Notes on Setting Up a Cron Job in Laravel

Introduction

• Overview of today's topic: Setting up a cron job in a Laravel application on a live server (Hostinger).

What is a Cron Job?

• A cron job is a scheduled task that runs automatically at specified intervals.
• Useful for repetitive tasks, such as:
  • Sending daily emails at a specific time
  • Performing tasks every minute, hour, or day without manual intervention.

Scheduling in Laravel

• Laravel has an inbuilt scheduling feature for automating task execution.
• Tasks can be executed:
  • Every minute
  • Daily
  • Monthly
  • Yearly

Setting Up a Cron Job in Laravel

Step 1: Create a Command

• Go to the app/Console directory.
• Create a test command (e.g., Membership:update).
• Define the logic inside the handle function to fetch users from the database and update their status.

Step 2: Schedule the Command

• Open Kernel.php in the app/Console directory.
• Use the schedule method to specify when the command should run (e.g., every minute).
• Format:

  $schedule->command('Membership:update')->everyMinute();  
  

Setting up Cron Job on Hostinger

Step 3: Access Hosting Dashboard

• Navigate to the advanced options in the Hostinger dashboard.
• Click on "Cron Jobs" to set up a new cron job.

Step 4: Create a Cron Job

• Example: Set a cron job that runs every minute.
• Use the following command:

  php /home/username/public_html/artisan schedule:run  
  

Step 5: Specify Path

• Ensure the path is correct:
  • /home/username/public_html/ followed by the command location.

Testing the Cron Job

• Monitor the execution of the cron job.
• Refresh to check for updates in the database or output as expected.

Conclusion

• Successful implementation of a cron job in a Laravel application can automate repetitive tasks.
• Further videos will cover setting up cron jobs on localhost and server environments.

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