Use a Different Database Library

Hopper is the bundled default — but the framework doesn't depend on it for anything outside $App->db. Drop in Doctrine DBAL, Eloquent, raw PDO, or whatever fits your project.

The contract

There isn't one. $App->db is just a property on the application object. The framework never calls $App->db itself — only your controllers do — so you decide what type of object lives there.

Replace it in init.php

Wherever the bootstrap currently does this:

$App->db = new \Truecast\Hopper((array) $App->config->mysql);

Swap in the wrapper of your choice. A few examples:

Raw PDO

$cfg = $App->config->mysql;
$dsn = "mysql:host={$cfg->host};dbname={$cfg->database};charset=utf8mb4";

$App->db = new \PDO($dsn, $cfg->username, $cfg->password, [
    \PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE            => \PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION,
    \PDO::ATTR_DEFAULT_FETCH_MODE => \PDO::FETCH_OBJ,
]);

Doctrine DBAL

use Doctrine\DBAL\DriverManager;

$App->db = DriverManager::getConnection([
    'driver'   => 'pdo_mysql',
    'host'     => $App->config->mysql->host,
    'user'     => $App->config->mysql->username,
    'password' => $App->config->mysql->password,
    'dbname'   => $App->config->mysql->database,
]);

Eloquent (Capsule)

use Illuminate\Database\Capsule\Manager as Capsule;

$capsule = new Capsule;
$capsule->addConnection([
    'driver'    => 'mysql',
    'host'      => $App->config->mysql->host,
    'database'  => $App->config->mysql->database,
    'username'  => $App->config->mysql->username,
    'password'  => $App->config->mysql->password,
    'charset'   => 'utf8mb4',
    'collation' => 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci',
]);
$capsule->setAsGlobal();
$capsule->bootEloquent();

$App->db = $capsule;

Mixing libraries

Nothing stops you from keeping Hopper for one piece of code while using a heavier library elsewhere. A common split:

  • Hopper for read-heavy admin pages where its get($sql, $params, 'objects') shorthand keeps things terse.
  • Doctrine or Eloquent for the parts of the domain model where you want migrations, relations, or query-builder ergonomics.

Add a second property in init.php and use whichever name reads best at the call site:

$App->db    = new \Truecast\Hopper(/* ... */);   // legacy / admin
$App->orm   = $entityManager;                    // Doctrine

Removing Hopper entirely

If you're not using it, you can drop the dependency from composer.json:

composer remove truecastdesign/hopper

Nothing in true or welder imports it directly, so the rest of the framework keeps working.

Previous← Email