# Lotus
A complete web framework for Ruby
## Frameworks
Lotus combines small yet powerful frameworks:
* [**Lotus::Utils**](https://github.com/lotus/utils) - Ruby core extensions and class utilities
* [**Lotus::Router**](https://github.com/lotus/router) - Rack compatible HTTP router for Ruby
* [**Lotus::Validations**](https://github.com/lotus/validations) - Validation mixin for Ruby objects
* [**Lotus::Helpers**](https://github.com/lotus/helpers) - View helpers for Ruby applications
* [**Lotus::Model**](https://github.com/lotus/model) - Persistence with entities, repositories and data mapper
* [**Lotus::View**](https://github.com/lotus/view) - Presentation with a separation between views and templates
* [**Lotus::Controller**](https://github.com/lotus/controller) - Full featured, fast and testable actions for Rack
These components are designed to be used independently or together in a Lotus application.
If you aren't familiar with them, please take time to go through their READMEs.
## Status
[](http://badge.fury.io/rb/lotusrb)
[](http://travis-ci.org/lotus/lotus?branch=master)
[](https://coveralls.io/r/lotus/lotus)
[](https://codeclimate.com/github/lotus/lotus)
[](https://gemnasium.com/lotus/lotus)
[](http://inch-ci.org/github/lotus/lotus)
## Contact
* Home page: http://lotusrb.org
* Mailing List: http://lotusrb.org/mailing-list
* API Doc: http://rdoc.info/gems/lotusrb
* Bugs/Issues: https://github.com/lotus/lotus/issues
* Support: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/lotus-ruby
* Forum: https://discuss.lotusrb.org
* Chat: http://chat.lotusrb.org
## Rubies
__Lotus__ supports Ruby (MRI) 2+
## Installation
```shell
% gem install lotusrb
```
## Usage
```shell
% lotus new bookshelf
% cd bookshelf && bundle
% bundle exec lotus server # visit http://localhost:2300
```
## Architectures
Lotus is a modular web framework.
It scales from **single file HTTP endpoints** to **multiple applications in the same Ruby process**.
Unlike other Ruby web frameworks, Lotus has **flexible conventions for code structure**.
Developers can arrange the layout of their projects as they prefer.
There is a suggested architecture that can be easily changed with a few settings.
Lotus encourages the use of Ruby namespaces. This is based on the experience of working on dozens of projects.
By using Ruby namespaces, as your code grows it can be split with less effort. In other words, Lotus is providing gentle guidance for **avoiding monolithic applications**.
Lotus has a smart **mechanism of duplication of its frameworks**.
It allows multiple copies of the framework and multiple applications to run in the **same Ruby process**.
In other words, Lotus applications are ready to be split into smaller parts, but these parts can coexist in the same heap space.
All this adaptability can be helpful to bend the framework for your advanced requirements, but we recognize the need for guidance in standard architectures.
For this reason Lotus is shipped with code generators.
### _Container_ architecture
**TL;DR: Develop your application like a gem. Implement use cases in `lib/`. Use one or more Lotus applications in `apps/`.**
This is the default architecture. Use it when you are ready to begin a new project.
The core of this architecture lives in `lib/`, where developers should build features **independently from the delivery mechanism**.
Imagine you are building a personal finance application, and you have a feature called _"register expense."_ This functionality involves `Money` and `Expense` Ruby objects and the need for persisting data into a database. You can have those classes living in `lib/pocket/money.rb` and `lib/pocket/expense.rb` and use [Lotus::Model](https://github.com/lotus/model) to persist them.
It's based on a few simple concepts: **use cases** and **applications**.
Use cases (features) should be implemented in `lib/` with a combination of pure objects and the needed Ruby gems.
One or more Lotus applications live in `apps/`. They are isolated from each other, and depend only on the code in `lib/`.
Each application should serve only one purpose: user-facing web application, administrative backend, JSON API, metrics dashboard, etc.
This architecture has important advantages:
* **Code reusability.** You can consume a feature from the Web UI or from a HTTP API. Each can be a different Lotus application or simple Rack-based endpoints.
* **Decoupled components.** The core of your application depends only on a few gems and it doesn't need to worry about the Web/HTTP/Console/Background jobs.
* **Applications are built like gems.** This eases the process of packaging and sharing them among projects, without the need for many dependencies.
* **Avoid monoliths**. Each Lotus application under `apps/` is a candidate for later extraction into a separated [_microservice_](http://martinfowler.com/articles/microservices.html).
The last point is crucial. In the early days of a new project it is convenient to build and deploy all the code together.
However, as time passes, it can become nearly impossible to extract sets of cohesive functionalities into separated deliverables.
Lotus helps to plan those things ahead of time, but without the burden that is required by those choices, because it supports multiple applications natively.
Here's the name _**container**_: a Lotus _"shell"_ that can run multiple micro applications in the same process.
```shell
% lotus new pocket --arch=container
% lotus new pocket # --arch=container is the default
```
Read more about this [architecture](https://github.com/lotus/lotus/wiki/Container-architecture).
### _Application_ architecture
_upcoming_
### _Micro_ architecture
_upcoming_
## Conventions
* Lotus expects controllers, actions and views to have a specific pattern (see [Configuration](#configuration) for customizations)
* All the commands must be run from the root of the project. If this requirement cannot be satisfied, please hardcode the path with `Configuration#root`.
* The template name must reflect the name of the corresponding view: `Bookshelf::Views::Dashboard::Index` for `dashboard/index.html.erb`.
* All static files are served by the internal Rack middleware stack.
* The application expects to find static files under `public/` (see `Configuration#assets`)
* If the public folder doesn't exist, it doesn't serve static files.
## Non-Conventions
* The application structure can be organized according to developer needs.
* No file-to-name convention: modules and classes can live in one or multiple files.
* No autoloading paths. They must be explicitly configured.
## Configuration
A Lotus application can be configured with a DSL that determines its behavior.
```ruby
require 'lotus'
module Bookshelf
class Application < Lotus::Application
configure do
########################
# BASIC CONFIGURATIONS #
########################
# Determines the root of the application (optional)
# Argument: String, Pathname, defaults to Dir.pwd
#
root 'path/to/root' # or __root__
# The relative load paths where the application will recursively load the code (mandatory)
# Argument: String, Array, defaults to empty set
#
load_paths << [
'controllers',
'views'
]
# Handle exceptions with HTTP statuses (true) or don't catch them (false)
# Argument: boolean, defaults to true
#
handle_exceptions true
#######################
# HTTP CONFIGURATIONS #
#######################
# The route set (mandatory)
# Argument: Proc with the routes definition
#
routes do
get '/', to: 'home#index'
end
# The route set (mandatory) (alternative usage)
# Argument: A relative path where to find the routes definition
#
routes 'config/routes'
# URI scheme used by the routing system to generate absolute URLs (optional)
# Argument: A string, default to "http"
#
scheme 'https'
# URI host used by the routing system to generate absolute URLs (optional)
# Argument: A string, default to "localhost"
#
host 'bookshelf.org'
# URI port used by the routing system to generate absolute URLs (optional)
# Argument: An object coercible to integer, default to 80 if the scheme is http and 443 if it's https
# This SHOULD be configured only in case the application listens to that non standard ports
#
port 2323
# Toggle cookies (optional)
# Argument: A [`TrueClass`, `FalseClass`], default to `FalseClass`.
#
cookies true
# Toggle sessions (optional)
# Argument: Symbol the Rack session adapter
# A Hash with options
#
sessions :cookie, secret: ENV['SESSIONS_SECRET']
# Default format for the requests that don't specify an HTTP_ACCEPT header (optional)
# Argument: A symbol representation of a mime type, default to :html
#
default_format :json
# Rack middleware configuration (optional)
#
middleware.use Rack::Protection
# HTTP Body parsers (optional)
# Parse non GET responses body for a specific mime type
# Argument: Symbol, which represent the format of the mime type (only `:json` is supported)
# Object, the parser
#
body_parsers :json, MyXMLParser.new
###########################
# DATABASE CONFIGURATIONS #
###########################
# Configure a database adapter (optional)
# Argument: A Hash with the settings
# type: Symbol, :file_system, :memory and :sql
# uri: String, 'file:///db/bookshelf'
# 'memory://localhost/bookshelf'
# 'sqlite:memory:'
# 'sqlite://db/bookshelf.sqlite3'
# 'postgres://localhost/bookshelf'
# 'mysql://localhost/bookshelf'
#
adapter type: :file_system, uri: ENV['DATABASE_URL']
# Configure a database mapping (optional)
# Argument: Proc
#
mapping do
collection :users do
entity User
repository UserRepository
attribute :id, Integer
attribute :name, String
end
end
# Configure a database mapping (optional, alternative usage)
# Argument: A relative path where to find the mapping definitions
#
mapping 'config/mapping'
############################
# TEMPLATES CONFIGURATIONS #
############################
# The layout to be used by all the views (optional)
# Argument: A Symbol that indicates the name, default to nil
#
layout :application # Will look for Bookshelf::Views::ApplicationLayout
# The relative path where to find the templates (optional)
# Argument: A string with the relative path, default to the root of the app
#
templates 'templates'
#########################
# ASSETS CONFIGURATIONS #
#########################
# Specify sources for assets (optional)
# Argument: String, Array, defaults to 'public'
#
assets << [
'public',
'vendor/assets'
]
# Enabling serving assets (optional)
# Argument: boolean, defaults to false
#
serve_assets true
###########################
# SECURITY CONFIGURATIONS #
###########################
# Set a default value for X-Frame-Options HTTP header
# Argument: String
# Remove this line to disable this feature
#
security.x_frame_options "DENY"
# Set a default value for Content-Security-Policy HTTP header
# Argument: String
# Remove this line to disable this feature
#
security.content_security_policy "default-src 'none'; script-src 'self'; connect-src 'self'; img-src 'self'; style-src 'self';"
#############################
# FRAMEWORKS CONFIGURATIONS #
#############################
# Low level configuration for Lotus::View (optional)
# The given block will be yielded every time `Lotus::View` is included.
# This is helpful to share logic between views
# See the related documentation
# Argument: Proc
#
view.prepare do
include Lotus::Helpers # they will be included in all the views
end
# Low level configuration for Lotus::Controller (optional)
# Argument: Proc
controller.prepare do
include Authentication # included by all the actions
before :authenticate! # run auth logic before each action
end
end
###############################
# ENVIRONMENTS CONFIGURATIONS #
###############################
configure :development do
# override the general configuration only for the development environment
handle_exceptions false
serve_assets true
end
configure :test do
# override the general configuration only for the test environment
host 'test.host'
end
end
end
```
## Command line
Lotus provides a few command line utilities:
### Server
It looks at the `config.ru` file in the root of the application, and starts the Rack server defined in your `Gemfile` (eg. puma, thin, unicorn). It defaults to WEBRick.
It supports **code reloading** feature by default, useful for development purposes.
```shell
% bundle exec lotus server
```
### Generators
#### Action generator
It generates an **action**, a **view**, a **template**, a **route** and the relative unit tests.
```shell
% bundle exec lotus generate action web dashboard#index
```
The `web` argument is the name of the application under `apps/`.
The `dashboard#index` argument is the name of the controller and the name of the action.
It generates Minitest/RSpec files according to `test` setting in `.lotusrc`.
It generates an empty template with the template engine extension (`template`) setting in `.lotusrc`.
It generates the following files:
* `apps/web/controllers/dashboard/index.rb`
* `spec/web/controllers/dashboard/index_spec.rb`
* `apps/web/views/dashboard/index.rb`
* `spec/web/views/dashboard/index_spec.rb`
* `apps/web/templates/dashboard/index.html.erb` (**empty file**)
* Amend `apps/web/config/routes.rb` with a new route
### Console
It starts a REPL, by using the engine defined in your `Gemfile`. It defaults to IRB. **Run it from the root of the application**.
```shell
% bundle exec lotus console
```
### Database console
It starts a database REPL, by looking at your database configuration under `lib/. **Run it from the root of the application**.
```shell
% bundle exec lotus db console
```
It supports **code reloading** via the `reload!` command.
### Routes
It prints the routes defined by the Lotus application(s).
```shell
% bundle exec lotus routes
```
### Version
It prints the current Lotus version.
```shell
% bundle exec lotus version
```
## Contributing
1. Fork it ( https://github.com/lotus/lotus/fork )
2. Create your feature branch (`git checkout -b my-new-feature`)
3. Commit your changes (`git commit -am 'Add some feature'`)
4. Push to the branch (`git push origin my-new-feature`)
5. Create a new Pull Request
## Versioning
__Lotus__ uses [Semantic Versioning 2.0.0](http://semver.org)
## Copyright
Copyright © 2014-2015 Luca Guidi – Released under MIT License