This article describes the architecture of Shopsys Framework from the viewpoint of packages (in a contrast to application layers, about which you can read in the separate article). After you finish reading the article, you will know how to start an implementation, how to perform upgrades of your own project based on Shopsys Framework and you will understand what modules are.
In order to make the architecture description understandable, it is necessary to define a few basic terms first.
The open-box concept enables you to directly change the source code and as a result, permits unrestricted customizability. We believe that lean codebase that is easily modifiable is a better place to start building your project than a feature-rich platform with a lot of configurable options.
The shopsys/project-base
only contains frontend part of the framework, ie. controllers and views, excluding web admin.
The package is open-box so you will create your own copy of the package and then you will directly modify source codes for your concrete project.
Glass-box extensibility does not allow any modifications to the original package code and therefore creates a clear separation between your code and the code maintained by somebody else (Composer places this code in the vendor directory).
The shopsys/framework
contains business logic of a basic online store, including web admin, and is designed as a glass-box.
Shopsys Framework modules are glass-box too and are described below.
In every project, there is a lot of code dedicated to features which are not related to the core of your business, but you still need it there. And although these features are necessary, it can be a long wearisome job building them from the ground up. That is why Shopsys Framework provides a module system that satisfies the need for an installable functionality. Modules are developed in separate packages with semantic versioning. You can install a module just by requiring its package via Composer and registering it in your application.
So far, we created packages for HTTP Smoke testing or database migrations, and extracted product XML feeds (eg. Google Shopping product feed). Other candidates for extraction into modules are for example payment methods gateways, package shipping integrations or analytic service integrations.
Note: The specific modules in this diagram are just examples.
Microservice acts as a fully independent unit. It uses its own separate server, separate logic and it uses own vendor directory for Composer dependencies. All of these parts are located in a separate Docker container
So far, we created a Microservice responsible for product search via Elasticsearch.
Install shopsys/project-base using composer to get your own private copy.
composer create-project shopsys/project-base --stability=beta --no-install --keep-vcs
For more detailed instructions, follow Installation Using Docker.
composer create-project ensures that new project will be created from the latest release of shopsys/project-base.
git clone creates a new project from current repository master branch.
We do not recommend forking for the same reason.
Forking also copies the shopsys/project-base under your Gihub account and the copy is public by default, and you probably do not need that.
We know that upgrading should be as easy as possible, ideally without requiring any modification of your code. This goal is very hard to achieve while both providing unlimited customizability and innovating the framework itself, as the project’s every customization has to work well with every new release.
The framework and modules provide glass-box extensibility,
ie. you can upgrade them independently via composer update.
There is no automated way of upgrading the project base. If you wanted to upgrade your project base, you would need to cherry-pick or merge modifications from the original repository manually. We try to ease you the process as much as possible by maintaining clear GIT history, keeping up-to-date changelog and upgrading instructions, and writing understandable commit messages.
- You learned it is necessary to use composer to initialize development of your own project based on the framework.
- You understand the open-box concept - you can modify the project base as you wish without any restrictions.
- You know that the business logic is placed in the
shopsys/framework. - You are familiar with modules that can ease you a development of your project.
- You know you are able to upgrade the framework and modules using composer thanks to their glass-box design.