php-calendar

A simple, framework-agnostic PHP package for generating RFC 5545-compliant .ics calendar files. Built with the philosophy that calendar generation should be straightforward, reliable, and work everywhere.

Philosophy

This package follows the Unix philosophy: do one thing and do it well. It generates standards-compliant .ics files without unnecessary dependencies, framework coupling, or complexity. Whether you're building a Laravel application, a Symfony project, or plain PHP script, this package just works.

Key principles:

• Zero dependencies - Works out of the box
• Framework-agnostic - No Laravel/Symfony lock-in
• Standards-compliant - Follows RFC 5545 specification
• Simple API - Intuitive methods that make sense
• Modern PHP - Built for PHP 8.3+ with strict types

Installation

composer require rumenx/php-calendar

Quick Start

use Rumenx\Calendar;

// Create a calendar
$calendar = new Calendar();

// Add an event
$calendar->addEvent([
    'summary' => 'Team Meeting',
    'start' => '2025-08-15 10:00:00',
    'end' => '2025-08-15 11:00:00',
    'location' => 'Conference Room',
    'description' => 'Weekly team sync meeting'
]);

// Export as .ics file
$icsContent = $calendar->toIcs();

// Save to file or send as download
file_put_contents('meeting.ics', $icsContent);

Real-World Examples

Event Registration System

// Generate calendar file for event registration confirmation
$calendar = new Calendar();
$calendar->addEvent([
    'summary' => 'PHP Conference 2025',
    'start' => '2025-09-20 09:00:00',
    'end' => '2025-09-20 17:00:00',
    'location' => 'Convention Center, Berlin',
    'description' => 'Annual PHP developers conference with talks and workshops.',
    'url' => 'https://phpconf2025.example.com'
]);

// Send as email attachment or download link
return response($calendar->toIcs())
    ->header('Content-Type', 'text/calendar')
    ->header('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename="phpconf2025.ics"');

Appointment Booking

// Doctor appointment with reminder
$calendar = new Calendar();
$calendar->addEvent([
    'summary' => 'Doctor Appointment',
    'start' => '2025-08-25 14:30:00',
    'end' => '2025-08-25 15:00:00',
    'location' => 'Medical Center, Room 205',
    'description' => 'Annual checkup with Dr. Smith',
    'alarm' => [
        'trigger' => '-PT30M', // 30 minutes before
        'description' => 'Appointment reminder'
    ]
]);

Recurring Team Meetings

// Weekly standup meeting
$calendar = new Calendar();
$calendar->addEvent([
    'summary' => 'Daily Standup',
    'start' => '2025-08-01 09:00:00',
    'end' => '2025-08-01 09:15:00',
    'location' => 'Zoom Meeting Room',
    'description' => 'Daily team standup meeting',
    'rrule' => 'FREQ=DAILY;BYDAY=MO,TU,WE,TH,FR;COUNT=50' // Weekdays only
]);

Multi-Attendee Events

// Project kickoff with team
$calendar = new Calendar();
$calendar->addEvent([
    'summary' => 'Project Alpha Kickoff',
    'start' => '2025-08-10 13:00:00',
    'end' => '2025-08-10 14:30:00',
    'location' => 'Main Conference Room',
    'description' => 'Kickoff meeting for the new Alpha project',
    'attendees' => [
        'mailto:john@company.com',
        'mailto:sarah@company.com',
        'mailto:mike@company.com'
    ],
]);

Framework Integration

Laravel

// In a controller
public function downloadEvent()
{
    $calendar = new Calendar();
    $calendar->addEvent([
        'summary' => 'Laravel Meetup',
        'start' => '2025-09-15 18:00:00',
        'end' => '2025-09-15 20:00:00',
    ]);

    return response($calendar->toIcs())
        ->header('Content-Type', 'text/calendar')
        ->header('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename="meetup.ics"');
}

Symfony

// In a controller
public function downloadEvent(): Response
{
    $calendar = new Calendar();
    $calendar->addEvent([
        'summary' => 'Symfony Event',
        'start' => '2025-09-15 18:00:00',
        'end' => '2025-09-15 20:00:00',
    ]);

    return new Response(
        $calendar->toIcs(),
        200,
        [
            'Content-Type' => 'text/calendar',
            'Content-Disposition' => 'attachment; filename="event.ics"'
        ]
    );
}

Supported Event Properties

• summary (required) - Event title/subject
• start (required) - Start date/time (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)
• end (required) - End date/time (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)
• location - Event location
• description - Event description
• rrule - Recurrence rule (RFC 5545 format)
• attendees - Array of email addresses
• organizer - Organizer email address
• alarm - Alarm/reminder settings
• url - Event URL

Development

# Install dependencies
composer install

# Run tests
composer test

# Run static analysis
composer analyze

# Check code style
composer style

# Fix code style
composer style-fix

# Run all quality checks
composer quality

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! This package follows PSR-12 coding standards and requires 95%+ test coverage. Please ensure your contributions include appropriate tests.

Please see our Contributing Guide for details on how to get started.

Security

If you discover any security-related issues, please review our Security Policy for information on how to report them responsibly.

Changelog

All notable changes are documented in our Changelog.

Support the Project

If you find this project useful, please consider supporting its development.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.