Frank

Frank is a super-micro flat-file cms(ish) in a single PHP file for basic websites.

Overview

To call Frank a cms might be incorrect. It simply creates a structured object from a directory of content. In that way, Frank takes cues from flat-file content management systems like Kirby or Stacey but purposefully does excruciatingly less. It's probably most useful for providing an easy way to structure data for single-page websites, though it could easily be combined with a router to build more complex things.

Getting Started

Your content directory will be turned into a useful object. A single site() method is exposed for accessing this object:

# app.php
require('frank.php');
$frank = new Frank(); // optionally pass in path to your content

print_r($frank->site()); // site object

To install, download Frank and place it into your project. Create a content directory (by default a Frank instance will look for this directory parallel to itself in ./content, but you can name this anything and place this anywhere) and add some content.

Structuring Content

Your content directory can be organized basically any way you like:

# Example Directory Structure

content/
	1-projects/
		1-projectA/
			1.jpg
			2.jpg
			info.json
		2-projectB/
			1.jpg
			2.jpg
			info.json
		projectC/
			1.jpg
			info.json
	2-about/
		info.json

The Frank site object for that directory would look like:

# Example Site Object

stdClass Object (
	[projects] => stdClass Object (
		[projectA] => stdClass Object (
			[images] => Array (
				[0] => ./content/1-projects/1-projectA/1.jpg
				[1] => ./content/1-projects/1-projectA/2.jpg
			)
			[info] => stdClass Object (
				[name] => Project A
			)
		)
		[projectB] => stdClass Object (
			[images] => Array (
				[0] => ./content/1-projects/2-projectB/1.jpg
				[1] => ./content/1-projects/2-projectB/2.jpg
			)
			[info] => stdClass Object (
				[name] => Project B
			)
		)
	)
	[about] => stdClass Object (
		[info] => stdClass Object (
			[about] => Some about text.
		)
	)
)

Directories

Directories should be named with url-safe characters. Directories are arranged by a numerical index prepended to the directory name. If a directory name is not prepended with an index, Frank will ignore the directory entirely. This is useful for super quick deactivation of data.

Images

Any images within a directory are placed into an array() images

Info

An info.json file within a directory is decoded and the results placed into an array() info

Files

Any additional files within a directory are placed into an array() files

Notes

Frank can, should, and probably will, be made more robust. For the moment, you should name your directories with slug friendly characters and be aware that certain files could break Frank entirely. Currently I use Frank in combination with caching in a sort of faux static-site scenario. Drop bugs or suggestions into Issues, if you'd like.