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• Slim Example Project
• Features
• Demo
• The reason this project was made
• Disclaimer

Slim Example Project

This repository showcases the implementation of a simple yet robust architecture with a variety of backend and frontend features built using the Slim 4 micro-framework.

The primary goal of this project is to provide a modern codebase with a scalable structure and a range of practical features. These can serve as learning examples or be adapted for developing new applications.

External library dependencies are kept to a minimum to facilitate maintenance and ensure long-term viability.

Features

All features were developed with an effort to ensure maximum user-friendliness. The frontend should be intuitive, aesthetically pleasing, minimalistic, and functional.

This project is currently designed for non-profit organizations or foundations that require a platform to manage and maintain a record of communication through notes of people they assist.

Project components:

• Authentication (login) and authorization (permissions)
• Account verification and password reset via email link and token
• Request throttling - protection against rapid fire and distributed brute force attacks (time throttling and captcha)
• Localization - English, German and French
• Session and flash messages
• Validation
• Template rendering with native PHP syntax
• Editing values using contenteditable
• Dark theme
• Advanced error handling
• Integration & unit testing with fixtures and data providers
• Database migrations and seeding

Functionalities demonstrating real-world features:

• User management for administrators
• 4 user roles and different permissions
• User activity history
• Client creation and mutation with status and attributed user
• Client list filtering by text input and filter chips
• Note creation and mutation
• Hidden notes from unauthorized users
• Dashboard with panels

Demo

Link: Login
Usernames: admin@user.com | managing-advisor@user.com | advisor@user.com | newcomer@user.com
Password: 12345678
The database is reset every hour.

The reason this project was made

There is a ton of great content on the internet about learning how to write clean and sustainable code. However, I found myself searching for more than just skeleton projects or general documentations and tutorials when I wanted to learn how to do things within the scope of a potential real-world application. I never found resources such as an open-source, efficient implementation of all the features surrounding a full-sized project.

This is what I try to provide here. This project isn't just a skeleton, it contains a lot of opinionated practical examples on how to implement features that are often needed in real-world applications.

That includes authorization, integration testing, localization, validation, error handling, database migrations, mailing, console commands, request throttling, lightweight PHP template rendering, GitHub Actions, and more.

But it's not just about the features. Equally important is the architecture and how the components interact with each other, following modern principles such as the Single Responsibility Principle and Dependency Injection.

Of course, there are big frameworks that have their own well-established set of programming conventions and implementations of features.

However, I find them often too complex, where the code makes too much "behind the scenes" and lots of dependencies, which can lead to time-consuming refactoring on version changes.
I also dislike having to follow the propitiatory rules of a framework and much prefer the freedom of a micro-framework and carefully choosing the libraries I want to use.
This lets me stay in control of the codebase, keep it lightweight, performant and tailored to the needs of the project, and it's easier to maintain and adapt to new requirements.

You can very well adapt it to your own needs, remove or add features, and change the libraries.

Disclaimer

This project and its documentation are the result of my personal learning process in the last 6 years in trying to create the best possible template app with lots of real world examples.
I'm making what wish I had when I started getting seriously into web development.

The codebase is big and thus lots of subjective decisions had to be made that may not be the best long-term solution for everybody.

The main focus throughout the development was to make the code as dependency free as possible so that it's long living and can be adapted to different needs and preferences.

Basically, this is my take on what a modern and efficient web app could look like with today's tech.

I worked closely with the software architect Daniel Opitz, who also reviewed this project. I learned a lot during our exchanges and was inspired by his books, articles, tutorials and his slim skeleton-project.