Framework Documentation - Application Package

Updating from v2 to v3

Release 3.0.0 is a small upgrade. It raises the PHP requirement, moves the codebase to PSR-12, and
removes one response header. No public or protected method signature changed, so code written
against 2.x keeps working as long as it runs on PHP 8.1.

At a glance

Minimum supported PHP version raised

All Framework packages now require PHP 8.1 or newer.

The X-Content-Encoded-By header is no longer sent

AbstractWebApplication::compress() used to add a third header alongside the encoding headers:

$this->setHeader('Content-Encoding', $encoding);
$this->setHeader('Vary', 'Accept-Encoding');
$this->setHeader('X-Content-Encoded-By', 'Joomla');   // removed in 3.0.0

The header carried no functional meaning and had been considered obsolete since 2013. It is simply
gone — compressed responses now carry Content-Encoding and Vary only.

This matters if you assert on response headers in tests, or if a downstream system reads
X-Content-Encoded-By to identify the application. Set it yourself if you still need it:

$dispatcher->addListener(
    ApplicationEvents::BEFORE_RESPOND,
    static fn ($event) => $event->getApplication()->setHeader('X-Content-Encoded-By', 'Joomla')
);

Codebase converted to PSR-12

The whole package was reformatted from the Joomla Coding Standard to PSR-12 (tabs to spaces, brace
placement, import ordering). This touches nearly every line but changes no behaviour.

Two practical consequences:

• A git diff between 2.x and 3.x is almost entirely noise. Use git diff -w or compare method
  signatures when looking for real changes.
• If you maintain patches against this package, expect all of them to conflict. Reapply rather than
  rebase.

The joomla/coding-standards dev dependency was replaced by squizlabs/php_codesniffer with a
PSR-12 ruleset.

No API changes

Every public and protected method in src/ has the same name and signature in 3.0.0 as in
2.0.4. The Web\WebClient constants are unchanged too. Upgrading is a matter of satisfying the PHP
and dependency requirements.

Dependency changes

The optional packages in suggest moved to their 3.x releases: joomla/controller,
joomla/input, joomla/router, joomla/session and joomla/uri are all ^3.0.
psr/container stays at ^1.0.

Deprecations still in place

The following were deprecated in 2.0 and still work in 3.x. Both were removed in 4.0.0 — see
Updating from v3 to v4:

• Reading $app->input directly instead of calling $app->getInput()
• Passing a boolean as the $status argument of redirect()

Fixing them while still on 3.x makes the move to 4.0 a no-op.