Starting a New WACT Project

This guide describes the basic steps for starting a new project with WACT. A WACT project provides a structured foundation for developing a PHP-based web application, including conventions for organizing project files and separating application code from presentation.

Before creating a project, WACT must be available in your development environment. The following steps describe the basic project setup used by WACT at the time.

Install WACT

See How to get WACT via SVN.

Create a SVN repository for your project

WACT is designed to integrate with SVN. Create a SVN repository to hold your new project.

Checkout your new SVN project into the DocumentRoot of your development server.

Create a ".wactproj" file

Create a .wactproj file in the root directory for your project and check it in. See WACT File Organization for more information on the role of the .wactproj file.

WACT and Web Application Development

WACT was created to help developers build structured web applications with PHP. Project organization, reusable templates, and a clear separation between application logic and presentation were important parts of that approach.

Web development has changed considerably since WACT was originally developed. Modern projects may use different frameworks, client-side technologies, and development workflows, with some application features now running directly in the user's web browser. This evolution has contributed to the growth of browser-based applications.

The technologies have changed, but the need to organize and structure applications remains. Learn more about web applications and how they are structured.