Slim is a PHP micro-framework optimized for building RESTful APIs. WarpSpeed makes it incredibly simple to work with and deploy Slim and other PHP based projects. This guide will help you get up and running with Slim and WarpSpeed.
Each of the WarpSpeed sample projects is a simple "To Do" list. All of the projects, regardless of language or framework, have the same basic functionality. If you are new to a particular language or framework, just compare the code to a language example that you are familiar with and you will be able to catch on quickly. A preview of the deployed project is show below:
This guide assumes that you are using the WarpSpeed Vagrant development environment. Doing so will help you follow best practices and keep your development and production environments as similar as possible. If you are not using WarpSpeed Vagrant, ignore the sections that involve using the VM.
The best way to begin using this project is to fork the repository to your own GitHub account. This will allow you to make updates and begin using the project as a template for your own work. To fork the repository, simply click the "Fork" button for this repository.
Once you have forked the repository, you can clone it to your development environment or use pull-deploy to deploy it directly to a server configured with WarpSpeed.io.
Ideally, you should be using the WarpSpeed Vagrant development environment. The instructions below will assume this, although it isn't necessary if you already have a python environment set up.
To clone the repository to your local machine (not in your VM), use the following command:
# RUN THIS COMMAND FROM YOUR LOCAL ENVIRONMENT
cd ~/Sites
git clone git@github.com:YOUR_USERNAME/php-slim-sample.git warpspeed-slim.dev
The sample project uses a MySQL database. This can easily be swapped with an SQLite or PostgreSQL database. To create a MySQL database and user with WarpSpeed, do the following:
# RUN THESE COMMANDS FROM YOUR LOCAL MACHINE
# cd to your warpspeed-vagrant directory
# and ssh into your VM
cd ~/warpspeed-vagrant
vagrant ssh
# then, run the db creation command
warpspeed mysql:db tasks_db tasks_user password123
# the terminal will prompt you for the
# MySQL admin password, enter 'vagrant'
Enter password: vagrant
This will create a database named "tasks_db" along with a user, "tasks_user", that has access via the password "password123". Feel free to change the values to suit your needs (hint: perhaps choosing a better password would be wise).
We need to create the appropriate server configuration files to run the site. To configure Nginx and Passenger to run your site, perform the following:
# if you aren't already in your VM then...
# cd to your warpspeed-vagrant directory
# and ssh into your VM
cd ~/warpspeed-vagrant
vagrant ssh
# then, run the site creation command
# notice that --force is used because the site directory already exists
warpspeed site:create php warpspeed-slim.dev --force
This Slim sample project uses the PHP Data Object (PDO) wrapped in an generic object model to read from and write to your MySQL database. The BaseModel.php class located in the models/ directory is designed similarly to Laravel's Eloquent ORM. Read the source code comments for further details on implementation and funtionality. Pursuant to convention and best practices, the environment variables required as arguments to instantiate a new PDO object are declared externally from the web root public/ directory. To complete the requisite fields of the .env.php file, run the following commands:
# RUN THESE COMMANDS FROM YOUR LOCAL MACHINE
# cd to your project's root directory
# and copy the contents of the .env.template.php
# file into a new file titled .env.php
cd ~/Sites/warpspeed-slim.dev
cp .env.template.php .env.php
# enter the requisite fields
nano .env.php
# the .env.php file should resemble the following when complete:
<?php
return [
'DB_HOST' => 'localhost',
'DB_NAME' => 'tasks_db',
'DB_USER' => 'tasks_user',
'DB_PASS' => 'password123',
'MODE' => 'DEVELOPMENT'
];
# exit and save
Slim ulilizes Composer to manage its dependencies. To install the required libraries listed in the composer.json file, run the following commands:
# RUN THESE COMMANDS FROM YOUR VM
# cd to your project's root directory
# and install Slim via Composer
cd ~/sites/warpspeed-slim.dev
composer install
# migrate the tasks table
# enter your tasks_user password when prompted
# if following the guide exactly, 'password123'
mysql -u tasks_user -p tasks_db < sql/create_tasks_table.sql
Enter password: password123
The SQL statement used to generate the tasks table is located in ~/Sites/warpspeed-slim.dev/sql/.
To access your new Slim site, you will need to add an entry to your hosts file on your local machine (not your VM). To do so, perform the following:
# RUN THESE COMMANDS FROM YOUR LOCAL MACHINE
# open a terminal and run the following command (for Mac)
sudo nano /etc/hosts
# using git bash or similar, must be run as admin (windows)
notepad /c/Windows/System32/Drivers/etc/hosts
# using command prompt, must be run as admin (windows)
notepad C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts
# add this line to the end of the file
192.168.88.10 warpspeed-slim.dev
# exit and save
Now, whenever you access "warpspeed-slim.dev" in the browser, you will be directed to your Slim site within your VM.
Finally, we need to reload the site configuration to finalize and effectuate our changes. To do so, perform the following:
# RUN THESE COMMANDS FROM YOUR VM
# reload the site configuration
warpspeed site:reload warpspeed-slim.dev
Now you can access http://warpspeed-slim.dev on your local machine to view the site.
If you have issues, chiefly a 500 Status Code Internal Error, and need to troubleshoot, view the NGINX error log for helpful clues.
# RUN THESE COMMANDS FROM YOUR VM
# open the NGINX error log
sudo nano /var/log/nginx/error.log
# ...or keep an open tab of the NGINX error log
sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log
If the error appears unique to PHP, view the warpspeed-slim.dev-error.log. To do so, run the following commands:
# RUN THESE COMMANDS FROM YOUR VM
# open the site's error log
sudo nano /var/log/php/warpspeed-slim.dev-error.log
# ...or keep an open tab of the site's error log
sudo tail -f /var/log/php/warpspeed-slim.dev-error.log
This sample project is open-sourced software licensed under the MIT license.