SmartyURL Developer's Guide

Server Requirements

You need a web hosting account (for a domain or sub-domain) with PHP 8.1 or higher support and the following PHP extensions (typically supported by most PHP hosting providers):
- mysqlnd , intl , mbstring , libcurl , gmp , json, bcmath
Your web hosting account should have MySQL 8.0+ support
You need yo use composer and php spark command , therefor you must have SSH Access to your host account.
Your hosting account should have composer command installed before.

Prepare for installation

Before you begin the installation process for SmartyURL, it's crucial to set up the necessary environment. Follow these steps to ensure a smooth installation:

Step 1: Choose a Subdomain

For optimal URL management using SmartyURL, it is recommended to create a new subdomain on your domain. For example, you can choose a subdomain like "go.example.com." This subdomain will serve as the base for your SmartyURL installation. Next any URL managed by SmartyURL will look like this (e.g https://go.example.com/link1)

Step 2: Installation Location

While SmartyURL can be used on your apex domain (e.g., example.com), it is not the preferred or logical choice and does not make sense. For better organization and functionality, it's highly advised to use a separate subdomain. as descibed above.

Option 1: Subdomain Installation

Create a new subdomain, such as "go.example.com," and install SmartyURL on this subdomain.

Option 2: Subfolder Installation

If creating a subdomain is not possible, SmartyURL can be installed in a subfolder of your main domain. For instance, you can use a structure like "example.com/go/" where "go" becomes the root folder for SmartyURL.

Installation

Currently, as SmartyURL is in its early stages, you can only install it using Composer. In future releases, we may support other installation methods..

Install SmartyURL using `Composer`:

This is the best way for now, to install SmartyURL you have to use composer command

Login to your web hosting account where you want to install SmartyURL using SSH and run the following commands:

composer create-project extendy/smartyurl myapp
cd myapp
composer install

Note

Your web site must be served from myapp/public , so choose the name myapp to fit with your hosting account configurations.

The file myapp/public/index.php will be the main index page of your website. therefore consider where you will store the files in your web hosting account

After installing the files

After getting SmartyURL files into your website first of all you have to create configuration file which called .env

there is A sample configuration file called env so you have to copy it to .env to let the configuration file take the affect by:

on the root folder of SmartyURL run the following command:

cp env .env

which will create a copy of the file env with new file name .env

The .env file now will be your SmartyURL configuration file, therefore you need to edit the file and make sure SmartyURL configuration is correct as you need.

Creating MySQL Database:

Ensure that you've created a MySQL database (by using any tool that allow you to create a new mysql database and assign a user for the database like your hosting control panel or phpMyAdmin or command line).

Then proceed to edit the .env file. Update the database configuration in # DATABASE section and make any necessary changes to tailor the other settings to your specific requirements, including app.baseUR and cookie.domain and other options.

Next, execute the 'migrate' command to import the database structure into your created database.

while you are in the root SmartyURL project folder run the command:

php spark migrate --all

Creating the first user:

You need to create the first user before you start using SmartyURL.

You can create a new user by running (create & activate) commands below :

php spark shield:user create
php spark shield:user activate

then add the user you have created to superadmin group by running:

php spark shield:user addgroup

Rremember that: we have 3 user groups by defalt superadmin and admins and user , see SmartyURL Users to know more about user groups.

When adding the user to a group and enter `superadmin' to set the user as super admin and choose user and enter username and confirm and the user will be added into user group

This is sample scenario:

$ php spark shield:user addgroup

CodeIgniter v4.4.3 Command Line Tool - Server Time: 2023-12-08 01:33:01 UTC+00:00


Group : superadmin
Add user to group by username or email ? [u, e]: u
Username : sam <---- this the username of the user you have created before
Add the user "sam" to the group "superadmin" ? [y, n]: y
User "sam" added to group "superadmin"

Afterward, you can access SmartyURL using any web browser by directing the URL to the installation domain where you have SmartyURL installed. (for example: https://go.example.com)

Remember, you can disable or enable new user registration by editing the .env file. Make sure to set Auth.allowRegistration to false to disable registration or true to enable registration. If it's not already present in your .env file, you can add it like this:

Auth.allowRegistration = false

By default user registration using the portal is disabled because SmartyURL is Closed by Default. See Why SmartyURL is Closed by Default to know why.

Using `git` for SmartyUrl developers only (Not recommended)

While it is Not recommended for developers to attempt installation using git. but sure you can do that. you need some experice usng git to install code and run the commands in After installing the files