Environment Setup and Installation

ThinkPHP 8 requires specific environment configurations. Ensure your system meets these prerequisites:

• PHP 8.0 or higher
• MySQL 5.7+
• Web server (Apache/Nginx recommended)

For local development, use a PHP environment manager like phpEnv:

# Download and install phpEnv
wget https://www.phpenv.cn/download/latest
sudo bash installer.sh

# Configure services
phpEnv configure --enable-apache --php-version=8.2 --mysql-version=8.0

# Start services
phpEnv start

After installation, verify PHP by accessing http://localhost in your browser.

ThinkPHP 8 Installation

Install ThinkPHP 8 using Composer:

# Install Composer if not already installed
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

# Create new ThinkPHP project
composer create-project topthink/think my-project

# Configure Composer to use domestic mirror for faster downloads
composer config -g repo.packagist composer https://mirrors.aliyun.com/composer/

Start the development server:

cd my-project
php think run

Access your application at http://localhost:8000.

Project Structure and Configuration

ThinkPHP 8 follows PSR-4 standards with this directory structure:

• app/ - Application code
• config/ - Configurasion files
• public/ - Web root directory
• runtime/ - Runtime files

Enable debug mode during development:

// .env file
APP_DEBUG = true

Database Configuration

Configure database connections in config/database.php:

// config/database.php
return [
    'default' => env('database.driver', 'mysql'),
    'connections' => [
        'mysql' => [
            'type' => 'mysql',
            'hostname' => env('database.host', '127.0.0.1'),
            'database' => env('database.name', 'demo'),
            'username' => env('database.user', 'root'),
            'password' => env('database.pass', 'password'),
            'hostport' => env('database.port', '3306'),
            'charset' => env('database.charset', 'utf8'),
        ]
    ]
];

Basic Database Operations

Perform database operations using the Query Builder:

// Select all records
$customers = Db::name('customers')->select();

// Insert new record
Db::name('customers')->insert([
    'name' => 'John Doe',
    'email' => 'john@example.com',
    'age' => 30
]);

// Update record
Db::name('customers')->where('id', 1)->update(['age' => 31]);

// Delete record
Db::name('customers')->delete(1);

Model Layer

Create models for database interactions:

// app/model/Customer.php
namespace app\model;

use think\Model;

class Customer extends Model
{
    // Define table name if different from model name
    protected $name = 'customers';
    
    // Define primary key
    protected $pk = 'id';
}

Use models in controllers:

// app/controller/Customer.php
namespace app\controller;

use app\model\Customer;

class CustomerController
{
    public function index()
    {
        $customers = Customer::select();
        return json($customers);
    }
}

Routing System

Define routes in route/app.php:

// route/app.php
use think\facade\Route;

Route::get('customers', 'Customer/index');
Route::post('customers', 'Customer/save');
Route::get('customers/:id', 'Customer/read');
Route::put('customers/:id', 'Customer/update');
Route::delete('customers/:id', 'Customer/delete');

Request Handling

Process incoming requests:

// app/controller/Customer.php
namespace app\controller;

use think\Request;

class CustomerController
{
    public function save(Request $request)
    {
        $data = $request->post();
        // Validate and save data
        return json(['status' => 'success']);
    }
}

Validation

Create validation rules:

// app/validate/Customer.php
namespace app\validate;

use think\Validate;

class Customer extends Validate
{
    protected $rule = [
        'name' => 'require|max:25',
        'email' => 'email',
        'age' => 'number|between:18,60'
    ];
    
    protected $message = [
        'name.require' => 'Name is required',
        'email.email' => 'Email format is incorrect',
        'age.between' => 'Age must be between 18 and 60'
    ];
}

Use validation in controllers:

// app/controller/Customer.php
namespace app\controller;

use app\validate\Customer as CustomerValidate;

class CustomerController
{
    public function save()
    {
        $validate = new CustomerValidate();
        $data = input('post.');
        
        if (!$validate->check($data)) {
            return json(['status' => 'error', 'message' => $validate->getError()]);
        }
        
        // Process valid data
    }
}

Middleware

Create custom middleware:

// app/middleware/Auth.php
namespace app\middleware;

class Auth
{
    public function handle($request, \Closure $next)
    {
        if (!session('user')) {
            return redirect('login');
        }
        
        return $next($request);
    }
}

Register middleware in middleware.php:

// app/middleware.php
return [
    app\middleware\Auth::class
];

Views and Templates

Create views in the view/ directory:

// app/controller/Customer.php
namespace app\controller;

class CustomerController
{
    public function index()
    {
        $customers = Customer::select();
        return view('customer/index', ['customers' => $customers]);
    }
}

Create the corresponding view file:

// view/customer/index.html
<html>
<head><title>Customers</title></head>
<body>
    <h1>Customer List</h1>
    <table>
        <tr><th>Name</th><th>Email</th><th>Age</th></tr>
        {foreach $customers as $customer}
        <tr>
            <td>{$customer.name}</td>
            <td>{$customer.email}</td>
            <td>{$customer.age}</td>
        </tr>
        {/foreach}
    </table>
</body>
</html>

Session and Cache

Manage sessions:

// Set session
session('user', ['id' => 1, 'name' => 'John Doe']);

// Get session
$user = session('user');

// Clear session
session(null);

Use cache for performance:

// Set cache
Cache::set('config', ['key' => 'value'], 3600);

// Get cache
$config = Cache::get('config');

// Delete cache
Cache::delete('config');

File Uploads

Handle file uploads:

// app/controller/Upload.php
namespace app\controller;

class Upload
{
    public function save()
    {
        $file = request()->file('image');
        $savename = Filesystem::putFile('images', $file);
        return json(['savename' => $savename]);
    }
}

Pagination

Implement pagination:

// app/controller/Customer.php
namespace app\controller;

class CustomerController
{
    public function index()
    {
        $list = Customer::paginate(10);
        return view('customer/index', ['list' => $list]);
    }
}

In the view:

// view/customer/index.html
<div>{$list->render()}</div>

Advanced Features

ThinkPHP 8 supports advanced features like:

• RESTful API development
• WebSocket support
• Queue system
• Task scheduling
• Event system