Why Are People Using Laravel?

PHP is dead. Or is it?

For whatever reason, I've heard many people talk about Laravel here lately, the most popular PHP framework. I figured I'd play around with it and see the buzz. I enjoyed it!

First, we need a database. We'll use docker to run a MySQL database.

# Create a docker network
docker network create localnetwork
# Run a MySQL database
docker run -d --name mysql-container  --network=localnetwork -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=password -p 3306:3306 mysql:latest
# Run phpMyAdmin
docker run -d --name phpmyadmin-container --network=localnetwork -e PMA_HOST=mysql-container -e PMA_PORT=3306 -p 8080:80 phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin:latest

Next, install Composer. If you have a Mac, use homebrew.

install composer

Use Composer to generate a fresh laravel project.

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel laravel-api

Update your database credentials in the .env file.

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=crud_app
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=password

Serve it up.

php artisan serve

Create routes/api.php.

<?php
use App\Http\Controllers\ThingController;

Route::get('/things', [ThingController::class, 'index']);
Route::get('/things/{id}', [ThingController::class, 'show']);
Route::post('/things', [ThingController::class, 'store']);
Route::put('/things/{id}', [ThingController::class, 'update']);
Route::delete('/things/{id}', [ThingController::class, 'destroy']);

Update app.php so that your routes are defined.

Next, have Laravel generate your controller: php artisan make:controller ThingController

Generate your model: php artisan make:model Thing

Update your model with protected $guarded = []; This tells the database to accept everything except what you specify in the array.

Define your CRUD operations in your ThingController.

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Models\Thing;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class ThingController extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        $things = Thing::all();
        return response()->json($things);
    }

    public function show($id)
    {
        $thing = Thing::find($id);
        return response()->json($thing);
    }

    public function store(Request $request)
    {
        $thing = Thing::create($request->all());
        return response()->json($thing, 201);
    }

    public function update(Request $request, $id)
    {
        $thing = Thing::find($id);
        $thing->update($request->all());
        return response()->json($thing, 200);
    }

    public function destroy($id)
    {
        Thing::destroy($id);
        return response()->json(null, 204);
    }
}

Run php artisan migrate to setup the database. Say 'Yes'.

Next login to phpMyAdmin and create the things table.

Note that we set the id to auto-increment.