PHP web app — MovieReview

This project is a practical demonstration of a minimal full-stack CRUD web application.

It builds upon previous projects covering PHP fundamentals, PHP forms, and database integration in a modular PHP app.

Built with PHP + PostgreSQL and packaged using Docker Compose, the app allows users to add, edit, delete, and browse movies they’ve watched — including short reviews, ratings, and optional poster uploads.

Overview

Core features:

• Create a review: title, genre, rating (1-5), add review text, date and upload an optional image.
• Read/List reviews: table view with columns and a search bar to search by title and filter by genre and sort by date or rating.
• Update review: edit any field. Previous image remains if no new upload is selected.
• Delete review: confirmation prompt before deletion handled via a simple JS script included in the header.
• Feedback messages: Flash success/error messages stored in PHP session.
• Persistent data: Database and uploads stored in Docker named volumes for durability.

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Tech Stack

• PHP version 7.4 (kept intentionally for Laravel 8–9 compatibility).
• PostgreSQL 16-alpine running as a separate container.
• Apache bundled with the PHP container for easy local hosting.
• Docker Compose for isolated, reproducible setup
• Vanilla JS + CSS (no frameworks)

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Project Structure

MovieReview_app/
├── Dockerfile
├── docker-compose.yml
├── Makefile
├── config/
│   └── php-upload.ini            # PHP upload limits
├── src/
│   ├── assets/
│   │   ├── app.js                # Delete confirmation logic
│   │   └── style.css             # App styling/design
│   ├── helpers.php               # Shared PHP functions (DB, flash, uploads…)
│   ├── layout/
│   │   ├── header.php            # Common header + navbar
│   │   └── footer.php            # Common footer
│   ├── pages/
│   │   ├── actions/
│   │   │   ├── delete.php        # Delete review (POST)
│   │   │   └── save.php          # Create or update review
│   │   ├── render/
│   │   │   ├── home.php          # Welcome page
│   │   │   ├── movie-list.php    # Table view + filters
│   │   │   ├── movie-new.php     # New review form
│   │   │   └── movie-edit.php    # Edit existing review
│   └── index.php                 # Simple router
└── readme.md

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Database

Data is now stored in PostgreSQL. The database container is defined in docker-compose.yml, and connection credentials are loaded automatically from the environment variables (DB_HOST, DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASS, DB_PORT).

You can inspect the data directly from the Postgres container:

# Open an interactive shell inside the Postgres container
docker compose exec db bash

# Connect to the database
psql -U app -d appdb

# Once inside the psql prompt:
\dt                       -- list all tables (you should see "movie_reviews")
SELECT * FROM movie_reviews;      -- view all submitted form entries

#to exit postgres:
\q

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Uploaded files

Uploaded posters are stored in the named Docker volume uploads-data.

• List volume: docker volume ls
• Inspect volume: docker volume inspect moviereview_app_uploads-data
• List the content of the upload folder: docker compose exec php ls -lah /var/www/html/.uploads

💡 Uploaded files are persistent thanks to the named volume and will survive. They are deleted only with make destroy.

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⚙️ Setup Instructions

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://git@github.com:SandraKanna/MovieReview_SimpleApp.git
cd MovieReview_app

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2. Configure environment

Edit .env or create it if missing. These are the default values:

DB_HOST=db
DB_PORT=5432
DB_NAME=appdb
DB_USER=app
DB_PASS=secret

Adjust values at your convenience.

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3. Create the images and start the containers

Make sure you have Docker and Docker Compose installed.
Then use the provided Makefile:

# build images (if they dont exist yet) and start the containers
make start

# view logs
make logs

# stop all
make stop

# cleanup (remove containers, volumes, local images)
make clean

# Destroy EVERYTHING (all containers/images/volumes, careful!)
make destroy

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4. Open in browser

http://localhost:8080