Windows

Table of contents

1. Overview
2. Common
3. XAMPP
4. Standalone PHP
   
   

1. Overview Table of Contents

This guide shows you how to setup this framework on Windows. There are two ways to achieve this as described below.

1. XAMPP
2. Install only dependencies needed with standalone PHP.
   

2. Common Table of Contents

1: Install Composer - Chocolatey Install Highly Recommended (Skip until later if installing XAMPP)

• A. Download Composer Installer
  • Visit Composer’s official site and download the Windows installer.
• B. Run the Installer
  • During installation, ensure it detects php.exe in C:\php.
• C. Verify Installation
  • Open Command Prompt and run:

    composer -V
    

  • You should see the Composer version output.

OR

Install with Chocolatey

choco install composer -y

2: Install Node.js and npm

• A. Download Node.js
  • Go to Node.js official site.
  • Download and install the LTS version (includes npm).
• B. Verify Installation
  • Open Command Prompt and check versions:

    node -v
    npm -v
    

  • These should return the installed versions.

OR

Install with Chocolatey

choco install node-lts

3. Install 7zip

• A. Download the Installer
  • Go to the official 7-Zip website: 👉 https://www.7-zip.org/download.html
  • Choose the right version for your architecture.
• B. Run the installer:
  • Open the downloaded .exe file.
  • Click Install.
  • Once finished, click Close.
• C. Verify Installation
  • Open the Command Prompt (Win + R → type "cmd" → Enter).
  • Run:

      7z
    

  • If installed correctly, it will show 7-Zip’s version and help menu.

OR

Install with Chocolatey:

choco install 7zip -y

3. XAMPP Table of Contents

1: Setup

• A. Open browser and go to https://www.apachefriends.org/ and download XAMPP for Windows.
• B. Select download location and run installer using default options.
• D. If you get a dialog box asking “Do you want to allow public and private networks to access this app?” for Apache select Allow
• E. Install Composer using the instructions described above. We recommend using Chocolatey.
• F. cd to C:\xampp\htdocs using the terminal.
• G. Cone the project:

  git clone git@github.com:chapmancbVCU/chappy-php.git
  

If permission issues arise, running CMD as Administrator might be needed.

• H. cd into project and run the command:

  composer run install-project
  

• I. Open the project with your preferred IDE. We use VScode.
• J. In the terminal run the command:

  php console serve
  

• K. In a new terminal tab run the command:

  npm run dev
  

• L. Navigate to localhost:8000 in your preferred web browser.

2. Using with XAMPP

• A. Open XAMPP Control Panel.
• B. Start Apache and MySQL
• C. If you get a dialog box asking “Do you want to allow public and private networks to access this app?” for mysqld select Allow
• D. In your browser navigate to localhost/phpmyadmin
• In the left panel click on the New link.
• E. In the main panel under Create Database enter the name for your database.
• F. Click create.
• G. Open the .env file.
• H. Set APP_DOMAIN TO http://localhost/chappy-php/. If you renamed your project directory then the second portion of the URL must match. The URL must have the last forward slash. Otherwise, the page and routing will not work correctly.
• I. Update the database section:

  # Set to mysql or mariadb for production
  DB_CONNECTION=mysql
  DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
  DB_PORT=3306
  # Set to your database name for production
  DB_DATABASE=chappy
  DB_USER=root
  # DB_PASSWORD=
  

• J. Run the command:

  npm run dev
  

• K. Open browser and navigate to http://localhost/chappy-php/home.
  

2. Standalone PHP Table of Contents

1: Install PHP 8.3+

• A Install with Composer
  • Install Composer using Chocolately as described above. PHP, which is a dependency will automatically be installed. When setting up as standalone without XAMPP you can skip to Setup the Project. If you change your mind later on, you will need to remove both Composer and PHP along with any values set in the SYSTEM path. Installing PHP with this method will install PHP 8.4 at C:\tools\php<ver_number>.

OR

• B. Download PHP
  • Go to the official Windows PHP downloads.
  • Download the latest PHP 8.3+ (Thread Safe) zip package.
• C. Extract and Set Up PHP
  • Extract the downloaded ZIP to C:\php.
  • Rename php.ini-development to php.ini in C:\php.
  • Open php.ini and enable necessary extensions:

    extension=sqlite3
    extension=mbstring
    extension=openssl
    

  • Add C:\php to the system PATH:
    • Open Start Menu, search for “Environment Variables”.
    • Under System Variables, edit the Path variable.
    • Click New, then add C:\php.
  • After adding to PATH you should restart your computer.
• D. Verify Installation
  • Open Command Prompt (cmd) and run:

    php -v
    

  • If PHP 8.3+ is displayed, it’s correctly installed.
• E. Install Composer
  • Refer to instruction in the Common section for installing from Composer.

2. Setup The Project

• A. Install Composer using the instructions described above.
• B. Cone the project:

  git clone git@github.com:chapmancbVCU/chappy-php.git
  

• C. cd into project and run the command:

  composer run install-project
  

• D. Open the project with your preferred IDE. We use VScode.
• E. In the terminal run the command:

  php console serve
  

• F. In a new terminal tab run the command:

  npm run dev
  

• G. Navigate to localhost:8000 in your preferred web browser.