A Simple but Powerful Flat File Database Storage. No need for MySQL or a expensive SQL server, in fact you just need your current site or application setup. All database entries are stored in files (formatted the way you like).
You can even modify the raw data within the files themselves without ever needing to use the API. And even better you can put all your files in version control and pass them to your team without having out-of-sync SQL databases.
Doesn't that sound awesome?
With Filebase, you are in complete control. Design your data structure the way you want. Use arrays and objects like you know how in php, and update and share your data with others and teams using version control. Just remember, upgrading your web/apache server is a lot less than your database server.
Filebase is simple by design, but also has enough features for even the more advanced.
- Key-value and Multidimensional Data Storing
- Querying data
- Custom filters
- Caching (queries)
- File locking (on save)
- Customizable formatting (encode/decode)
- Validation (on save)
- CRUD (method APIs)
Use Composer to install package.
Run composer require tmarois/filebase for the latest features under version 1
If you want to modify the composer.json manually, add "tmarois/filebase" : "^1.0" to your required
You do not need to use composer, just download the files, and include it within your application, it does not have any dependencies, you will just need to keep it updated with any future releases.
// setting the access and configration to your database
$database = new \Filebase\Database([
'dir' => 'path/to/database/dir'
]);
// in this example, you would search an exact user name
// It would technically be stored as user_name.json in the directories
$item = $database->get('kingslayer');
// display property values
echo $item->first_name;
echo $item->last_name;
echo $item->email;
// change existing or add new properties
$item->email = 'example@example.com';
$item->tags = ['php','developer','html5'];
// need to save? thats easy!
$item->save();
// Need to find all the users that have a tag for "php" ?
$users = $db->query()->where('tags','IN','php')->results();
// Need to search for all the users who use @yahoo.com email addresses?
$users = $db->query()->where('email','LIKE','@yahoo.com')->results();The config is required when defining your database. The options are optional since they have defaults.
Usage Example (all options)
$db = new \Filebase\Database([
'dir' => 'path/to/database/dir',
'format' => \Filebase\Format\Json::class,
'cache' => true,
'cache_expires' => 1800,
'pretty' => true,
'validate' => [
'name' => [
'valid.type' => 'string',
'valid.required' => true
]
]
]);| Name | Type | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
dir |
string | current directory | The directory where the database files are stored. |
format |
object | \Filebase\Format\Json |
The format class used to encode/decode data |
validate |
array | Check Validation Rules for more details | |
cache |
bool | false | Stores query results into cache for faster loading. |
cache_expire |
int | 1800 | How long caching will last (in seconds) |
pretty |
bool | true | Store the data for human readability? Pretty Print |
Format Class is what defines the encoding and decoding of data within your database files.
You can write your own or change the existing format class in the config. The methods in the class must be static and the class must implement \Filebase\Format\FormatInterface
The Default Format Class: JSON
\Filebase\Format\Json::classAfter you've loaded up your database config, then you can use the get() method to retrieve a single document of data.
// my user id
$userId = '92832711';
// get the user information by id
$item = $db->get($userId);get() returns \Filebase\Document object and has its own methods which you can call.
| Method | Details |
|---|---|
save() |
Saves document in current state |
delete() |
Deletes current document (can not be undone) |
toArray() |
Array of items in document |
getId() |
Document Id |
createdAt() |
Document was created (default Y-m-d H:i:s) |
updatedAt() |
Document was updated (default Y-m-d H:i:s) |
field() |
You can also use . dot delimiter to find values from nested arrays |
isCache() |
(true/false) if the current document is loaded from cache |
customFilter() |
Refer to the Custom Filters |
Example:
// get the timestamp when the user was created
echo $db->get($userId)->createdAt();
// grabbing a specific field "tags" within the user
// in this case, tags might come back as an array ["php","html","javascript"]
$user_tags = $db->get($userId)->field('tags');
// or if "tags" is nested in the user data, such as about[tags]
$user_tags = $db->get($userId)->field('about.tags');
// and of course you can do this as well for getting "tags"
$user = $db->get($userId);
$user_tags = $user->tags;
$user_tags = $user->about['tags'];As listed in the above example, its very simple. Use $item->save(), the save() method will either Create or Update an existing document by default. It will log all changes with createdAt and updatedAt. If you want to replace all data within a single document pass the new data in the save($data) method, otherwise don't pass any data to allow it to save the current instance.
// SAVE or CREATE
// this will save the current data and any changed variables
// but it will leave existing variables that you did not modify unchanged.
// This will also create a document if none exist.
$item->title = 'My Document';
$item->save()
// This will replace all data within the document
// Allows you to reset the document and put in fresh data
// Ignoring any above changes or changes to variables, since
// This sets its own within the save method.
$item->save([
'title' => 'My Document'
]);
// DELETE
// This will delete the current document
// This action can not be undone.
$item->delete();$db = new \Filebase\Database($config);Here is a list of methods you can use on the database class.
| Method | Details |
|---|---|
get() |
Refer to get() |
findAll() |
Returns all documents in database |
count() |
Number of documents in database |
flush(true) |
Deletes all documents. |
flushCache() |
Clears all the cache |
truncate() |
Deletes all documents. Alias of flush(true) |
query() |
Refer to the Queries< DD58 /td> |
Examples
$users = new \Filebase\Database([
'dir' => '/storage/users',
]);
// displays number of users in the database
echo $users->count();
// Find All Users and display their email addresses
$users->findAll();
foreach($users as $user)
{
echo $user->email;
// you can also run GET methods on each user (document found)
// Displays when the user was created.
echo $user->createdAt();
}
// deletes all users in the database
// this action CAN NOT be undone (be warned)
$users->flush(true);When invoking save() method, the document will be checked for validation rules (if set).
These rules MUST pass in order for the document to save.
$db = new \Filebase\Database([
'dir' => '/path/to/database/dir',
'validate' => [
'name' => [
'valid.type' => 'string',
'valid.required' => true
],
'description' => [
'valid.type' => 'string',
'valid.required' => false
],
'emails' => [
'valid.type' => 'array',
'valid.required' => true
],
'config' => [
'settings' => [
'valid.type' => 'array',
'valid.required' => true
]
]
]
]);In the above example name, description, emails and config array keys would be replaced with your own that match your data. Notice that config has a nested array settings, yes you can nest validations.
Validation rules:
| Name | Allowed Values | Description |
|---|---|---|
valid.type |
string, str, integer, int, array |
Checks if the property is the current type |
valid.required |
true, false |
Checks if the property is on the document |
NOTE Custom filters only run on a single document
Item filters allow you to customize the results, and do simple querying. These filters are great if you have an array of items within one document. Let's say you store "users" as an array in users.json, then you could create a filter to show you all the users that have a specific tag, or field matching a specific value.
This example will output all the emails of users who are blocked.
// Use [data] for all items within the document
// But be sure that each array item uses the same format
$users = $db->get('users')->customFilter('data',function($item) {
return (($item['status']=='blocked') ? $item['email'] : false);
});
// Nested Arrays?
// This uses NESTED properties. If the users array was stored as an array inside [list]
// You can also use `.` dot delimiter to get arrays from nested arrays
$users = $db->get('users')->customFilter('list.users',function($item) {
return (($item['status']=='blocked') ? $item['email'] : false);
});Queries allow you to search multiple documents and return only the ones that match your criteria.
If caching is enabled, queries will use findAll() and then cache results for the next run.
// Simple (equal to) Query
// return all the users that are blocked.
$users = $db->query()->where(['status' => 'blocked'])->results();
// Stackable WHERE clauses
// return all the users who are blocked,
// AND have "php" within the tag array
$users = $db->query()
->where('status','=','blocked')
->andWhere('tag','IN','php')
->results();
// You can also use `.` dot delimiter to use on nested keys
$users = $db->query()->where('status.language.english','=','blocked')->results();
// Limit Example: Same query as above, except we only want to limit the results to 10
$users = $db->query()->where('status.language.english','=','blocked')->limit(10)->results();
// Query LIKE Example: how about find all users that have a gmail account?
$usersWithGmail = $db->query()->where('email','LIKE','@gmail.com')->results();
// OrderBy Example: From the above query, what if you want to order the results by nested array
$usersWithGmail = $db->query()
->where('email','LIKE','@gmail.com')
->orderBy('profile.name', 'ASC')
->results();
// or just order the results by email address
$usersWithGmail = $db->query()
->where('email','LIKE','@gmail.com')
->orderBy('email', 'ASC')
->results();
// this will get the user that has the most page views (and returning 1 result)
$user = $db->query()->orderBy('page_views', 'DESC')->first();
// print out the user name
echo $user['name'];
// What about regex search? Finds emails within a field
$users = $db->query()->where('email','REGEX','/[a-z\d._%+-]+@[a-z\d.-]+\.[a-z]{2,4}\b/i')->results();
To run the query use results() or resultDocuments() or first() if you want only the first item
where()paramarrayfor simple "equal to" ORwhere($field, $operator, $value)andWhere()optional seewhere(), uses the logicalANDorWhere()optional seewhere(), this uses the logicalORlimit()optional limit/offset resultslimit($number, $offset)orderBy()optional orders the resultsorderBy($field, $direction),$direction=ASCorDESC
These methods execute the query and return results (do not try to use them together)
first()Returns only the first query result (if you only want to return 1 item)results()This will return all the document data as an array.resultDocuments()This will return all the document objects
| Name | Details |
|---|---|
= or == |
Equality |
=== |
Strict Equality |
!= |
Not Equals |
NOT |
Not Equals (same as !=) |
!== |
Strict Not Equals |
> |
Greater than |
>= |
Greater than or equal |
< |
Less than |
<= |
Less than or equal |
IN |
Checks if the value is within a array |
LIKE |
case-insensitive regex expression search |
NOT LIKE |
case-insensitive regex expression search (opposite) |
REGEX |
Regex search |
If caching is enabled, it will automatically store your results from queries into sub-directories within your database directory.
Cached queries will only be used if a specific saved cache is less than the expire time, otherwise it will use live data and automatically replace the existing cache for next time use.
I originally built Filebase because I needed more flexibility, control over the database files, how they are stored, query filtration and a design with very intuitive API methods.
Inspired by Flywheel and Flinetone.
Accepting contributions and feedback. Send in any issues and pull requests.
- Indexing (adding indexed "tags" for all document searching)
- Indexing (single document filtering, applied with all
save()actions from validation closure) - Internal validations..security etc.
- Cache driver (to use on other services like memcached, redis etc)