Installation and Setup
There are three main ways you can download and start using Cora. The easiest is going to be just using Composer, the 2nd easiest would be to clone the Github repository, and lastly you could just download the ZIP off Github. See below for instructions for each. First before you do that though, make sure you have the needed supporting software running on your machine.
Setting Up A Computer For PHP Development
Throughout this documentation there are a few pieces of software which are assumed to be on your computer. If you don't have these programs, then you'll need to get them if you want to follow along with any examples we give.
Required: "AMP" stack
Firstly, it is necessary you have some sort of "AMP" stack available on your computer. If you aren't familiar with this term, it's usually short for
Apache+MySQL+PHP, but is used as a catch-all term for having a web server (like Apache), a database solution (such as MySQL),
and a programming language (such as PHP or Python). If you are just getting into development work and do not already have this
setup available on your computer, see below for some recommendations on getting that in place:
- If you are using Windows or Linux, we'd recommend trying XAMPP.
- If you are using a Mac, we'd recommend trying MAMP.
Required: Git
Git is a type of version control software. Its most important feature is it allows multiple developers
to work on a project at the same time by automatically (mostly) combining the code written and allowing
each developer to grab the latest version of the codebase when someone else submits changes. However,
it's also highly useful when working alone too. It will allow you to easily undo code if you break something
and want to return your project to an earlier point in time, it will allow you to work on multiple in-progress
new features simultaneously without worrying about one partially finished feature screwing things up for another piece, etc.
So it's essential if you end up working in a team, and useful if you're by yourself, and overall a REALLY good habit to get used
to using it. Pretty much all software developers use Git nowadays.
To install Git:
- Your best bet is probably to download Github Desktop which includes a copy of Git with it: Github Desktop.
- Alternatively you can check out the installation options here.
Required: Terminal/Powershell Window
Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) are what made computing friendly for the average Joe Shmo and lead us to the digitally connected society
we have today. However, if you're planning on getting into development work, you'll find it much easier to do if you get familar with using a terminal.
A terminal is just a text interface where you can give your computer commands. If you want to learn more about how to use terminals, try Googling
"beginnners guide to using a terminal" and some results will pop up.
- Using Windows: Search your computer for "Powershell". Then make a shortcut to Windows Powershell where you can easily access it. It's important to note that the Git install adds Unix style commands to it which you will need to follow along with our tutorials - SO MAKE SURE YOU INSTALL GIT from the instructions above!
- Using a Mac: We'd recommend you download iTerm2.
- Using Linux: Let's be honest... you don't need me to tell you how to access the terminal. cough likey Ctrl+Alt+T cough
Highly Recommended: Composer
Composer is a dependancy manager that helps you install and update software libraries (aka code written by other people that
you end up using in your project). This includes Cora itself! You can use Composer as an easy way to install Cora (instructions in the
Installation Using Composer section below) and update to the latest version of Cora later on down the road if a newer release comes out
after you've already started your project (see HERE for details on using Composer with Cora).
- To download Composer go here https://getcomposer.org/.
Installation Using Composer
Open up a Terminal window and navigate to the location where you'd like to put the Cora folder that holds the project files. If you are installing to your root web directory, typically this will be named "htdocs" or "public_html".
Mac
For instance: if you're using a Mac and installed MAMP, you probably want to navigate to
cd /Applications/MAMP/htdocs
Windows
If you're using Windows and installed XAMPP, you likely want to go to
cd C:\xampp\htdocs
Get Cora
Once you are at the location you want to install Cora to, type:
php composer.phar create-project cora/cora
OR if you installed Composer globally as part of your PATH (which we'd recommend doing if you know how) type:
composer create-project cora/cora
That's it! If all went well you should now have a folder named "Cora" in your specified directory.
Installation Using Git
Open up a Terminal window and navigate to the location where you'd like to put the Cora folder that holds the project files. If you are installing to your root web directory, typically this will be named "htdocs" or "public_html". For instance: if you're using a Mac and installed MAMP, you probably want to navigate to
cd /Applications/MAMP/htdocs
If you're using Windows and installed XAMPP, you likely want to go to
cd C:\xampp\htdocs
Once you are at the location you want to install Cora to, type:
git clone https://github.com/joebubna/Cora.git
That's it! If all went well you should now have a folder named "Cora" in your specified directory.
Installation From ZIP File
Go to https://github.com/joebubna/Cora and click the "Download ZIP" button on the right hand side of the page. Use your Finder or File Explorer in your OS and go to your web directory (probably either "C:\xampp\htdocs" if you're on Windows or "/Applications/MAMP/htdocs" if you're on a Mac). Unpack the contents of the ZIP file into this directory.
That's it! If all went well you should now have a folder named "Cora" in your specified directory.
Configuration to Get it Working
There's a few configuration options that might need to be setup first before you can start using Cora. Click below to continue to the Configuration instructions.