = ClearExpiredCache($app); echo "Removed $removed expired cache entries"; // Clear all cache $app->getViewCache()->clear();

Using CacheStorageFactory

use Neuron\Mvc\Cache\Storage\CacheStorageFactory; // Create storage based on configuration $storage = CacheStorageFactory::create([ 'storage' => 'redis', 'redis_host' => 'localhost', 'redis_port' => 6379, 'redis_database' => 0, 'redis_prefix' => 'neuron_cache_' ]); // Auto-detect best available storage $storage = CacheStorageFactory::createAutoDetect(); // Check storage availability if (CacheStorageFactory::isAvailable('redis')) { echo "Redis cache is available"; }

You can also manage cache using the CLI commands. See CLI Commands section for details.

Custom View Implementations

Create custom view types by implementing IView:

namespace App\Views; use Neuron\Mvc\Views\IView; class PdfView implements IView { public function render(array $Data): string { // Generate PDF content return $pdfContent; } }

Event System

Listen for HTTP events:

# config/events.yaml listeners: http_404: class: App\Listeners\NotFoundLogger method: logNotFound

CLI Commands

The MVC component includes several CLI commands for managing cache and routes. These commands are available when using the Neuron CLI tool.

Cache Management Commands

mvc:cache:clear

Clear view cache entries.

Options:

--type, -t VALUE - Clear specific cache type (html, json, xml, markdown)
--expired, -e - Only clear expired entries
--force, -f - Clear without confirmation
--config, -c PATH - Path to configuration directory

Examples:

# Clear all cache entries (with confirmation) neuron mvc:cache:clear # Clear only expired entries neuron mvc:cache:clear --expired # Clear specific cache type neuron mvc:cache:clear --type=html # Force clear without confirmation neuron mvc:cache:clear --force # Specify custom config path neuron mvc:cache:clear --config=/path/to/config

mvc:cache:stats

Display comprehensive cache statistics.

Options:

--config, -c PATH - Path to configuration directory
--json, -j - Output statistics in JSON format
--detailed, -d - Show detailed breakdown by view type

Examples:

# Display cache statistics neuron mvc:cache:stats # Show detailed statistics with view type breakdown neuron mvc:cache:stats --detailed # Output as JSON for scripting neuron mvc:cache:stats --json # Detailed JSON output neuron mvc:cache:stats --detailed --json

Sample Output:

MVC View Cache Statistics ================================================== Configuration: Cache Path: /path/to/cache/views Cache Enabled: Yes Default TTL: 3600 seconds (1 hour) Overall Statistics: Total Cache Entries: 247 Valid Entries: 189 Expired Entries: 58 Total Cache Size: 2.4 MB Average Entry Size: 10.2 KB Oldest Entry: 2025-08-10 14:23:15 Newest Entry: 2025-08-13 09:45:32 Recommendations: - 58 expired entries can be cleared (saving ~580 KB) Run: neuron mvc:cache:clear --expired

Rate Limiting

The MVC component includes integrated rate limiting support through the routing component. Rate limiting helps protect your application from abuse and ensures fair resource usage.

Configuration

Rate limiting is configured in your neuron.yaml file using two categories:

Standard Rate Limiting

rate_limit: enabled: false # Enable/disable rate limiting global: false # Apply to all routes globally storage: file # Storage backend: file, redis, memory (testing only) requests: 100 # Maximum requests per window window: 3600 # Time window in seconds (1 hour) file_path: cache/rate_limits # Redis configuration (if storage: redis) # redis_host: 127.0.0.1 # redis_port: 6379

API Rate Limiting (Higher Limits)

api_limit: enabled: false storage: file requests: 1000 # 1000 requests per hour window: 3600 file_path: cache/api_limits

Environment Variables

Configuration maps to environment variables using the {category}_{name} pattern:

RATE_LIMIT_ENABLED=true
RATE_LIMIT_STORAGE=redis
RATE_LIMIT_REQUESTS=100
API_LIMIT_ENABLED=true
API_LIMIT_REQUESTS=1000

Usage in Routes

Global Application

Set global: true in configuration to apply rate limiting to all routes:

rate_limit: enabled: true global: true requests: 100 window: 3600

Per-Route Application

Apply rate limiting to specific routes using the filter parameter in routes.yaml:

routes: # Public page - no rate limiting - name: home method: GET route: / controller: HomeController@index # Standard protected route with rate limiting - name: user_profile method: GET route: /user/profile controller: UserController@profile filter: rate_limit # Apply rate_limit (100/hour) # API endpoint with higher limits - name: api_users method: GET route: /api/users controller: ApiController@users filter: api_limit # Apply api_limit (1000/hour)

Storage Backends

File Storage (Default)

Best for single-server deployments:

rate_limit: storage: file file_path: cache/rate_limits # Directory for rate limit files

Redis Storage (Recommended for Production)

Best for distributed systems and high traffic:

rate_limit: storage: redis redis_host: 127.0.0.1 redis_port: 6379 redis_database: 0 redis_prefix: rate_limit_ redis_auth: password # Optional redis_persistent: true # Use persistent connections

Memory Storage (Testing Only)

For unit tests and development. Data is lost when PHP process ends:

rate_limit: storage: memory

Rate Limit Headers

When rate limiting is active, the following headers are included in responses:

X-RateLimit-Limit: Maximum requests allowed
X-RateLimit-Remaining: Requests remaining in current window
X-RateLimit-Reset: Unix timestamp when limit resets

When limit is exceeded (HTTP 429):

Retry-After: Seconds until retry is allowed

Example Implementation

Enable rate limiting in neuron.yaml:

rate_limit: enabled: true global: false storage: redis requests: 100 window: 3600 redis_host: 127.0.0.1 api_limit: enabled: true storage: redis requests: 1000 window: 3600 redis_host: 127.0.0.1

Apply to routes in routes.yaml:

routes: - name: login method: POST route: /auth/login controller: AuthController@login filter: rate_limit # Strict limit for login attempts - name: api_data method: GET route: /api/data controller: ApiController@getData filter: api_limit # Higher limit for API access

Customization

For advanced use cases, you can extend the rate limiting system by creating custom filters in your application. The rate limiting system automatically detects if the routing component version supports it and gracefully degrades if not available.

Route Management Commands

mvc:routes:list

List all registered routes with filtering options.

Options:

--config, -c PATH - Path to configuration directory
--controller VALUE - Filter by controller name
--method, -m VALUE - Filter by HTTP method (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.)
--pattern, -p VALUE - Search routes by pattern
--json, -j - Output routes in JSON format

Examples:

# List all routes neuron mvc:routes:list # Filter by controller neuron mvc:routes:list --controller=UserController # Filter by HTTP method neuron mvc:routes:list --method=POST # Search by pattern neuron mvc:routes:list --pattern=/api/ # Combine filters neuron mvc:routes:list --controller=Api --method=GET # Output as JSON for processing neuron mvc:routes:list --json

Sample Output:

MVC Routes ====================================================================================== Name | Pattern | Method | Controller | Action -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- home | / | GET | HomeController | index user_profile | /user/{id} | GET | UserController | profile api_users_list | /api/users | GET | Api\UserController | list api_users_create | /api/users | POST | Api\UserController | create products_list | /products | GET | ProductController | list product_details | /products/{id} | GET | ProductController | details Total routes: 6 Named routes: 6 Methods: GET: 4, POST: 2

API Reference

Bootstrap Functions

Boot(string $ConfigPath): Application

Initialize the application with configuration.

$app = Boot('/path/to/config');

Dispatch(Application $App): void

Process the current HTTP request.

Dispatch($app);

ClearExpiredCache(Application $App): int

Remove expired cache entries.

$removed = ClearExpiredCache($app);

Key Interfaces

IController

All controllers must implement this interface:

renderHtml() - Render HTML with layout
renderJson() - Render JSON response
renderXml() - Render XML response

IView

Views must implement:

render(array $Data): string - Render the view

ICacheStorage

Cache storage implementations must provide:

read(), write(), exists(), delete()
clear() - Clear all entries
isExpired() - Check expiration
gc() - Garbage collection

Testing

Run the test suite:

# Run all tests vendor/bin/phpunit -c tests/phpunit.xml # Run with coverage vendor/bin/phpunit -c tests/phpunit.xml --coverage-html coverage # Run specific test file vendor/bin/phpunit -c tests/phpunit.xml tests/Mvc/ApplicationTest.php

More Information

You can read more about the Neuron components at neuronphp.com

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 498 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
examples		examples
resources/views		resources/views
src		src
tests		tests
.editorconfig		.editorconfig
.gitignore		.gitignore
.version.json		.version.json
LICENSE		LICENSE
composer.json		composer.json
readme.md		readme.md
versionlog.md		versionlog.md

License

Neuron-PHP/mvc

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Neuron-PHP MVC

Table of Contents

Installation

Requirements

Install via Composer

Quick Start

1. Create the Front Controller

2. Configure Apache (.htaccess)

For Nginx

3. Minimal Configuration

Core Components

Application

Controllers

Views

HTML Views

Layouts

Routing

Request Handling

URL Helpers

Route Naming

Using URL Helpers in Controllers

Direct URL Helper Methods

Using URL Helpers in Views

Magic Method Conventions

URL Helper Methods

Error Handling

Advanced Usage

Configuration

Main Configuration (neuron.yaml)

Cache Configuration Options

Usage Examples

Creating a Controller

Request Validation with DTOs

Error Handling

Advanced Features

View Caching

Storage Backends

Features

Configuration

File Storage Configuration

Redis Storage Configuration

Programmatic Usage

Manual Cache Management

Using CacheStorageFactory

Custom View Implementations

Event System

CLI Commands

Cache Management Commands

mvc:cache:clear

mvc:cache:stats

Rate Limiting

Configuration

Standard Rate Limiting

API Rate Limiting (Higher Limits)

Environment Variables

Usage in Routes

Global Application

Per-Route Application

Storage Backends

File Storage (Default)

Redis Storage (Recommended for Production)

Memory Storage (Testing Only)

Rate Limit Headers

Example Implementation

Customization

Route Management Commands

mvc:routes:list

API Reference

Bootstrap Functions

Boot(string $ConfigPath): Application

Dispatch(Application $App): void

ClearExpiredCache(Application $App): int

Key Interfaces

IController

Packages