Pcphpjs

Pcphpjs is the ProgClub content management system for the Jsphp project. That's the software that allows you to manage and develop JavaScript functions that emulate PHP functions. It's a new version of phpjs with some planned bug fixes and improvements. For other projects see Projects.

Status

Released, but there's stuff TODO.

Administration

Contributors

Members who have contributed to this project. Newest on top.

• Adriano
• John

All contributors have agreed to the terms of the Contributor License Agreement. This excludes any upstream contributors who tend to have different administrative frameworks.

Upstream contributors:

• Doctrine contributors
• CodeIgniter contributors

Copyright

Copyright 2011-2012, Contributors.

License

The pcphpjs software is licensed under the New BSD license.

The pcphpjs project is the software than manages the jsphp.co web site. It's an open-source content management system for a JavaScript library. The JavaScript library itself is licensed separately under the MIT and GPL licenses. These are the same terms as used by the upstream developers as explained on their license page. For more information about the JavaScript library check out the Jsphp project.

Pcphpjs uses the Doctrine ORM toolkit which is licensed under the LGPL.

Pcphpjs uses the CodeIgniter web-framework which is licensed under the CodeIgniter license.

Resources

Source code

The repository can be browsed online:

https://www.progclub.org/pcrepo/pcphpjs/trunk/

The latest stable code is publicly available from svn:

https://www.progclub.org/svn/pcrepo/pcphpjs/tags/latest/

Or the latest development version is available for member access:

svn://www.progclub.org/svn/pcrepo/pcphpjs/trunk/

Links

Development links

• MemberNet database admin
• Development release
• Production release

phpjs related information

• phpjs.org

Doctrine related information

• Doctrine
• Getting started with Doctrine
• Doctrine 2 ORM v2.1 documentation
• Doctrine on Wikipedia
• Annotations Reference

CodeIgniter related information

• CodeIgniter
• CodeIgniter User Guide
• Simple Login Form With CodeIgniter

Doctrine with CodeIgniter information

• CodeIgniter and Doctrine from scratch
• Integrating Doctrine 2 with CodeIgniter 2

JavaScript testing frameworks

• js-test-driver
• Getting Started with JavaScript Unit Testing

Release notes

Hey everyone. You haven't heard from me for a while, because I've been very busy implementing a web-site in PHP and MySQL. This is the most substantial PHP/MySQL (AKA: LAMP) project that I've ever done, and I did it to research the technology and hone my skills, as this is the technology the Blackbrick will use.

You can see the newly released web-site here:

http://jsphp.co/

Basically the site is a Content Management System (CMS) for a JavaScript library that provides the PHP API. This means code written for PHP can be more easily migrated to JavaScript, something I did when I created a JavaScript and PHP implementation of the Blowfish encryption cypher, pccipher:

https://www.progclub.org/wiki/Pccipher

The jsphp.co web-site has a number of features where I got to try out different technology. I used a number of open-source frameworks and toolkits, being:

• CodeIgniter - a PHP web framework
• Doctrine - an ORM and DB management tool
• YUI - a JavaScript library including a rich text HTML editor
• jQuery - a JavaScript helper library
• QUnit - a JavaScript testing framework
• HTMLPurifier - a HTML parser and filter
• WikiDiff3 - a diff tool from MediaWiki
• Slib - Blackbrick's PHP web toolkit

We're using the following technologies:

• HTML5 - document format
• CSS - document layout language
• JavaScript - client side programming language
• Graphics (mostly PNG) - as multimedia as we get
• PHP - server side programming language
• MySQL - database server
• Apache - web server
• Linux - operating system
• Subversion - version control system

The jsphp.co web-site has implemented the following features:

• Pages - there is a CMS in place for managing the content of pages, such as the contacts or downloads page
• HTML comments - a rich commenting system that allows for threaded conversations, replies, edits, rich text HTML editing with WYSIWIG support, and the ability to comment on functions, versions, tests or pages in the site. Also, there is a facility for user comments (must be logged in) and anonymous comments (no need to login).
• Session management - users can login to the system to enable advanced features
• Categories - functions are categorised
• Functions - functions are the core of the library
• Menus - there are drop down menus available
• Editing - functions and other code and data can be edited via the UI
• Benchmarks - functions can be benchmarked to compare the performance of different versions
• Revisions - there is a complete version control system with annotations for functions and tests
• Diffs - the differences between function and tests implementations can be easily shown with a graphical diff tool
• Developer attribution - we record and report who has contributed to the various functions, including upstream developers and local developers
• Dependency management - the dependencies for functions can be modelled and supported for automatic loading and inclusion in downloads
• Downloads - there is a tool for packaging the library as a download
• Links - our database records useful links to integrate with the upstream project and PHP documentation
• System administration - a facility for creating, updating and deleting of categories, functions, users and developers
• Error logging and reporting - a system that records any errors encountered during processing so they can be reviewed
• Data import - there are facilities in place to import function code and contributor information from the upstream developers

So I've learned how to do all that in PHP, and I'm pretty pleased with my effort. Of course the actual JavaScript library the system has been instituted to manage is itself useful too, and hopefully this tool will end up being the platform for an open-source community.

All told the web-site took me about two weeks to create, from nothing at all to version one.

Specifications

Functional specification

Pcphpjs provides a CMS tool for the management of an open-source JavaScript library.

User registration functionality

When a new member wants to register for an account (so that they have access to edit functions and comment on the website etc.) they need to fill in an account request. The account request is recorded in the database and an email is sent to the registering member asking them to confirm their registration. The user receives the email and clicks on a link which provides them with a 'Confirm' button that they can press to confirm that they want to register their account. After the user has confirmed their registration a user account is enabled for them and they are able to login using their account details.

Technical specification

Pcphpjs is implemented in PHP and MySQL using the CodeIgniter and Doctrine frameworks as well as a number of other PHP and JavaScript library components.

User registration technicalities

The user table needs to be modified to handle user 'status' and a 'confirmation_key'. The user status can be one of the following:

0: registered 1: confirmed, active 2: disabled

Only users with status 1 can login (the backend for the login system will need to be updated). Users with status 0 can confirm their registration by providing their 'confirmation_key' in which case their status can be changed to 1. Users with status 2 cannot login or operate on their account. So basically a login requires status=1 and a confirmation requires status=0.

A user registration has a confirmation_key associated with it (see PHP uniqid) that will be used in the registration confirmation link. The following data is collected for a registration request:

• Desired username
• Password (twice to confirm)
• Full name (the member's full name)
• Nickname (what the member wishes to be called)
• Email (the members email address)
• URL (the member's URL, can be http, https, mailto)
• Human tester (the member has to answer a random question)
• Agree to terms (the member has to accept the terms and conditions)

The data is accepted and inserted into the database provided that there is no existing user with that username and that values for all fields have been provided. The confirmation_key is set to a new uniqid and the status is set to 0.

An email is then generated and sent to the user's email address asking them to confirm their account creation request. The generated email is from "support@jsphp.co <support@jsphp.co>" and contains the text:

Hi there. Someone, probably you, has requested a user account at jsphp.co.

The requested username is 'jj5' and we have reserved this name for you for two weeks.

To confirm and enable your jsphp.co account please visit the following URL and click 'Confirm'.

http://jsphp.co/jsphp/user/confirm?user=jj5&key=asdf.27

Regards,
John Elliot.

The subject of the email is: "Please confirm 'jj5' account at jsphp.co."

Note: in the above example substitute 'jj5' with the user's username, e.g. 'joe'.

When the user clicks on the account confirmation link they are shown a page that says:

If you would like to confirm the account 'jj5' click the confirm button.
Otherwise no action is required.

When the user clicks confirm the backend checks the user record for the username has a status of '0' and that the correct confirmation_key has been provided, updates the status field to 1, logs the user in (only if their status was 0 and they had the correct confirmation_key, i.e. this only works the first time), and then redirects them to the /user/welcome page (which needs to be created).

The /user/welcome page describes the jsphp.co system to the user and gives them a run down of the features and how to use them.

Tasks

TODO

Things to do, in rough order of priority:

• Implement the user registration functionality in accordance with the technical specification.
• Pagination with Doctrine
• Implement scriptify and deploy
• Refactor view links on models that aren't Jsfunction, Fnversion and Testversion.
• Allow user to subscribe to comments, threads and functions to get email notifications if things change.
• Model get by one-to-one relationship functions
• Set access key on all form buttons
• Create a 'phpjs' user with disabled password and attribute function imports to their account
• Create test html pages to submit malformed requests and see they get handled properly
  • Check missing fields
  • Check invalid fields (e.g. string instead of integer)
  • Check script tags/HTML injection
• Create RSS feeds for:
  • Comments
  • Threads
  • Functions
• Create an activity log
• Improve/complete comment creation and editing
• Support pagination for various content (e.g. error lists, comments?)
• Use UTC dates in database
• Improve account management: i.e. forgot password, change details, email alerts, timezone, etc.
• Add support for user/session timezone
• Create subversion repository with development and production branches

Done

Stuff that's done. Latest stuff on top.

• AD 2012-03-02: Disable anonymous commenting and cleared out spam from database.
• JE 2011-12-24: Function status management; create, update, etc.
• JE 2011-12-24: Copy in pccipher/simpletest and test scriptify
• JE 2011-12-24: Factor slug into slib get_slug
• JE 2011-12-24: Code review entire codebase with a view to:
  • Removing XSS vulnerabilities
  • Removing HTML injection vulnerabilities
  • Having consistent controller/action/view naming and implementation
  • Fixing input validation
  • Fixing error logging
  • Fixing redirection (start using 'goto' where possible)
• JE 2011-12-24: Add 'comment' links to various pages
• JE 2011-12-24: Finish upstream contributor management
• JE 2011-12-19: Design and implement database (has been continuous)
• JE 2011-12-19: Create database creation/upgrade scripts (sort of mostly done, using Doctrine)
• JE 2011-12-19: Create a 'wiki' like front-end for users to submit and test patches
• JE 2011-12-19: Create unit testing facilities
• JE 2011-12-19: Create benchmark facilities to compare versions, mostly to compare performance
• JE 2011-12-11: improved basic user, category and function management functionality
• JE 2011-12-11: created database management scripts
• JE 2011-09-22: released basic account, category and function management functionality
• JE 2011-09-22: found Integrating Doctrine 2 with CodeIgniter 2
• JE 2011-09-20: imported CodeIgniter 2.0.3
• JE 2011-09-19: imported Doctrine ORM 2.1.1 and worked through Getting Started
• JE 2011-09-07: created project page
• JE 2011-09-07: created project in svn

Notes

Notes for implementers

If you are interested in incorporating this software into your project, here's what you need to know:

TODO: explain how to create and initialize the database; and how to install and configure the application.

Notes for developers

MySQL configuration

Creating the MySQL user and database

• Using phpMyAdmin:
  • Click Privileges
  • Click Add new User
  • Username: Use text field: jsphp
  • Host: local (from drop-down)
  • Password: Use text field: (Click 'Generate' for a new password)
  • Database for user: Create database with same name and grant all privileges
  • Click 'Create User'
• Using SQL Commands

CREATE USER 'jsphp'@'local' IDENTIFIED BY  '***';
GRANT USAGE ON * . * TO  'jsphp'@'local' IDENTIFIED BY  '***' WITH MAX_QUERIES_PER_HOUR 0 MAX_CONNECTIONS_PER_HOUR 0 MAX_UPDATES_PER_HOUR 0 MAX_USER_CONNECTIONS 0 ;
CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS  `jsphp` ;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON  `jsphp` . * TO  'jsphp'@'local';

Storing the user credentials

1. Create a file in your home directory called "login_mysql" containing -

user: USERNAME
pass: PASSWORD

1. You can also store the root login here
2. Then run:

chmod 600 login_mysql

Loading the MySQL schema from database export

1. Login to PHPMyAdmin on your local server
2. Create a new database and user with privileges according to the instructions under Creating the MySQL user and database
3. Click the database you created in the list of databases on the top left of the page so that you are 'inside' that database.
4. When you are 'inside' the database click the 'import' tab at the top of the page
5. Browse to the database file you would like to import and click "Go" (the default settings should be fine).

 Updating the database

If you know that the database you have imported is an older version, or just as a matter of precaution you may want to run the database update script from the terminal as follows-

sudo apt-get install php5-cli
cd /PROJECT_FOLDER
svn update
cd etc
chmod +x apply-update.sh
./apply-update.sh

Loading the MySQL schema from scratch

(John will document this later)

How to reset the password of a MySQL user account

Using SQL

use mysql;
update user set password=PASSWORD('<new password>') where User='USERNAME';
flush privileges;

Using the phpMyAdmin GUI

1. Navigate to the privileges tab
2. Click 'Edit privileges' for the user of choice
3. Scroll down in the popup window to the reset password section and enter a new password
4. Click OK

Samba configuration

Sharing your home directory with Samba

• sudo apt-get install samba
• edit /etc/samba/smb.conf

Setting the password for a Samba account

• sudo smbpasswd adriano

Pcphpjs configuration

Proxies directory permissions

After you have configured your database you will have to CHMOD the following directory to allow read/write access for the www-data group-

pcphpjs/src/lib/ci2/application/models/Proxies

You can either use the terminal or the linux GUI.

Using the terminal

cd /PROJECT_FOLDER/src/lib/ci2/application/models/Proxies
chmod o+w .

Using the GUI

• Navigate to PROJECT_FOLDER/src/lib/ci2/application/models
• Right click the proxies folder -> properties -> permissions tab.
• Change the drop down box labeled "Group" to "www-data" and the very next drop-down to "Create and delete files" and click OK.

A final note on the Proxies folder

Not setting these permissions correctly or not setting them at all will most likely cause a server error when trying to navigate to index.php. If you are encountering such an error, checking the permissions of the proxies folder may help.

Navigating to index.php

To navigate to index.php and actually view the working website, navigate to-

http://SERVER_NAME/PROJECT_FOLDER/src/web/app/index.php/page/home

Creating config.php and database.php

Creating config.php

TODO: For John to do I think, as I only copy/pasted the file from e-mail.

Editing database.php

• Navigate to

PROJECT_FOLDER/src/lib/ci2/application/config

• Open database.php with a code editor
• Scroll down to the bottom and input the appropriate values for-
  • Username - this will be 'root' if you haven't configured separate users
  • Password - the password for the user above
  • Database - the database name you have chosen, in my case 'jsphp-dev'