The first thing you might want to do is visualize your directory structures. Fat-Free gives you total control over your Web site. Organize your folders in any way that pleases you. Decide where you want to store the following:
Consider moving the F3/ folder to a path that's not Web-accessible. Just make the necessary changes to index.php (require 'F3/php';) if you decide to move the F3/ folder. The default location of all plug-ins is the autoload/ folder. If you plan to move the plug-ins to another location, make sure your Fat-Free AUTOLOAD global variable points to the correct path. You may delete the plug-ins that you don't need. You can always restore them later.
The IMPORTS global variable should point to the location of Fat-Free import files, code libraries, and PHP includes. On the other hand, your own OOP classes can be auto-loaded like plug-ins. Just add the path to the AUTOLOAD variable. The rest of the above-listed items do not require configuration of a framework global variable, so you may store them anywhere.
Rename htaccess in the Web root folder to .htaccess if you're using Apache. Then go ahead and start editing the index.php file. Developing PHP applications will never be the same!
Some framework features will not be available to your application if PHP is not configured with the necessary modules.
| PHP Module | Installed | Required by |
|---|---|---|
| apc | Yes | Cache engine |
| dom | Yes | Template engine |
| gd | Yes | Graphics plugin |
| hash | Yes | Framework core |
| intl | Yes | I18n plugin |
| json | Yes | Various plugins |
| libxml | Yes | Template engine |
| memcache | Yes | Cache engine |
| mongo | No | M2 MongoDB mapper |
| pcre | Yes | Framework core |
| pdo_mssql | No | SQL handler, Axon ORM |
| pdo_mysql | Yes | SQL handler, Axon ORM |
| pdo_pgsql | No | SQL handler, Axon ORM |
| pdo_sqlite | Yes | SQL handler, Axon ORM |
| session | Yes | Framework core |
| sockets | Yes | Network plugin |
| xcache | No | Cache engine |
| zlib | Yes | Framework core |
Technical support is available at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/fatfree/support. If you need live support, you can talk to the development team and the rest of the Fat-Free community via IRC. We're on the FreeNode #fatfree channel (chat.freenode.net).
The quick reference documents included in the distribution (F3/F3.pdf and autoload/plugins.pdf) are at your disposal if you need to take a close look at the Fat-Free command set, template directives, framework variables, including the plug-ins. However, the online documentation at http://fatfree.sourceforge.net provides the latest and most comprehensive information about the framework.