Create and Run a Slim Project

What is Slim?

Slim is a lightweight PHP micro-framework designed for quickly building simple yet powerful web applications and APIs. It provides basic routing, request handling, and response handling functionality, making it suitable for projects that need to be developed and deployed quickly.

Main Features and Advantages of Slim

• Lightweight: Slim is very small and is suitable for building small to medium-sized applications.
• Flexibility: It can integrate with any third-party component or library, offering great flexibility.
• Easy to Use: With a simple API and clear documentation, developers can quickly get started.
• Powerful Routing: Supports various HTTP methods and complex routing configurations.
• Middleware Support: Allows easy addition of middleware to handle requests and responses.

Slim is ideal for building RESTful APIs and rapid prototyping.

Create and Run a Slim Project Using ServBay

In this article, we will use ServBay's PHP environment to create and run a Slim project. We'll use ServBay's 'Host' feature to set up the web server and access the project through simple configuration.

Note: If you have previously used NGINX or Apache

ServBay defaults to using Caddy as the web server. For users migrating from NGINX and Apache to ServBay, there are some key changes to note:

1. Caddy Configuration

   ServBay has built-in Caddy, optimized, and debugged by default. Developers just need to manage sites through ServBay's 'Host' feature without manually modifying Caddy configuration files.

2. Rewrite Rules and .htaccess

   In NGINX and Apache, developers typically write their own rewrite rules and .htaccess files to handle URL rewriting and other configurations. However, ServBay comes pre-configured with Caddy rules, so developers generally don't need to write these rules themselves unless there's a special requirement.

3. Learn More

   For more information, refer to Rewrite and htaccess, How to Migrate an Apache Website to ServBay, How to Migrate an NGINX Website to ServBay.

Create a Slim Project

TIP

ServBay recommends placing websites in the /Applications/ServBay/www directory for easier management.

1. Install Composer

   ServBay comes with Composer pre-installed, so no separate installation is needed.

2. Create a Slim Project

   Use Composer to create a new Slim project:

   cd /Applications/ServBay/www
   mkdir servbay-slim-app
   cd servbay-slim-app
   composer require slim/slim "^4.0"
   composer require slim/psr7 -W

3. Enter the Project Directory

   Enter the newly created Slim project directory:

   cd /Applications/ServBay/www/servbay-slim-app

Initialize Configuration

1. Create Entry File

   Create the file public/index.php in the project root directory and add the following code:

   <?php
   require __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php';
   
   use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface as Response;
   use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface as Request;
   use Slim\Factory\AppFactory;
   
   $app = AppFactory::create();
   
   $app->get('/', function (Request $request, Response $response, $args) {
       $response->getBody()->write("Hello ServBay!");
       return $response;
   });
   
   $app->run();

Configure Web Server

Use ServBay's 'Host' feature to access the Slim project via the web server. In the ServBay 'Host' settings, add a new host:

• Name: My First Slim Dev Site
• Domain: servbay-slim-test.local
• Site Type: PHP
• PHP Version: Choose 8.3
• Website Root Directory: /Applications/ServBay/www/servbay-slim-app/public

For detailed steps, refer to Adding Your First Website.

Add Sample Code

Add the following code to the public/index.php file to output "Hello ServBay!":

$app->get('/', function (Request $request, Response $response, $args) {
    $response->getBody()->write("Hello ServBay!");
    return $response;
});

Access the Website

Open the browser and visit https://servbay-slim-test.local, you will see the page output Hello ServBay!.

NoSQL Database Example

Memcached Example

1. Install Memcached Extension

   Memcached extension is already pre-installed in ServBay, no additional installation is needed.

2. Configure Memcached

   Add Memcached dependency to composer.json file:

   {
       "require": {
           "slim/slim": "^4.0",
           "memcached/memcached": "^3.1"
       }
   }

   Then run composer update to install the dependencies.

3. Configure Route

   Add the following code to the public/index.php file:

   $app->get('/memcached', function (Request $request, Response $response, $args) {
       $memcached = new Memcached();
       $memcached->addServer('127.0.0.1', 11211);
   
       $cacheKey = 'my_cache_key';
       $cachedData = $memcached->get($cacheKey);
   
       if ($cachedData === false) {
           $cachedData = 'Hello Memcached!';
           $memcached->set($cacheKey, $cachedData);
       }
   
       $response->getBody()->write($cachedData);
       return $response;
   });

4. Use Memcached

   Open the browser and visit https://servbay-slim-test.local/memcached

Redis Example

1. Install Redis Extension

   Redis extension is already pre-installed in ServBay, no additional installation is needed.

2. Configure Redis

   Add Redis dependency to composer.json file:

   {
       "require": {
           "slim/slim": "^4.0",
           "predis/predis": "^1.1"
       }
   }

   Then run composer update to install the dependencies.

3. Configure Route

   Add the following code to the public/index.php file:

   $app->get('/redis', function (Request $request, Response $response, $args) {
       $redis = new Predis\Client([
           'scheme' => 'tcp',
           'host' => '127.0.0.1',
           'port' => 6379,
       ]);
   
       $cacheKey = 'my_cache_key';
       $cachedData = $redis->get($cacheKey);
   
       if ($cachedData === null) {
           $cachedData = 'Hello Redis!';
           $redis->set($cacheKey, $cachedData);
       }
   
       $response->getBody()->write($cachedData);
       return $response;
   });

4. Use Redis

   Open the browser and visit https://servbay-slim-test.local/redis

Relational Database Example

Creating Database Schema and Migration File

1. Create Migration File

   Use Phinx to create a migration file:

   composer require robmorgan/phinx
   vendor/bin/phinx init

2. Edit Migration File

   Create a new migration file in the db/migrations directory and edit it to define the database table structure:

   use Phinx\Migration\AbstractMigration;
   
   class CreateUsersTable extends AbstractMigration
   {
       public function change()
       {
           $table = $this->table('users');
           $table->addColumn('name', 'string')
                 ->addColumn('email', 'string', ['unique' => true])
                 ->create();
       }
   }

3. Run Migration

   Use the Phinx command to run the migration and create the database table:

   vendor/bin/phinx migrate

MySQL Example

1. Configure MySQL

   Add MySQL dependency to composer.json file:

   {
       "require": {
           "slim/slim": "^4.0",
           "illuminate/database": "^8.0"
       }
   }

   Then run composer update to install the dependencies.

2. Configure Route

   Add the following code to the public/index.php file:

   use Illuminate\Database\Capsule\Manager as Capsule;
   
   $capsule = new Capsule;
   $capsule->addConnection([
       'driver' => 'mysql',
       'host' => '127.0.0.1',
       'database' => 'servbay_slim_app',
       'username' => 'root',
       'password' => 'password',
       'charset' => 'utf8',
       'collation' => 'utf8_unicode_ci',
       'prefix' => '',
   ]);
   
   $capsule->setAsGlobal();
   $capsule->bootEloquent();
   
   $app->get('/mysql-add', function (Request $request, Response $response, $args) {
       $user = Capsule::table('users')->insert([
           'name' => 'ServBay',
           'email' => '[email protected]'
       ]);
   
       $response->getBody()->write('User added');
       return $response;
   });
   
   $app->get('/mysql', function (Request $request, Response $response, $args) {
       $users = Capsule::table('users')->get();
       $response->getBody()->write($users->toJson());
       return $response;
   });

3. Insert User Data

   Open the browser and visit https://servbay-slim-test.local/mysql-add and https://servbay-slim-test.local/mysql

PostgreSQL Example

1. Configure PostgreSQL

   Add PostgreSQL dependency to composer.json file:

   {
       "require": {
           "slim/slim": "^4.0",
           "illuminate/database": "^8.0"
       }
   }

   Then run composer update to install the dependencies.

2. Configure Route

   Add the following code to the public/index.php file:

   use Illuminate\Database\Capsule\Manager as Capsule;
   
   $capsule = new Capsule;
   $capsule->addConnection([
       'driver' => 'pgsql',
       'host' => '127.0.0.1',
       'database' => 'servbay_slim_app',
       'username' => 'root',
       'password' => 'password',
       'charset' => 'utf8',
       'prefix' => '',
       'schema' => 'public',
   ]);
   
   $capsule->setAsGlobal();
   $capsule->bootEloquent();
   
   $app->get('/pgsql-add', function (Request $request, Response $response, $args) {
       $user = Capsule::table('users')->insert([
           'name' => 'ServBay',
           'email' => '[email protected]'
       ]);
   
       $response->getBody()->write('User added');
       return $response;
   });
   
   $app->get('/pgsql', function (Request $request, Response $response, $args) {
       $users = Capsule::table('users')->get();
       $response->getBody()->write($users->toJson());
       return $response;
   });

3. Insert User Data

   Open the browser and visit https://servbay-slim-test.local/pgsql-add and https://servbay-slim-test.local/pgsql

By following the above steps, you have successfully created and run a Slim project, managed and accessed your project using ServBay's features, while connecting multiple databases and calling data.