Get Started with Symfony 4

For beginners ..

Directory structure differences

• app/AppKernel .php -> src/Kernel.php
• No AppBundle
• No app.php and app_dev.php
• app/config/parameters.yml -> .env
• app/Resources/views -> templates
• Empty project size : 9MB

taken from here

Let’s build the first app

1) Prepare your work-space

• choice your best text editor

about me I use visual code and I install the framework snippets to make the tasks easier + integrated terminal
As well you can use phpStorm as IDE .

2) Install composer:

( if you have composer already installed , skip this step )

• Install dependencies

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install curl php-cli php-mbstring git unzip

• Download and install composer

cd ~
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer -o composer-setup.php

• Install composer globally

sudo php composer-setup.php --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer

3) Create a project :

composer create-project symfony/skeleton your_project
cd your_project

4) Install dependencies

To have the application works , it requires at least TwigBundle and DoctrineBundle
You can install them one by one :

composer req twig
composer req doctrine

Or you can install EasyAdminBundle . EasyAdminBundle is a back-office manager . It will install its dependencies by itself which TwigBundle and DoctrineBundle. are one of them .

• Install EasyAdminBundle ❤

composer require admin 

You can notice how much Symfony flex is powerful . Before Symfony flex , coders have to follow 4 steps to have EasyAdminBundle installed and configuired (Download , Enable the Bundle , Load the Routes and Prepare the Web Assets )

• Configure your Bundle ( config/package/easy_admin.yaml)

easy_admin:
entities:
#        # List the entity class name you want to manage
#        - App\Entity\Product
#        - App\Entity\Category
#        - App\Entity\User
# Add your new entity here 
           App\Entity\Your_Entity

We will create the new entity in following step

5) Database :

• Create an ORM entity (src/Entity)

<?php
namespace App\Entity ;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
/**
* @ORM\Entity()
*
*/
class Your_Entity {
/**
* @ORM\Id
* @ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")
* @ORM\Column(type="integer")
*/
public $id ;
/**
* @ORM\Column(type="string")
*/
public $description;
}
?>

• Setup database (.env)

database name , user name , user password and port database port
(.env) , user name , user password are configured when installing MySQL on your machine . If your don’t have MySQL installed and configured follow this tutorial

DATABASE_URL=mysql://db_user:db_password@127.0.0.1:3306/db_name

• Create database

php bin/console doctrine:database:create 
php bin/console doctrine:schema:create

• Test database with easyAdmin (skip this step if you didn’t install easyAdmin)

php bin/console server:run

Then browse to http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/

You should have something like that

• Test database with MySQL command line :

mysql -u your_username -p
your_password
show columns from your_entity from your_bdname ; 

You should have something like that

5) Serious work starts now

• Create your first controller
• Route your actions

Now , I will deal with annotations . Annotations make tasks easier .

With Symfony 4 you can replace this code ( config/routes.yaml)

home_page:
    path: /home
    controller: 'App\Controller\DefaultController::Home'

by annotation added in the controller behind the action

use Sensio\Bundle\FrameworkExtraBundle\Configuration\Route;
/**
  * @Route("/home")
  */
public function HomeAction()

• Create a view

It’s enough for today ❤

I’m Mouna , a developer from Tunisia . I love sharing knowledge and life experience .

If you want to learn, please check these tutorials :

• How to customize non-standard directories
• Symfony 4 : Essential setup and standards
• Sonata User : Override registration form
• Symfony 4 : WYSIWYG editors

References :

• Fabien Potencier : quick demo :
  fabien.potencier.org/symfony4-demo.html
• How To Install and Use Composer on Ubuntu 16.04 www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-and-use-composer-on-ubuntu-16-04
• Fabien Potencier :Symfony 4: Directory Structure Updates medium.com/@fabpot/symfony-4-directory-structure-updates-d8f4686546d5
• The Quick Tour Version: 4.0 : symfony.com/doc/current/quick_tour/the_big_picture.html
• EasyAdminBundle:
  symfony.com/doc/current/bundles/EasyAdminBundle/book/installation.html