How to use Laravel framework in PHP

Laravel is a robust PHP framework known for its elegant syntax and comprehensive features. It simplifies the development process and promotes best practices, making it a popular choice among PHP developers.

In this Answer, we'll explore the basics of using the Laravel framework and demonstrate how to set up a simple application.

Note: Before starting, make sure that PHP is installed on the system.

Install Composer

Laravel utilizes Composer, a dependency management tool for PHP. Visit the official Composer website and follow the instructions to install it.

Install Laravel

Once Composer is installed, open the terminal or command prompt and run the following command to install Laravel:

This command installs the Laravel installer globally, allowing to create new Laravel projects from anywhere on the machine.

Note: If we do not specify any version during installation, the composer will install the latest stable version of Laravel available at the time.

To install a specific version of Laravel using Composer, we can use the following command.

Replace {version} with the specific version number to install. For example, if we want to install the Laravel installer version 4.0.0, we would use the following command.

Add the Composer global bin directory to PATH

First, check the global Composer bin directory by running the following command.

This command will display the absolute path to the global Composer bin directory. Once we have the path, we must add it to our system's PATH environment variable.

For Linux/macOS

• Now, we have to add the following line at the end of the ~/.bashrc (for Linux) or ~/.bash_profile (for macOS). Replace /path/to/composer/global/bin with the absolute path obtained from the previous command.

• Open the terminal and run the following command to append the path in the file.

• After making changes to the ~/.bashrc file, we need to reload it to apply the changes. Run the following command to do so.

For Windows

1. Open the System Properties dialog.

2. Click on "Advanced system settings" on the left.

3. In the "System Properties" window, click the "Environment Variables" button.

4. Under the "System variables" section, find the "Path" variable and click "Edit."

5. Add a new entry with the absolute path to the Composer bin directory (e.g., C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\Composer\vendor\bin).

6. Click "OK" to save the changes.

Create a new Laravel project

Once the installation is complete, we must navigate to the directory where we want to create our Laravel project. Run the following command to generate a new Laravel project.

Replace project-name with the desired name for the project. This command will download the Laravel framework and set up a new project in the specified directory.

Run the installation commands

Here's an interactive terminal to run the installation commands and get hands-on practice.

Laravel project structure

Laravel follows a well-defined project structure, which helps organize the code and separates different aspects of the application. Let's explore the important directories and files within a Laravel project:

• app: This directory contains the application's core code, including controllers, models, and other business logic.

• bootstrap: It holds the files responsible for bootstrapping and initializing the Laravel framework.

• config: This directory contains various configuration files for the application, such as database settings, caching, and services.

• database: Here, we'll find database-related files, including migrations, seeds, and the database connection configuration.

• public: The public directory serves as the document root for the application and contains the entry point index.php. Publicly accessible files like assets, CSS, and JavaScript should be placed here.

• resources: This directory contains the application's views, language files, and raw assets like Sass or JavaScript source files.

• routes: Here, we define the routes for the application. The web.php file handles web routes, while api.php handles API routes.

• storage: Laravel uses this directory to store various files, such as logs, cache, and session data.

• tests: The tests directory contains automated tests for the application.

• vendor: Laravel dependencies and packages are installed in this directory.

Configuring the environment

After creating the project, navigate to the project directory using cd project-name. Next, open the .env file in the project root directory. Here, we can configure our application's environment variables, such as the database connection details. Update the necessary variables based on the development environment.

Routing in laravel

Laravel provides a powerful routing system to define URLs that the application responds to. Open the routes/web.php file, and we'll find an example route:

In this example, the root URL / is mapped to a closure function that returns the welcome view. We can define various routes based on the application's needs, including routes with dynamic parameters, named routes, and route groups.

Creating views

Views in Laravel are responsible for rendering the user interface. Laravel's default view directory is resources/views. There is a file welcome.blade.php in the resources/views directory. By default, it contains the code for the Laravel webpage. We can modify its content to create the view we want.

Here's an example view.

Run the application

To run the Laravel application, use the following command.

This command starts the built-in development server provided by Laravel.

Executable application

Following is an executable application containing the Laravel project.

Conclusion

In this Answer, we covered the basics of using the Laravel framework in PHP. We discussed the installation process and the basic project structure. By leveraging Laravel's features and following its conventions, we can develop scalable and maintainable PHP applications.