Stak-Framework

A flexible, minimal, MVC web-application framework.

To use Stak, simply inherit from Stak::Application:

require 'stak'

module StakExample
	class Application < Stak::Application
	end
end

Provide a config.ru in the root directory containing your app:

app = StakExample::Application.new
app.router.config do
# Custom Routes Here
end

# Middleware Here
run app

Philosophy

Stak combines the control and customizability of a lightweight framework with the convenience of a convention-driven MVC paradigm. Simplicity is the guide, and Stak is just 300 lines of code. Above all, the design principles are:

1. Don't repeat yourself
2. Just Rack, and nothing else
3. Minimal, unassuming, and extensible

Models

Stak runs on top of SQLite3. Models inherit from Stak::Mapper, which gives them all the standard record-handling methods, including new, save, update, find, first, last, all, and destroy. Model names and attributes are mapped to database tables and columns, like so:

class Article < Stak::Mapper
	attr_accessor :body, :tagline, :submitter, :created_at
	
	@@table = 'articles'

	@@mappings.draw(
		content: :body,
		tagline: :tagline,
		submitter: :submitter,
		created_at: :created_at
	)

	# Custom Methods Here
end

Migrations

Since models are implemented in SQLite3, a Ruby-based parser or wrapper around database migrations is unnecessary. Migrations can be handled directly in the database. For example, a create_articles.rb migration simply involves a corresponding statement, like so:

require 'sqlite3'

db = SQLite3::Database.new File.join('db', 'app.db')

db.execute(
	"
		CREATE TABLE articles (
			id integer primary key,
			content text,
			tagline varchar(250),
			submitter varchar(250),
			created_at datetime default null
		)
	"
)

Controllers

Stak provides a minimal interface between default routes and standard CRUD actions. Controllers inherit from Stak::Controller, which grants automatic routing for index, new, create, show, edit, update, and delete actions. Stak requires the use of strong parameters. For instance:

class ArticlesController < Stak::Controller
	# Custom Actions Here

	def create
		@article = Article.new(article_params)
		@article.save

		redirect action: :show, id: Article.last.id
	end

	private
	
		def article_params
			params[:article].permit(:body, :tagline, :submitter)
		end
end

Views

Stak uses Erubis to render views, and provides for the use of default and custom templates. Partials are rendered within layouts with the tag <%= insert %>. Views are rendered with instance variables automatically passed along, which take precedence over any local variables specified:

def sample
	@ua = request.user_agent
	@noun = 'winking'
	render :sample, locals: { a_local: :roar, ua: 'overridden' }, layout: false
end

Redirections behave as expected:

def delete
	article = Article.find(params[:id])
	article.destroy

	redirect action: :index
end

Routing

Stak implements the standard MVC resource model, providing default routes for CRUD actions. For example a GET request at /articles/3/show attempts to call the show method in the ArticlesController class, and also attempts to render the show.html.erb view. Resources are declared like so:

resources :articles

Custom routes are defined within the config block. Stak supports all HTTP verbs delete, get, head, options, patch, post, and put. Routes can be defined with query and route parameters, and can make a direct call to a controller action, as follows:

get '/index', 'articles#index'

get '/params/:foo/with/target/:fooz', 'articles#sample'

Alternatively, routes can be defined in block format, in which case the route definition follows an identical convention to controller action definitions. Where default Stak resource routes conflict with user-defined custom routes, custom routes take precedence. For example:

get '/params/:foo/with/block/:fooz' do
	@ua = request.user_agent
	@noun = 'winking'
	render 'articles/sample', locals: { a_local: :roar, ua: 'overridden' }, layout: false
end

Middleware

A Stak app is Rack-compatible. As such, Stak supports the use of Rack middleware. Any use statements located before the call to the Stak app in config.ru are treated as middleware, with sequential middleware layered in the order specified, like so:

use Rack::MethodOverride
use Rack::Static, :urls => ['/css'], :root => 'public'
run app

A Stak app itself can also be used inside any other Rack-based app:

class MyApp < Sinatra::Base
	use StakExample
end

Resources

• RubyGems
• Documentation
• Stak Skeleton
• Example App

Contributing

1. Fork it
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add some feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
5. Create new Pull Request