PHP Slim Form Handler

Simple back-end form handler / emailer with CORS support, built with Slim API framework + PHPMailer.

Uses JSON for easy compatibility with JavaScript projects.

Useful as a basic back-end for front-end apps that have limited requirements such as a contact form. For example, a static site or landing page created in React.

PHPMailer enables SMTP for reliable mail delivery. The code is intended to be easily customized and deployed on limited LAMP-stack environments including shared web hosts and lightweight VPS servers.

Usage

• Copy src/config.json.example to src/config.json and update with your SMTP settings
• Run composer install --no-dev in the project root to install project dependencies (Slim, PHPMailer)
• Deploy such that only the src/public/ folder is served by the web server and parent folders are not

Security

The src/public/.htaccess file is important for the API to work as expected.

Note that additional .htaccess files have been added to the src/ folders to protect files such as config.json in the event that an accident or misconfiguration serves more than the public/ folder to the Internet.

Extending + Customizing

If you need to customize the PHPMailer to support a particular email host or configuration, refer to the project docs + tutorials: https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/wiki/Tutorial

The API can be expanded upon using Slim. More complex projects should split App.php functionality into multiple files that define routes, controllers, etc. https://www.slimframework.com/docs/

PHP Version

Slim3 works best with later versions of PHP. The code has been run on machines with both PHP 7.1 + 7.2.

If you're using a shared host, note that most shared hosts let you choose your PHP version in their control panel.

Notes

Composer

Composer is used to manage package dependencies.

A common approach is to use Composer to install dependencies on a local machine, and then upload the deployable project to the web server.

To get Composer: https://getcomposer.org/download/

• Linux tutorial: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-and-use-composer-on-ubuntu-18-04
• MacOS install: can be installed with brew with the command: brew install composer
• Windows install: use script installation or download the binary installer (https://getcomposer.org/Composer-Setup.exe)

Email Deliverability

To help minimize the chance of deliverability issues:

• Send from an email address / SMTP account that you own and control
• Ensure that your DNS server has SPF records in place that declare that identify your SMTP server as an authorized sender of emails on behalf of your domain.

htaccess Files

The .htaccess files are written in Apache 2.4+ syntax and require mod_rewrite to be enabled.

Almost every remotely modern shared host and VPS/server deployment that supports a LAMP stack, WordPress, etc will meet these requirements.