CLI Generators¶

CodeIgniter4 now comes equipped with generators to ease the creation of stock controllers, models, entities, etc. You can also scaffold a complete set of files with just one command.

Introduction
Built-in Generators
Scaffolding a Complete Set of Stock Code
GeneratorCommand

Introduction ¶

All built-in generators reside under the Generators namespace when listed using php spark list. To view the full description and usage information on a particular generator, use the command:

> php spark help <generator_command>

where <generator_command> will be replaced with the command to check.

Built-in Generators ¶

CodeIgniter4 ships the following generators by default.

make:command ¶

Creates a new spark command.

Usage:¶

make:command <name> [options]

Argument:¶

name: The name of the command class. [REQUIRED]

Options:¶

--command: The command name to run in spark. Defaults to command:name.
--group: The group/namespace of the command. Defaults to CodeIgniter for basic commands, and Generators for generator commands.
--type: The type of command, whether a basic command or a generator command. Defaults to basic.
-n: Set the root namespace. Defaults to value of APP_NAMESPACE.
--force: Set this flag to overwrite existing files on destination.

make:controller ¶

Creates a new controller file.

Usage:¶

make:controller <name> [options]

Argument:¶

name: The name of the controller class. [REQUIRED]

Options:¶

--bare: Extends from CodeIgniter\Controller instead of BaseController.
--restful: Extends from a RESTful resource. Choices are controller and presenter. Defaults to controller.
-n: Set the root namespace. Defaults to value of APP_NAMESPACE.
--force: Set this flag to overwrite existing files on destination.

make:entity ¶

Creates a new entity file.

Usage:¶

make:entity <name> [options]

Argument:¶

name: The name of the entity class. [REQUIRED]

Options:¶

-n: Set the root namespace. Defaults to value of APP_NAMESPACE.
-force: Set this flag to overwrite existing files on destination.

make:filter ¶

Creates a new filter file.

Usage:¶

make:filter <name> [options]

Argument:¶

name: The name of the filter class. [REQUIRED]

Options:¶

-n: Set the root namespace. Defaults to value of APP_NAMESPACE.
--force: Set this flag to overwrite existing files on destination.

make:model ¶

Creates a new model file.

Usage:¶

make:model <name> [options]

Argument:¶

name: The name of the model class. [REQUIRED]

Options:¶

--dbgroup: Database group to use. Defaults to default.
--entity: Set this flag to use an entity class as the return type.
--table: Supply a different table name. Defaults to the pluralized class name.
-n: Set the root namespace. Defaults to value of APP_NAMESPACE.
--force: Set this flag to overwrite existing files on destination.

make:seeder ¶

Creates a new seeder file.

Usage:¶

make:seeder <name> [options]

Argument:¶

name: The name of the seeder class. [REQUIRED]

Options:¶

-n: Set the root namespace. Defaults to value of APP_NAMESPACE.
--force: Set this flag to overwrite existing files on destination.

make:migration ¶

Creates a new migration file.

Usage:¶

make:migration <name> [options]

Argument:¶

name: The name of the migration class. [REQUIRED]

Options:¶

-n: Set the root namespace. Defaults to value of APP_NAMESPACE.
--force: Set this flag to overwrite existing files on destination.

session:migration ¶

Generates the migration file for database sessions.

Usage:¶

session:migration [options]

Options:¶

-g: Set the database group.
-t: Set the table name. Defaults to ci_sessions.
-n: Set the root namespace. Defaults to value of APP_NAMESPACE.
--force: Set this flag to overwrite existing files on destination.

Note

When running php spark help session:migration, you will see that it has the argument name listed. This argument is not used as the class name is derived from the table name passed to the -t option.

Note

Do you need to have the generated code in a subfolder? Let’s say if you want to create a controller class to reside in the Admin subfolder of the main Controllers folder, you will just need to prepend the subfolder to the class name, like this: php spark make:controller admin/login. This command will create the Login controller in the Controllers/Admin subfolder with a namespace of App\Controllers\Admin.

Note

Working on modules? Code generation will set the root namespace to a default of APP_NAMESPACE. Should you need to have the generated code elsewhere in your module namespace, make sure to set the -n option in your command, e.g., php spark make:model blog -n Acme\Blog.

Warning

Make sure when setting the -n option that the supplied namespace is a valid namespace defined in your $psr4 array in Config\Autoload or defined in your composer autoload file. Otherwise, a RuntimeException will be thrown.

Warning

Use of migrate:create to create migration files is now deprecated. It will be removed in future releases. Please use make:migration as replacement.

Scaffolding a Complete Set of Stock Code ¶

Sometimes in our development phase we are creating functionalities by groups, such as creating an Admin group. This group will contain its own controller, model, migration files, or even entities. You may be tempted to type each generator command one-by-one in the terminal and wishfully thinking it would be great to have a single generator command to rule them all.

Fret no more! CodeIgniter4 is also shipped with a dedicated make:scaffold command that is basically a wrapper to the controller, model, entity, migration, and seeder generator commands. All you need is the class name that will be used to name all the generated classes. Also, individual options supported by each generator command are recognized by the scaffold command.

Running this in your terminal:

php spark make:scaffold user

will create the following classes:

App\Controllers\User;
App\Models\User;
App\Entities\User;
App\Database\Migrations\<some date here>_User; and
App\Database\Seeds\User.

GeneratorCommand ¶

All generator commands must extend GeneratorCommand to fully utilize its methods that are used in code generation. While some of the methods are already functional, you may have the need to customize or upgrade what each method does. You can do so as all methods have protected visibility, except for the run() method which is public and need not be overridden as it is essentially complete.

CodeIgniter\CLI\GeneratorCommand

getClassName()¶

Return type: string

Gets the class name from input. This can be overridden if name is really required by providing a prompt.

sanitizeClassName(string $class)¶

Parameters

$class (string) – Class name.

Return type

string

Trims input, normalize separators, and ensures all paths are in Pascal case.

qualifyClassName(string $class)¶

Parameters

$class (string) – Class name.

Return type

string

Parses the class name and checks if it is already fully qualified.

getRootNamespace()¶

Return type: string

Gets the root namespace from input. Defaults to value of APP_NAMESPACE.

getNamespacedClass(string $rootNamespace, string $class)¶

Parameters

$rootNamespace (string) – The root namespace of the class.
$class (string) – Class name

Returns

The fully qualified class name

Return type

string

Gets the qualified class name. This should be implemented.

buildPath(string $class)¶

Parameters

$class (string) – The fully qualified class name

Returns

The absolute path to where the class will be saved.

Return type

string

Throws

RuntimeException

Builds the file path from the class name.

modifyBasename(string $filename)¶

Parameters

$filename (string) – The basename of the file path.

Returns

A modified basename for the file.

Return type

string

Provides last chance for child generators to change the file’s basename before saving. This is useful for migration files where the basename has a date component.

buildClassContents(string $class)¶

Parameters

$class (string) – The fully qualified class name.

Return type

string

Builds the contents for class being generated, doing all the replacements necessary in the template.

getTemplate()¶

Return type: string

Gets the template for the class being generated. This must be implemented.

getNamespace(string $class)¶

Parameters

$class (string) – The fully qualified class name.

Return type

string

Retrieves the namespace part from the fully qualified class name.

setReplacements(string $template, string $class)¶

Parameters

$template (string) – The template string to use.
$class (string) – The fully qualified class name.

Returns

The template string with all annotations replaced.

Return type

string

Performs all the necessary replacements.

sortImports(string $template)¶

Parameters

$template (string) – The template file.

Returns

The template file with all imports already sorted.

Return type

string

Alphabetically sorts the imports for a given template.

Warning

Child generators should make sure to implement GeneratorCommand’s two abstract methods: getNamespacedClass and getTemplate, or else you will get a PHP fatal error.

Note

GeneratorCommand has the default argument of ['name' => 'Class name']. You can override the description by supplying the name in your $arguments property, e.g., ['name' => 'Module class name'].

Note

GeneratorCommand has the default options of -n and --force. Child classes cannot override these two properties as they are crucial in the implementation of the code generation.

Note

Generators are default listed under the Generators namespace because it is the default group name in GeneratorCommand. If you want to have your own generator listed elsewhere under a different namespace, you will just need to provide the $group property in your child generator, e.g., protected $group = 'CodeIgniter';.