Personnel API

Installation Instructions

Install Dependencies

Install Composer (Detailed instructions available for Linux and Windows)

1. Download and install composer inside any directory via curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
2. Make the install global via mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

Install the Application

1. Navigate to your public/www directory and git clone https://github.com/29th/personnel-api.git
2. Navigate inside the personnel_api directory and install dependencies via composer install

At this point if you view the application in the browser you should get a database error.

Create the Database

This repository comes with personnel_v2.sql, containing the structure only (no contents/records) of the database. Alternatively, you can obtain an export of the production database from an administrator.

1. Create your own MySQL database for this application
2. Load in the personnel_v2.sql file (or the export you obtained) via mysql -u [username] -p [database name] < personnel_v2.sql

Set Environment Variables

Rather than storing secret credentials in PHP files that might accidentally be committed to source control and leaked publicly, sensitive information is accessed via environment variables. Environment variables can be set in various ways depending on the system and environment. A list of the environment variables is provided in .env.sample. Some of the values you can fill in yourself; others will have to be obtained from a system administrator if you want to connect to a production system.

Once the values are filled in, the easiest way to install them, if you're running apache, is to create an .htaccess file above this application's directory (ie. if the application is installed to /var/www/personnel-api you would create /var/www/.htaccess). This is because the repository already contains its own .htaccess file that you would not want to overwrite as it is part of the source control. Paste the variables inside this file.

At this point you should now be able to load the application in the browser, with a message of {"status":true,"message":"Welcome to the API. Enjoy yourself, and good luck getting around. CI v2.1.4"}

Copy Cookie

By default, you will be able to interact with the API like a public user. To log in, you'll need it to be able to see your forum cookie. This application uses the same cookie as the forum it's connected to. Since you'll be running this locally, that cookie won't be shared with this application (the forum is on a different domain than your local environment). To leverage this cookie, go to the forum and copy the value of the Vanilla cookie (using something like EditThisCookie), then create one when viewing your local application in the browser. Name it Vanilla and paste the value in. For this to work, you'll have to have the correct details filled out in your environment variables for the cookie.

Alternatively, you can install your own local version of Vanilla Forums and use its cookie. If it's running on the same domain, you won't need to "copy the cookie."

Troubleshooting

Make sure mod_rewrite is enabled

Many apache servers have mod_rewrite disabled by default. It's required to allow URL routing in .htaccess files. Enter a2enmod rewrite and then sudo service apache2 restart to restart apache

Make sure AllowOverride is enabled

This setting is required to allow .htaccess files in directories to overwrite default apache settings. Modify apache's primary .conf file, typically /etc/apache2/httpd.conf and make sure for the public <Directory> tag that AllowOverride is set to All instead of None