Tasks Application

A simple task management application built with PHP (custom MVC framework), MySQL, and Docker. This application allows users to register, manage tasks, and features real-time-like updates via short polling.

Features

• User Authentication:

  • Register and Login.
  • Session management with "Remember Me" functionality.
  • Secure password hashing (Bcrypt).
  • CSRF Protection for state-changing requests.

  

• Task Management:

  • Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) tasks.
  • Tasks are private to each user.
  • Short Polling: The frontend periodically checks for updates to keep the task list in sync across multiple tabs/devices.

• Admin Dashboard:

  • View all sessions, tasks, and users.
  • View details of specific users.

  

• Architecture:

  • Custom MVC structure.
  • Middleware-based authentication.
  • PDO for database interactions.

Tech Stack

• Backend: PHP 8.2
• Database: MySQL
• Server: Apache (via Docker image)
• Frontend: HTML, CSS, JavaScript (Vanilla)
• Infrastructure: Docker, Docker Compose
• Dependency Management: Composer

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose installed on your machine.

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Getting Started (Open Source Users)

This section is for users who want to clone and run the project locally for development or testing.

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/ToTt0G/PHP-MySQL-Task-List-with-Auth.git
cd PHP-MySQL-Task-List-with-Auth

2. Environment Configuration

Create a .env file in the root directory:

DB_HOST=db
MYSQL_DATABASE=tasks_db
MYSQL_USER=user
MYSQL_PASSWORD=password
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=root_password

3. Start the Application

docker compose up -d --build

This will:

• Start the MySQL database container
• Build the PHP/Apache container
• Install PHP dependencies via Composer
• Auto-initialize database tables on first run

4. Access the Application

Open your browser: http://localhost:8081

Docker Commands (Development)

Command	Description
docker compose restart	Restart all containers
docker compose restart task-app-environment	Restart only the app (keeps DB running)
docker compose up -d --no-deps --build task-app-environment	Rebuild app image only
docker compose down -v	⚠️ Wipe database and stop containers

Note: Code changes sync instantly via bind mount - no rebuild needed for PHP changes.

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Developer Deployment (Server)

This section is for deploying to the production server environment.

Architecture

Question	Development	Production
Where does Code live?	Bind Mount (./:/var/www/html)	Baked into Docker image
Where does Data live?	Docker Volume (ephemeral)	/mnt/data/tasks_app_mysql (SSD)
Where do Secrets live?	.env (local)	/mnt/code/project/.env (manual)

First-Time Setup (Server)

1. SSH into the server and create the production .env:

   ssh ryder@192.168.1.XX
   cd /mnt/code/PHP-MySQL-Task-List-with-Auth
   nano .env  # Paste production secrets here

Deploy

Build the image from NAS files and start containers using the fast SSD:

docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d --build

• -f docker-compose.prod.yml: Uses production config
• --build: Bakes latest code into a fresh image

Production Commands

Command	Description
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d --build	Deploy/rebuild
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml restart	Restart containers
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml logs -f	View logs
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml down	Stop containers

⚠️ Important: Database is stored on /mnt/data/tasks_app_mysql, NOT the NAS. Never map DB volumes to ./.

Project Structure

├── public/                 # Publicly accessible files (Web Root)
│   ├── assets/             # CSS, JS, Images
│   └── index.php           # Entry point
├── src/                    # Source code
│   ├── config/             # Configuration (Database connection)
│   ├── Controllers/        # Request handlers (Auth, Tasks, Admin, Views)
│   ├── Helpers/            # Utilities (CSRF, Assets)
│   ├── Middleware/         # Request middleware (Authentication)
│   ├── Models/             # Database interactions (Users, Tasks, Sessions)
│   ├── Views/              # HTML Templates
│   └── Router.php          # Routing logic
├── docker-compose.yml      # Docker Compose service definitions
├── Dockerfile              # PHP/Apache Docker image definition
└── composer.json           # PHP Dependencies

API Endpoints

The application exposes several API endpoints for frontend interaction:

Auth

• POST /api/auth/register: Register a new user.
• POST /api/auth/login: Login.
• POST /api/auth/logout: Logout.

Tasks

• GET /api/tasks: Get all tasks for the logged-in user.
• DELETE /api/tasks: Clear all tasks for the logged-in user.
• POST /api/tasks: Create a new task (requires task field).
• POST /api/tasks (with edit_task_id): Update a task.
• POST /api/tasks (with delete_task_id): Delete a task.
• GET /api/tasks?count=<n>: Poll for task updates (Short Polling).

Users

• GET /api/users/current: Get current logged-in user info.

Admin (Protected)

• GET /api/admin/all-sessions: List all active sessions.
• GET /api/admin/all-tasks: List all tasks in the system.
• GET /api/admin/all-users: List all registered users.
• GET /api/admin/users/current: Get user details by ID (extracted from URL, typically for current user in context of admin view logic).

Development

• Database Initialization: The database tables (users, tasks, sessions) are automatically created if they don't exist when the application starts (defined in src/config/db_config.php).
• Admin Access: To access admin features, register a user with the email rainryder4@gmail.com.