Integrating PHP with React Using Lithe

In this post, we will learn how to integrate the Lithe framework with the React library, highlighting how Lithe seamlessly integrates with frontend libraries. In addition to being excellent for building APIs, Lithe makes it easy to access your application's resources by efficiently configuring CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) to ensure that your applications communicate securely and effectively.

Step 1: Setting Up the Environment

1. Installing Lithe

First, install Lithe if you haven't done so already. Run the following command in the terminal:

composer create-project lithephp/lithephp project-name
cd project-name

2. Installing React

Next, create a new React project inside your Lithe project. Run:

npx create-react-app frontend
cd frontend

Step 2: Installing and Configuring CORS

1. Installing the CORS Module

To use the CORS middleware in your Lithe project, you need to install the lithemod/cors package. Run the following command:

composer require lithemod/cors

2. Using the CORS Middleware

After installation, you need to configure the CORS middleware in your Lithe application. Open the main file src/App.php and add the following code:

If you want to allow multiple origins to access your API, configure CORS as follows:

use Lithe\Middleware\Configuration\cors;

$app = new \Lithe\App;

$app->use(cors(['origins' => '*']));

$app->listen();

On the other hand, if you want only your React application to consume the API, use the following configuration:

$app->use(cors(['origins' => 'http://localhost:3000']));

Step 3: Configuring the Backend with Lithe

1. Creating an API Route

In your Lithe project, create a new router to provide data to React. Create a route file, such as src/routes/api.php:

use Lithe\Http\{Request, Response};
use function Lithe\Orbis\Http\Router\{get};

get('/data', function(Request $req, Response $res) {
    $data = [
        'message' => 'Hello from Lithe!',
        'items' => [1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
    ];
    return $res->json($data);
});

After defining the route file, you need to add the router to your Lithe application. Open the main file src/App.php again and add the following code before calling the listen method:

// ...

use function Lithe\Orbis\Http\Router\router;

$apiRouter = router(__DIR__ . '/routes/api');

$app->use('/api', $apiRouter);

// ...

The src/App.php file will look like this:

use Lithe\Middleware\Configuration\cors;
use function Lithe\Orbis\Http\Router\router;

$app = new \Lithe\App;

$app->use(cors(['origins' => '*']));

$apiRouter = router(__DIR__ . '/routes/api');

$app->use('/api', $apiRouter);

$app->listen();

2. Testing the Route

Start the Lithe server with the following command:

php line serve

Access http://localhost:8000/api/data to ensure that the JSON is returned correctly.

Step 4: Configuring the Frontend with React

1. Consuming the API in React

Open the src/App.js file in your React project and replace its content with:

import React, { useEffect, useState } from 'react';

function App() {
    const [data, setData] = useState(null);

    useEffect(() => {
        fetch('http://localhost:8000/api/data')
            .then(response => response.json())
            .then(data => setData(data))
            .catch(error => console.error('Error fetching data:', error));
    }, []);

    return (
        <div>
            <h1>Integrating PHP with React using Lithe</h1>
            {data ? (
                <div>
                    <p>{data.message}</p>
                    <ul>
                        {data.items.map((item, index) => (
                            <li key={index}>{item}</li>
                        ))}
                    </ul>
                </div>
            ) : (
                <p>Loading...</p>
            )}
        </div>
    );
}

export default App;

2. Starting the React Server

To start the React development server, run:

npm start

Step 5: Verifying the Integration

Access http://localhost:3000 in your browser. You should see the message "Hello from Lithe!" and a list of items returned by the API.

Final Considerations

With this, you have successfully integrated Lithe with React and configured CORS to allow only the React application to access backend resources or to allow multiple origins as needed. Now you can expand your application as desired.

Feel free to share your experiences and questions in the comments!