doc/index.md
# About apparat/object
Purpose of this module:
1. **Mapping between objects and their file resources**
* Instantiation of objects from persisted resources
* Creation of resources from new / unpersisted objects
* FrontMark resources for text-based objects
* Pairs of binary and meta data resources for binary objects
* Object publication, un-publication and re-publication
* [Object revision](object-revisions.md) management
* Object ID assignment & incrementation
* Object localization (?)
2. **Object API**
* Implementation of different [object types](object-types.md)
* [Object property](object-properties.md) getters & setters
* Object payload getters & setters
* Handling of [object states](object-states.md)
* Handling of object privacy
* [Object references & involvement handling](object-revisions.md#object-cross-references)
* Extraction of references from text-based resources
* Involvement signalling to other objects
3. **Utility functions**
* [Object identifier & URL](object-identifier.md) handling (composition, decomposition)
* `aprt://` and `aprts://` URL handling
# Object repositories
Objects are stored in object repositories.
# Environment variables
Variable | Description
-------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------
`APPARAT_BASE_URL` | Absolute base URL of the apparat instance (including optional path component)
`APPARAT_DOCUMENT_ROOT` | Absolute root directory in the file system for apparat repositories
`OBJECT_DATE_PRECISION` | Precision for creation date encoding in object URLs, ranging from `0` (no dates in URLs) to `6`q ("`Y/m/d/H/i/s`"). Typical would be `3` ("`Y/m/d`").
`OBJECT_RESOURCE_EXTENSION` | File extension for object text resources (e.g. "`md`")
`OBJECT_ENABLE_TYPES` | Enabled object types (e.g. "`article,contact`")
# Documentation
I recommend reading [the project documentation](http://apparat-object.readthedocs.io/) on *Read the Docs*.
[](http://apparat-object.readthedocs.io/en/latest/?badge=latest)