Laravel Course Notes

Overview

• Instructor: Victor
• Course goal: Build an Instagram clone using Laravel.

Key Features of the Instagram Clone

• Follow/Unfollow functionality
• Edit profiles and change profile images
• Image resizing using Intervention library
• User authentication (registration, login/logout)
• Adding new posts with captions and images
• Displaying user feeds

What is Laravel?

• Fastest growing open-source PHP framework.
• Number one framework on GitHub.
• Suitable for projects of all sizes.
• Great community support.

Setting Up Laravel

1. Install Composer - dependency package manager for PHP.
   • Visit getcomposer.org to set it up.
2. Install Node.js and NPM (Node Package Manager).
3. Install Laravel Installer using Composer.
   • Command: composer global require laravel/installer
4. Create a new Laravel project:
   • Command: laravel new FreeCodeGram
5. Open the project in PHPStorm.

Laravel File Structure

• Composer.json: Contains project dependencies.
• Artisan: Command line tool for various operations in Laravel.
• Resources/views: For HTML markup and Blade templates.
  • Blade: Laravel templating engine.
• Migrations: Database migration files to version control the database.

Working with Authentication

• Use command: php artisan make:auth to scaffold authentication.
• This will create the login and registration forms and user model.

Installing Frontend Frameworks

• Laravel ships with Bootstrap and Vue.js.
• Use NPM for managing JavaScript dependencies:
  • Command: npm install
  • Compile with: npm run dev or npm run watch

Setting Up Database

• Use SQLite for simplicity in development.
• Setup database connection in .env file:
  • Change DB_CONNECTION to sqlite.
• Run migrations with command: php artisan migrate.

Eloquent Model Relationships

• User profile relations, use hasOne for user and profile.
• Posts relation, use hasMany for user and posts.
• For posts, use a pivot table for many-to-many relationships (user follows profile).

Creating Mailable Emails

• Command: php artisan make:mail NewUserWelcomeMail --markdown=emails.welcome
• Setup email content using Markdown.
• Send email after a user registers.

Caching in Laravel

• Use Laravel's caching feature to cache database queries.
• Command: php artisan cache:clear for clearing cache.

Sending Follow Requests

• Setup Axios for handling follow/unfollow in Vue.js component.
• Toggle follows using Laravel's many-to-many relationship utility.
• Implement policies to restrict actions based on user roles.

Testing the Application

• Regularly test the application on various profiles to ensure proper functionality.
• Monitor performance using Laravel Telescope to see all the requests, events, etc.

Final Thoughts

• Read Laravel's official documentation for in-depth understanding.
• Stay updated on Laravel news for community developments.
• Subscribe to the instructor's YouTube channel for additional content and tutorials.