In principle Cliqon will run on any web server that supports PHP. We have tested Cliqon on Apache 2.4 running on different types of Linux including Debian (Ubuntu, Mint etc.) and Redhat (CentOS and Mandriva etc.); also Apache on Windows. We have also tested Cliqon Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) version 7 and upwards. As Cliqon uses and we supply a .htaccess file, an IIS developer will need to use the URL Rewrite facility within IIS Manager and import the rules in the .htaccess file into web config. We have also successfully compiled Cliqon with Phalanger for use with the .NET Framework.
Cliqon writes to /cache, /tmp, /config and various upload directories. You will be advised by the installation routine about the status of these directories.
Cliqon requires PHP Version 5.6 upwards and works well Version 7.0 and 7.1.
Cliqon can work with any database for which PHP provides a PDO driver. However in practice we use and recommend MySQL. We have tested Cliqon with SQLite but cannot imagine it being suitable for a production environment.
For development purposes we have successfully tested Cliqon with the embedded PHP web server, with Mongoose and we have created a Docker image.
Cliqon does not use a PHP orientated dependency manager such as Composer as Cliqon is has its own framework and there are only a few third party libraries that would benefit from involving Composer.
When you click on the button to download a copy of Cliqon, you are downloading the latest stable production version with which you can build your own web site, web application or an application for an environment or device other than a laptop or desktop PC using a web browser.
Among the listings for modules, themes, templates and plugins, you will find several other versions of Cliqon which are demonstration and training systems. The process for installing these other versions of Cliqon will be the same as the Production version unless specific caveats and exclusions are displayed.
We cannot imagine that any professional developer would choose to download and unzip the production version of Clioqon directly to a production server. We anticipate that they will download the Production Zip file for decompression onto a local development server.
We include no limitations or restrictions to prevent a Development version being copies to a Production server on completion of the development process. We also anticipate that many Developers will be using an external Repository facility such as Github and there are no restrictions in the Cliqon code to prevent developments in that direction.
Cliqon provides an installation wizard and also supports a manual installation. Both methods for installing Cliqon are fully documented in the manual.
When you have completed the installation process, you will be in a position to log into the Administration system in order to manage the content that the Customer is making available and the design Team are providing for in the web or application design and template.
Cliqon was not designed or intended for use as a web development system by persons without a good level of understanding of how to create a traditional website from scratch. Cliqon distances itself from the type of website builder that states that “No coding is required, it works right out of the box”.
An end user Customer considering Cliqon for a project will need two sorts of skillsets to build a web application with Cliqon. The Customer will need a web designer who can create a HTML template that suits the needs of the Customer. If the Customer requires facilities and functions that are not already available from the authors of Cliqon or the Cliqon Community, then a PHP programmer will be required.
Cliqon is a web application, that is, to implement the application, the operator uses a browser that attaches to the web server. However the word browser can be used in a broad context. It can mean a web browser such as Edge, Chrome and Firefox. Equally it can mean an App (application) that has been created from the HTML, CSS and Javascript that is used for the web client, using a conversion package such as Apache Cordova or Webdgap. We use the latter for our projects. The support files for Webdgap are also available from our download server.
Cliqon uses HTML5, CSS3, Bootstrap4 with SASS and Vue2 with jQuery3 for all aspects of the supplied administration system. Virtually every action within the Cliqon back end system is either retrieved or posted between client and server using AJAX. Every AJAX activity can use JSONP if required. This allows the Developer to design, develop and/or replicate functions for the administration system and main application as cross domain Apps via the REST API built into Cliqon. Cliqon support JSON Web Tokens (JWT) for security in this type of situation.