Installing Yii2 (Basic & Advanced Templates)

Yii2 provides two application templates: Basic and Advanced. The Basic Template is suitable for small to medium projects, while the Advanced Template is designed for large-scale applications with multiple environments.

In this tutorial, we will cover:

1. Prerequisites for Yii2 Installation
2. Installing Yii2 Basic Template
3. Installing Yii2 Advanced Template
4. Understanding the Directory Structure
5. Running the Yii2 Application

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1. Prerequisites for Yii2 Installation

Before installing Yii2, ensure your system meets the following requirements:

• PHP 7.4 or later (Yii2 supports PHP 8)
• Composer (Dependency Manager for PHP)
• Web Server (Apache, Nginx, or built-in PHP server)
• Database (MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, or SQLite)

To check if PHP and Composer are installed, run:

php -v
composer -V

If Composer is not installed, download it from getcomposer.org.

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2. Installing Yii2 Basic Template

The Basic Template is the recommended starting point for most projects.

Step 1: Install Yii2 via Composer

Run the following command to create a Yii2 Basic project:

composer create-project --prefer-dist yiisoft/yii2-app-basic dynamic-duniya-basic

This will install Yii2 Basic in a folder named dynamic-duniya-basic.

Step 2: Navigate to the Project Folder

cd dynamic-duniya-basic

Step 3: Start the Built-in PHP Server

php yii serve

Now, open your browser and visit:

http://localhost:8080

You should see the Yii2 welcome page.

Step 4: Configure the Database

In the Basic Template, configure the database in:

// config/db.php
return [
    'class' => 'yii\db\Connection',
    'dsn' => 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=yii2basic',
    'username' => 'root',
    'password' => '',
    'charset' => 'utf8',
];

 

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3. Installing Yii2 Advanced Template

The Advanced Template is designed for enterprise-level applications and provides separate environments for frontend, backend, and console applications.

Step 1: Install Yii2 Advanced Template

composer create-project --prefer-dist yiisoft/yii2-app-advanced dynamic-duniya-advanced

Step 2: Initialize the Project

Yii2 Advanced requires an initialization step:

cd dynamic-duniya-advanced
php init

You will be asked to choose an environment:

Which environment do you want the application to be initialized in?
  [0] Development
  [1] Production

Select 0 for development or 1 for production.

Step 3: Configure the Database

Edit the database configuration file:

// common/config/main-local.php
return [
    'components' => [
        'db' => [
            'class' => 'yii\db\Connection',
            'dsn' => 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=yii2advanced',
            'username' => 'root',
            'password' => '',
            'charset' => 'utf8',
        ],
    ],
];

Now, run the migration command to set up the database schema:

php yii migrate

Step 4: Start the Application

Run the PHP server for both frontend and backend:

php yii serve --docroot="frontend/web"
php yii serve --docroot="backend/web"

Visit http://localhost:8080 for the frontend and http://localhost:8080/admin for the backend.

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4. Understanding the Directory Structure

Basic Template Directory Structure

dynamic-duniya-basic/
│── assets/        # Compiled CSS & JS files
│── commands/      # Custom console commands
│── config/        # Configuration files
│── controllers/   # Application controllers
│── models/        # Business logic and database models
│── runtime/       # Temporary files (cache, logs)
│── views/         # Application views (HTML)
│── web/           # Web-accessible root directory

Advanced Template Directory Structure

dynamic-duniya-advanced/
│── backend/       # Backend application
│── frontend/      # Frontend application
│── common/        # Shared code between frontend & backend
│── console/       # Console commands & scripts
│── environments/  # Config for different environments
│── vendor/        # Installed dependencies

The Advanced Template is ideal when you need separate frontend and backend applications.

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5. Running the Yii2 Application

Using Built-in PHP Server

For the Basic Template:

php yii serve

For the Advanced Template (Frontend)

php yii serve --docroot="frontend/web"

For the Advanced Template (Backend):

php yii serve --docroot="backend/web"

You Can Start Development But i Recommend you to Create Virtual host for Basic or Advanced template whatever you choose. 

Using Apache or Nginx

If using Apache or Nginx, point the document root to the web/ directory.

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Learn How to Create Virtual Host for Nginx on Ubuntu (For Yii2 Basic & Advanced Templates)