Something unique about Solar as opposed to other web frameworks is its directory structure. At first it might seem a little overwhelming and at first you will probably be confused as to where everything goes. Rest assured that it will become familiar and you will appreciate the organization once you get an initial grasp on the layout. This section will go into further detail about the Solar directory structure to help you figure out where your Models, Views, Controllers, public assets(javascript, images, css) all go. So lets get started! Here is a top level view of the Solar directory structure trunk/ config/ # config files docroot/ # web server document root docs/ # system documentation include/ # used as the php include_path script/ # command-line scripts source/ # source packages, libraries, etc sqlite/ # sqlite files tests/ # system test files tmp/ # temp files cache/ # private cache log/ # log files session/ # session files The source directory is where all your library files and SVN externals are placed. This is not used as the include-path; it is a holding location to keep all your source code in a single location. You could also download and extract PEAR-style packages here instead of using pear install on them. The source directory is organized like this: package, and the organizational structure of PEAR -- Given an application called 'Footprints' and an additional vendor 'GoogleAPI' -- source/ # source packages, libraries, etc google-api/ # svn:externals http://example.com/svn/trunk/ GoogleApi/ script/ docs/ tests/ footprints/ # libraries from the system vendor Footprints/ script/ docs/ tests/ solar/ # svn:externals http://solarphp.com/svn/trunk/ Solar.php Solar/ script/ docs/ tests/ The include directory contains only symlinks to the source directory. The include directory is used as the include-path. This means you can have any files at all in the source directory and not pollute your include-path. The include directory would be organized like this: -- Given our 'Footprints' app and addtional 'GoogleApi' vendor -- include/ # use as the php include_path GoogleApi/ # ln -s ../source/google-api/GoogleApi Footprints/ # ln -s ../source/footprints/Footprints Solar.php # ln -s ../source/solar/Solar.php Solar/ # ln -s ../source/solar/Solar Next, we have the config directory. This holds all vendor specific configuration/support files, such as an access.txt file. Note that the Solar config file (config.php) is located at the base system level. config/ # config/support files access.txt # sample vendor access file The last of the "big four" directories is the docroot. This is the web server document root for the system. It would be organized as follows: -- Give our 'Footprints' app and additional 'GoogleApi' vendor -- docroot/ # web server document root index.php # bootstrap file public/ # public assets GoogleApi/ # ln -s ../../source/google-api/GoogleApi/App/Public Footprints/ # ln -s ../../source/footprints/Footprints/App/Public Solar/ # ln -s ../../source/solar/Solar/App/Public Note that in your environment you want Solar sitting outside of the document root. For example, if you have a web server where the document root is /web/html_docs your Solar directories would be at the /web/ level and you would place the contents of the docroot/ folder into /web/html_docs or if you wish, point your web server to the appropriate /web/docroot folder as the document root. Because of the standardized system structure, the index.php file knows where everything is for the system. In theory, you should be able to use the same index file code in any system, and leave the specifics of setup in the config file. The index file (located in the docroot/ folder) is set up something like this: // system trunk directory $system = dirname(dirname(__FILE__)); // set the include-path set_include_path("$system/include"); // load and start Solar with the config file require_once 'Solar.php'; Solar::start("$system/config/Solar.config.php"); // instantiate and run the front controller $front = Solar::factory('Solar_Controller_Front'); $front->display(); // Done! Solar::stop();