The Slim framework is a relatively small framework than the ones that are already popular in the market. It has not been developed to design and develop an entire big project just like you do with other frameworks. The sole purpose of the framework is to help you write small but robust applications and APIs that you can integrate with your main project. It is definitely a great framework for the beginners to start with as they can build small web applications and understand the logic and development of APIs perfectly.
Features Of The Slim Framework –
Apart from the general features that most of the frameworks provide, the followings are some exclusive features that are making the framework popular and powerful.
Middleware – Once you build your application or API with the Slim framework, you can write further codes to cross-check the requests and responses. That is why middleware in the Slim framework is designed and it helps developers write such codes swiftly. It not only makes the system secure but also robust to handle the request and response system efficiently.
Security – Slim comes with a flexible router system which routes the calls and requests to different HTTP methods through independent secure channels. You can pass through the parameters and authentic patterns effortlessly. This helps in creating URL with SEO keywords for better ranking. It also uses AES-256 encrypted cookies which makes it difficult for the hackers to use a fake cookie or fetch the original cookie in decoded condition.
Control External Tool – The dependency injection feature offered by Slim framework gives you better control over the external tools than any other PHP framework. You can create multiple routes to access your application externally but manage them efficiently.
HTTP Caching – When it comes to better SEO ranking, the loading speed of the website matters a lot to providing better user experience. The Slim framework version 3 comes with this unique HTTP caching feature which keeps the constant items of your website in its cache for faster loading speed and overall performance.
Apart from these, the latest version of the Slim framework has the option to integrate Slack which is the most popular messaging software for flawless communication. Message communication has become an integral part of every web application and this new feature will save a lot of time for the developers. If you are looking forward to creating REST API and allow third-party access to your web application, the Slim framework is the best choice for perfect and faster development with prototyping. Slim has a great logging system for errors and warnings. It is very easy to handle the errors and do proper debugging effortlessly.
New Concepts Introduced in Slim Framework –
PSR 7 – PSR-7 is an interface for request and response objects. It is an inbuilt implementation that is not provided in any other framework on PHP. You have to liberty to alter its default objects with third-party implementation. You can transform request and response objects with the library methods provided.
Middleware – A middleware is a new concept that exists in the Slim framework. It is created to manipulate the objects in Request and Response. This is going to protect your application for cross-site forged requests. Its layer of authentication completely surrounds your core application.
Dependency Container – While most of the frameworks use third-party containers like PHP-Di, Slim framework comes with a built-in dependency container. It is useful in maintaining all the operations of application dependencies efficiently.
Extra Components –
Along with the basic components of Request, Routing, Response and Error Handling, Slim framework has some additional components that are worth knowing for better understanding and development.
Templates – Slim does not come with a traditional MVC’s view layer as the HTTP response itself is the view. The reason for this is its efficient routing system whereby different routes are responsible for returning the accurate response object. You can available Twig-view for rendering Twig templates.
Optional Components – Among the optional components, Slim has HTTP caching and you can determine how long information will be retained by the caches on the client side. You will need manual configuration in the php.ini file to activate it. Similarly, CSRF protection is another optional component to generate an exclusive token for every request for validation. The most important inclusion has to be the flash messages that display important updates like validation failure, record modification and likewise to the user. Furthermore, you can always check out the additional third-party middleware on the official website.
Whether you are a beginner or an established PHP developer, you should definitely try out the Slim framework to understand its simplicity and robustness. You will need a web server like Apache to run the code written in it. It has been introduced to experiment with different PHP components and come up with stunning web applications and powerful APIs. You can integrate third-party components seamlessly.