Functional Mode #

Functional Mode, as we call it is just a fancy name given to a bunch of predefined functions in your leaf app which allow you to create your entire app or API without relying on classes with lengthy initializers and namespaces. With functional mode, everything is handled for you under the hood and is given to you in one global function.

Functional mode is 100% optional as seen in the examples in the introduction section. It also requires zero setup or configuration since it's available right after installing Leaf.

<?php

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

app()->get('/', function () {
  response()->json(['message' => 'Leaf is amazing!']);
});

app()->run();

app #

This function returns the current instance of the Leaf application. If none exists, it creates and returns it.

$app = new Leaf\App;

$app->get('/', function () {
  app()->response()->json(['name' => 'Leaf']);
});

app() on line 4 will return the leaf instance $app defined on line 1. If however, no leaf instance is found, app() will create a new instance and return it.

<?php

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

app()->get('/', function () {
  response()->json(['name' => 'Leaf']);
});

app()->run();

As seen on line 5, no app instance already exists and so one is created and returned. This gives you powerful tooling and lets you get rid of imports, namespaces and lengthy initializers.

_env #

This global function allows you to get environment variables set in your .env file. _env takes in 2 parameters:

• The name of the env variable to get (required)
• The default value of the env variable to get if it doesn't exist (optional)

// get value
$mode = _env('APP_MODE');

// get value with default
$mode = _env('APP_MODE', 'production');

Extending #

As mentioned earlier, some leaf modules come with their own globals. For instance, the leaf http module comes with the request() and response() globals. All globals are named carefully to avoid conflicts with other popular PHP packages.

If you run into a challenge like this, you can rename your functions if you defined them yourself.

Throughout the docs, modules that support functional mode will have a section for the globals they provide.

Http Module #

The leaf http module comes with 2 globals:

request #

request() is a global function which returns the leaf request object. This is available out of the box in your Leaf applications, so there's no need to install the http module. Read more about the request object here.

$username = request()->get('username');

response #

response() is a global function which returns the leaf response object. This is available out of the box in your Leaf applications, so there's no need to install the http module. Read more about the response object here.

response()->markup("<b>Mychi</b>");

Leaf Cookie #

This global allows you to set/get a cookie or return the leaf cookie object. The cookie global is provided from the leaf cookie module.

cookie()->set(["name" => "Mychi", "code" => "PHP"]);

Leaf CSRF #

Leaf CSRF provides 2 globals which make working with the package a whole lot easier. To get started you will need to install the leaf csrf module.

_token #

This method returns a generated CSRF token.

$token = _token();

_csrfField #

This method generates a CSRF field in a form for you.

<form>
  <?php _csrfField(); ?>
  ...
</form>

Leaf Form #

Leaf form also provides a form method which returns the entire leaf form object.

form()->validate(...);

You will however need to install the leaf form module to get started.

Leaf Db #

After installing the leaf db module, you'll have access to the db global. This function returns an active instance of the database class.

db()->connect(...);

Leaf Auth #

The leaf auth module provides an auth() global. This method returns an instance of the leaf auth class.

auth()->login(...);