Inconsistent routing and helper variable output

Question

I have had a very perplexing problem. Please excuse the long history as I think it adds clarity.

The nav seemed to work until I started adding the email feature. I made some syntax errors implementing SwiftMail, which I have figured out. But the nav started behaving strangely. When I previewed the site with Brackets it added /index.php to the url. Not a big deal because the site loaded, but not what I expected. The problem was that it kept the index.php when clicking the nav link to contact, which didn't work. I could go directly to contact and it would display properly.

I tried deleting the index.php from the url and the home page loaded properly like I expected. And the link started working. But if I navigated back to the home page and pack to contact, it started adding contact.html, which does not work. So I thought I might be having server emulation issues (I have xampp on a Linux Mint os). I unparked http://vetsrights.org and put it live. If you follow the link, you will see that it appears to work properly. But if you enter http://vetsright.org/index.php after the domain and click on contact, the index.php stays and the site is broken. It seems too fragile. I thought the siteUrl helper was supposed to handle issues like that.

So, I have several questions.

1) How do I fix this issue so it does not persist and the site is not as fragile? Do I have to enter something in .htaccess? If so, that seems problematic if I have to do a rewrite rule for every page of the site.

2) What does siteUrl actually return and where does it come from? Right now it seems I would be better off using baseUrl and adding the path.

3)Does anyone know how to make Xampp behave for future projects?

Code:

index.php

<?php
// require Slim
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
// Set time zone
date_default_timezone_set('America/Los_Angeles');

//slim-views is required for Twig
//see https://github.com/slimphp/Slim-Views
//must install via composer
$app = new \Slim\Slim(array(
    'view' => new \Slim\Views\Twig()
));

$view = $app->view();
$view->parserOptions = array(
    'debug' => true
);

//the code below enables us to use the helpers below
//urlFor siteUrl baseUrl currentUrl
//documentation at https://github.com/slimphp/Slim-Views
$view->parserExtensions = array(
    new \Slim\Views\TwigExtension(),
);

$app->get('/', function() use($app) {
    $app->render("about.twig");
})->name('home');

$app->get('/contact', function() use($app) {
    $app->render("contact.twig");
})->name('contact');

$app->post('/contact', function() use($app){
    $name = $app->request->post('name');
    $email = $app->request->post('email');
    $msg = $app->request->post('msg');

    if(!empty($name) && !empty($email) && !empty($msg)) {
        $cleanName = filter_var($name, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
        $cleanEmail = filter_var($email, FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL);
        $cleanMsg = filter_var($msg, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
    } else {
        //message the user there was a problem
        $app->redirect('/contact');
    }


    $transport = Swift_SendmailTransport::newInstance('/usr/sbin/sendmail -bs');
    $mailer = \Swift_Mailer::newInstance($transport);

    $message = \Swift_Message::newInstance();
    $message->setSubject('Email from Our Website');
    $message->setFrom(array(
        $cleanEmail => $cleanName
    ));

    $message->setTo(array('teds@biblewordstudy.net'));
    $message->setBody($cleanMsg);



    $result = $mailer->send($message);

    if($result>0) {
        // send a message that says thank you
        $app->redirect('/');
    } else {
        // send a message to the user that teh message failed to send
        // log that there was an error
        $app->redirect('/contact');
    }
});

$app->run();

main.twig

<!doctype html>

<html lang="en">
<head>
 {% block head %}
      <meta charset="utf-8">
      <title>{% block title %}Ralph Waldo Emerson{% endblock title %}</title>
      <meta name="description" content="Ralph Waldo Emerson">
      <meta name="author" content="Treehouse">
      <link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto:400,700' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>
      <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/master.css">
      <script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.3/jquery.min.js"></script>
      <script src="js/global.js"></script>
  {% endblock head %}
</head>

<body>
<!--
  <div id="feedback" class="success">
    <h3>Success!</h3>
    <p>You're reading all about Emerson.</p>
  </div>
-->


  <header>
    <h1>Ralph Waldo Emerson</h1>
    <nav>
      <a href="{{ baseUrl()}}" class="selected">About</a>
      <a href="{{ siteUrl('/contact') }}">Contact</a>
    </nav>
  </header>

  <div class="emerson">
    {% block hero %}<img src="images/emerson.jpg" alt="Picture of Ralph Waldo Emerson">{% endblock hero %}
  </div>

  <main>
    {% block content %}
    {% endblock content %}
  </main>

  <footer>
   {% block footer %}
        <p>A project from <strong><a href="http://teamtreehouse.com">Treehouse</a></strong></p>
        <nav>
          <a href="{{ baseUrl()}}" class="selected">About</a>
      <a href="{{ siteUrl('/contact') }}">Contact</a>
        </nav>
    {% endblock footer %}
  </footer>

</body>
</html>

about.twig

{% extends 'main.twig' %}
{% block content %}
    <strong>About</strong>
        <h2>Ralph Waldo Emerson</h2>

        <p>Ralph Waldo Emerson <em>(May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882)</em> was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States.</p>

        <p>Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature. Following this ground-breaking work, he gave a speech entitled "The American Scholar" in 1837, which Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. considered to be America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence".</p>

        <p>Emerson wrote most of his important essays as lectures first, then revised them for print. His first two collections of essays – Essays: First Series and Essays: Second Series, published respectively in 1841 and 1844 – represent the core of his thinking, and include such well-known essays as Self-Reliance, The Over-Soul, Circles, The Poet and Experience. Together with Nature, these essays made the decade from the mid-1830s to the mid-1840s Emerson's most fertile period.</p>

        <p>Emerson wrote on a number of subjects, never espousing fixed philosophical tenets, but developing certain ideas such as individuality, freedom, the ability for humankind to realize almost anything, and the relationship between the soul and the surrounding world. Emerson's "nature" was more philosophical than naturalistic: "Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul." Emerson is one of several figures who "took a more pantheist or pandeist approach by rejecting views of God as separate from the world.""
        </p>
        <p>He remains among the linchpins of the American romantic movement, and his work has greatly influenced the thinkers, writers and poets that have followed him. When asked to sum up his work, he said his central doctrine was "the infinitude of the private man." Emerson is also well known as a mentor and friend of fellow Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau.</p>

        <p><em>Learn more about Ralph Waldo Emerson from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson">Wikipedia</a></em></p>
{% endblock content %}

contact.twig

{% extends 'main.twig' %}

{% block content %}
    <strong>Contact</strong>
    <h2>Ralph Waldo Emerson</h2>

    <p>Unfortately, Ralph Waldo Emerson has been deceased for over 100 years so he's not particularly expediant at replying to email but you can make an attempt below. However, if you require face to gravestone contact you can visit his remains at:</p>
    <address>
      <h4>Sleepy Hollow Cemetery</h4>
      <p>34 Bedford Street<br>
      Concord, MA 01742, United States<br>
    <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sleepy+Hollow+Cemetery/@42.464126,-71.343098,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x9c41d0f83df689a6?sa=X&ei=ZCgLVZb5Io_hoASc7oHwCQ&ved=0CH0Q_BIwCw">Google Map</a></p>
    </address>

    <form action="" method="post">
      <fieldset>
        <input name="name" type="text" placeholder="Full Name">
        <input name="email" type="email" placeholder="Email Address">
        <textarea name="msg" placeholder="Your message..."></textarea>
      </fieldset>
      <input type="submit" class="button">
    </form>
{% endblock content %}

Let me know if you want to see anything else.

Answer 1 · 2015-06-18T17:36:41Z

June 18, 2015 5:36pm

First off, as a Vet and former Massachusetts residents, I would like to tip my hat to you. Secondly, yes you do need to create a .htaccess file for your slim install if you want to do dynamic linking like you mentioned above. Your other option, which is less technical but more of a hassle in the long run, would be to just has write the urls your self.

Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Looking to learn something new?

Ted Sumner

Ted Sumner

Inconsistent routing and helper variable output

1 Answer

Andrew Shook

Andrew Shook

Ted Sumner

Ted Sumner