Course Management System

A PHP REST API for managing courses, enrollments, users, and file attachments. Built with a 3-layer architecture (Presentation, Business Logic, Data Access) using vanilla PHP and MySQL.

Architecture

Client -> PL (Controllers) -> BLL (Services/Mappers) -> DAL (Repositories) -> MySQL

Layer	Directory	Responsibility
PL (Presentation)	PL/	Routing, controllers, middleware, HTTP handling
BLL (Business Logic)	BLL/	Services, business rules, entity-DTO mapping
DAL (Data Access)	DAL/	Repositories, entities, DTOs, database schema
Config	config/	Environment variables, application constants
Utils	utils/	Security, validation, file storage, response helpers

Prerequisites

• PHP 8.0+
• MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+
• Apache or any web server with PHP support (or PHP built-in server)
• OpenSSL PHP extension
• MySQLi PHP extension

Setup

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/October-Technological-University/CourseManagementSystem.git
   cd CourseManagementSystem

2. Create the environment file

   Copy the example environment file and fill in your values:

   cp config/example.env config/.env

   Edit config/.env with your settings:

   DATABASE_SERVER=localhost
   DATABASE_USERNAME=root
   DATABASE_PASSWORD=your_password
   DATABASE_NAME=CourseManagementSystem
   
   ENCRYPTION_CIPHER=aes-256-cbc
   ENCRYPTION_KEY=your_random_32_char_hex_key

   To generate a secure encryption key:

   php -r "echo bin2hex(random_bytes(16));"

3. Start the server

   Using PHP's built-in server:

   php -S localhost:8000 -t PL/public

   The API will be available at http://localhost:8000.

4. Database setup

   The database and tables are created automatically on first request. No manual migration is needed.

5. Database Seeding

   php ./DAL/Database/DataSeed.php

API Endpoints

Authentication

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/api/auth/register	Register a new user
POST	/api/auth/login	Login and receive auth token
POST	/api/auth/logout	Logout (requires auth)
POST	/api/auth/changepassword	Change password (requires auth)

Users

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/users	List all users
GET	/api/users/{id}	Get user by ID
GET	/api/users/students	List all students
GET	/api/users/instructors	List all instructors
POST	/api/users/{id}/profile-picture	Upload profile picture
DELETE	/api/users/{id}/profile-picture	Remove profile picture
DELETE	/api/users/delete	Delete account

Courses

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/courses	List all courses
GET	/api/courses/{id}	Get course by ID
GET	/api/courses/instructor/{id}	Get courses by instructor
POST	/api/courses	Create a course
PUT	/api/courses/{id}	Update a course
DELETE	/api/courses/{id}	Delete a course
POST	/api/courses/{id}/course-image	Upload course cover image
DELETE	/api/courses/{id}/course-image	Remove course cover image
POST	/api/courses/{id}/generate-code	Generate enrollment code

Enrollments

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/api/enrollments	Enroll a student
POST	/api/enrollments/code	Enroll by course code
DELETE	/api/enrollments/drop	Drop enrollment
GET	/api/enrollments/course/{id}/students	List students in a course
GET	/api/enrollments/student/{id}/courses	List courses for a student

Files

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/api/files/upload/course	Upload file to a course
GET	/api/files/{id}	Get file metadata
GET	/api/files/download/{id}	Download a file
GET	/api/files/serve/{storedName}	Serve a file
GET	/api/files/course/{courseId}	List course files
GET	/api/files/course/{courseId}/assignments	List course assignments
GET	/api/files/course/{courseId}/resources	List course resources
DELETE	/api/files/{id}	Delete a file

User Roles

Role	Permissions
admin	Full access to all resources
teacher	Manage own courses, upload files, view enrolled students
student	Enroll in courses, download course files, manage own profile

Project Structure

CourseManagementSystem/
├── config/
│   ├── .env              # Environment variables (gitignored)
│   ├── example.env        # Template for .env
│   └── constants.php      # Application constants (file limits, MIME types)
├── DAL/
│   ├── Database/          # Database connection, schema, seeding
│   ├── DTOs/              # Data Transfer Objects
│   ├── Entities/          # Database entity classes
│   └── Repository/        # Data access repositories
├── BLL/
│   ├── Mappers/           # Entity <-> DTO converters
│   └── Services/          # Business logic services
├── PL/
│   ├── Controllers/       # HTTP request handlers
│   ├── Middleware/         # Auth and file upload middleware
│   └── public/
│       ├── index.php      # Entry point and router
│       └── uploads/       # Uploaded files storage
└── utils/
    ├── Security.php       # Encryption, hashing, token management
    ├── Validator.php       # Input validation
    ├── ResponseHelper.php  # JSON response formatting
    └── FileStorageHelper.php  # File system operations

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Required
DATABASE_SERVER	MySQL host	Yes
DATABASE_USERNAME	MySQL username	Yes
DATABASE_PASSWORD	MySQL password	Yes
DATABASE_NAME	Database name	Yes
ENCRYPTION_CIPHER	OpenSSL cipher algorithm	No (defaults to aes-256-cbc)
ENCRYPTION_KEY	32-character hex key for token encryption	Yes