🌌 Exoplanet Exploration Dashboard

The Exoplanet Explorer is a modern, API-driven dashboard designed for astronomers and space enthusiasts to visualize and analyze data on newly discovered worlds. Built with the Symfony Framework, this application consumes external data sources to provide a rich, interactive interface for filtering, searching, and viewing detailed profiles of exoplanets.

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Demonstration

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🌠 Exoplanet Explorer Core Capabilities

The dashboard's core functionality is divided into three distinct modules:

1. Catalog Sorter

• Functionality: Allows users to dynamically organize the entire catalog using a single, explicit sorting criterion, such as Distance (ly), Planet Radius, Planet Mass, or Discovery Year, in both ascending and descending order.

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2. Global Statistics

• Functionality: Provides visual distributions of the exoplanet catalog by planet type and discovery year, offering quick insights into overall discovery trends and planetary demographics.

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3. Habitability Monitor

• Functionality: Categorizes and visualizes planets based on estimated habitability criteria, giving a focused look at potentially life-supporting worlds (e.g., planets in the habitable zone).

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🌎 Exoplanet Explorer: Installation & Setup Guide

It's a powerful tool for exploring astronomical data and understanding the characteristics of distant planetary systems.

🌟 Data Source

The exoplanet data displayed in this application is Powered by the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

Link: https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/TblView/nph-tblView?app=ExoTbls&config=PS

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Welcome to the Exoplanet Explorer! This guide will walk you through setting up your local environment, installing dependencies, and running the necessary developer tools to contribute to the project.

🛠️ Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure your local development environment meets the following requirements:

Component	Minimum Version	Check Command
PHP	8.2 or above	php -v
Composer	Latest Stable	composer -v
Git	Latest Stable	git -v
Symfony CLI	Latest Stable	symfony -v

1. Local Setup

1.1. Clone the Repository

Start by cloning the Exoplanet Explorer repository to your local machine using Git:

# Clone the repository
git clone [https://github.com/moghadban/Exoplanet-Explorer.git](https://github.com/moghadban/Exoplanet-Explorer.git)

# Navigate into the project directory
cd Exoplanet-Explorer

1.2. Install PHP Dependencies (Composer)

We use Composer to manage all project dependencies, including the Symfony framework components and developer tools like PHPUnit and PHPStan.

Run the following command in the project's root directory:

composer install

Interpretation:

• This command reads the composer.json file.

• It downloads all required libraries (listed under require) and development tools (listed under require-dev) into the ./vendor directory.

2. Running the Application

Since this is an API-driven application, no database setup is required. You can jump straight into running the Symfony web server.

We strongly recommend using the Symfony CLI for the built-in web server, as it is optimized for Symfony applications and provides HTTPS support automatically.

symfony serve

• Access: Your application will typically be available at https://127.0.0.1:8000.

• Stop: Press Ctrl+C in the terminal to stop the server.

3. Developer Tooling & Scripts

Your project utilizes several Composer scripts to automate quality assurance tasks. You can run these tools directly from the command line using composer run-script <script-name> or the shorthand composer <script-name>.

3.1. Running Tests (test)

The test script runs PHPUnit, our testing framework, using the --testdox flag for readable output.

composer test

The --testdox flag converts cryptic test method names (e.g., testUserLoginWithValidCredentials) into descriptive sentences ("A user can log in with valid credentials"). This is highly user-friendly.

3.2. Code Style Checking (phpcs) and Fixing (phpcbf)

We use PHP Code Sniffer to enforce coding standards.

1. Check for violations (Report Only):

   composer phpcs
   
   
   
   
   

2. Automatically Fix violations (Modifies Files):

   composer phpcbf
   
   
   
   
   

   ⚠️ Important: Always inspect a git diff after running phpcbf to ensure the automatic fixes are correct before committing!

3.3. Static Analysis (phpstan)

PHPStan checks for potential bugs and type-related issues in your code without executing it.

composer phpstan

This is essential for catching errors that might slip past PHP's runtime checks.

3.4. The Ultimate Quality Check (analyze)

The analyze script is a pipeline that runs all critical quality checks sequentially. This is the script you should run before every commit.

composer analyze

The analyze script executes in this order:

1. @test (Runs all PHPUnit tests)

2. @phpcs (Checks code style)

3. @phpcbf (Automatically fixes most code style issues)

4. @phpstan (Performs static code analysis)

By running composer analyze, you ensure your code is fully tested, adheres to style standards, and is free of common type bugs, guaranteeing a high level of code quality.