This is a basic shoutboard built using CodeIgniter. Originally only used XML for the backend, but was rewritten to illustrate different types of web services. The application has been migrated from CodeIgniter 3.1.0 to CodeIgniter 4.

What is CodeIgniter?

CodeIgniter is a PHP full-stack web framework that is light, fast, flexible and secure. More information can be found at the official site.

Server Requirements

PHP version 8.4 or higher is required, with the following extensions installed:

• intl
• mbstring
• json (enabled by default - don't turn it off)
• sqlite3 for SQLite database (recommended for beginners)
• mysqlnd for MySQL database (production)
• libcurl if you plan to use the HTTP\CURLRequest library

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone git@github.com:llbbl/codeigniter-chat.git

2. Install PHP dependencies:

3. Install Node.js dependencies (for front-end build system):

4. Build front-end assets:

5. Database Configuration:

   This application supports both SQLite and MySQL databases.

   Option A: SQLite (Recommended for Beginners)

   SQLite requires no database server setup - perfect for learning and local development.

   1. Copy the environment file and enable SQLite:

   2. Edit .env and set:

   3. Run migrations to create the database:

   The SQLite database file will be automatically created at writable/database/chat.db.

   Option B: MySQL (Recommended for Production)

   1. Create a MySQL database and user for the application.

   2. Copy the environment file:

   3. Edit .env with your MySQL credentials:

      DB_DRIVER=MySQLi
      DB_DATABASE=ci4_chat
      DB_USERNAME=your_mysql_username
      DB_PASSWORD=your_mysql_password
      

   4. Alternatively, edit app/Config/Database.php directly:

      public array $default = [
          'hostname' => 'localhost',
          'username' => 'your_mysql_username',
          'password' => 'your_mysql_password',
          'database' => 'your_database_name',
          'DBDriver' => 'MySQLi',
          // Other settings can remain as default
      ];

   5. Run database migrations:

6. Additional Environment Configuration (optional):

   • Edit the .env file to set additional values as needed:

     CI_ENVIRONMENT = development
     app.baseURL = 'http://your-domain.com/'
     

Web Server Configuration

Configure your web server to point to the public folder as the document root.

Apache Configuration

If you are using Apache, there is already a .htaccess file in the public folder. Make sure you have mod_rewrite enabled.

Nginx Configuration

If you are using Nginx, use a configuration similar to:

server {
    server_name your-domain.com;
    root /path/to/codeigniter-chat/public;

    listen 80;
    index index.php index.html index.htm;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        try_files $uri =404;
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php-fpm.sock; # Adjust this path as needed
        fastcgi_read_timeout 150;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
}

Running the Application

Start your web server and navigate to:

• XML Chat: http://your-domain.com/chat
• JSON Chat: http://your-domain.com/chat/json
• HTML Chat: http://your-domain.com/chat/html

Public API documentation

See:

• docs/public-api.md (HTTP + WebSocket + frontend entrypoints + reusable PHP APIs)

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues:

1. Check the error logs in writable/logs/
2. Ensure your database configuration is correct
3. Make sure your web server is configured correctly
4. Verify that the database tables have been created properly

Front-end Build System

This project uses Vite as a front-end build system to process CSS and JavaScript files.

Development Mode

To start the development server:

This will start a development server at http://localhost:5173/ that will automatically reload when you make changes to the source files.

Building for Production

To build the assets for production:

This will generate optimized files in the public/dist/ directory.

More Information

For more detailed information about the front-end build system, please refer to the src/README.md file.

Migration from CodeIgniter 3 to CodeIgniter 4

For detailed information about the migration from CodeIgniter 3 to CodeIgniter 4, please refer to the README_MIGRATION.md file.