Lesson summaries

I. Prerequisites and Setup

1: An Animated Introduction to MVC

Learnt: Basic structure to MVC. Using the routes/web.php file, you will

Route::get('/path/here', [GenericController::class, 'methodCalled']); This will call a Controller where all necessary database interactions will be specified. The 'rules' for the interaction are defined by the Model. The Controller will then pass all necessary data to the View for the user to see.

2. Initial Environment Setup and Composer

3 prerequisites: editor, terminal and tools needed for project (MySQL, PHP, Composer etc.) Laravel documentation was mentioned, but mostly focused on Mac desktops: Brew and Sail. Docker was mentioned as well. Composer was installed + composer.phar installed globally. (On Windows, run:

where composer.phar

and it should show, even if you are in your C:\Users{user} home directory) To start new project:

composer create-project laravel/laravel app-name

To host locally, run

php artisan serve

3. The Laravel Installer Tool

composer global require laravel/installer To allow you to run laravel new app-name You have to add the following to to your PATH variable: ~/.composer/vendor/bin/laravel (use the full path name) On Windows: Win key->search 'cpanel'->enter->search 'system variables'->edit->Advanced->Environment variables->PATH->edit Add the directory there and save without changing anything else

4. Why do We Use Tools?

...we learn tools because they help us accomplish something or they help us solve a particular problem you have. The problem for this lecture series is creating a functional blog

II. The Basics

5. How a Route Loads a View

Explanation of the web.php file and how routes and views work.

Routes::get('/api-example', function{
	return ['foo' => 'bar'];
});

6. Include CSS and JavaScript

Edited welcome.blade.php in 'resources/views' with basic HTML and mentioned CSS+JS needing to be created in the 'public/' dir.

7. Make a Route and Link to it

Changed the name for the '/' view. Made a static posts page.

8. Store Blog Posts as HTML Files

Showed that extracting html into the 'resources/posts/' can be loaded dynamically using a slug like:

	Route::get('/post/{post}', function ($slug) {
    $post = file_get_contents(__DIR__ . "/../resources/posts/$slug.html");

    return view('post', [
        'post' => $post
    ]);
});

This means a blog writer can put their blogposts onto a file on something like GitHub if they wanted it to be open-source. Furthermore, some extra route handling covered:

abort(404); return redirect('/');

9. Route Wildcard Constraints

At the end of the

Route::get('/path/to', function{
	return "Something";
})

for some extra constraints / validity checks there can now be added:

->where($variable, '[RegExHere]+');

For alpha[numeric]:

whereAlphaNumeric

10. Use Caching for Expensive Operations

Caching can be done by ***adding:

$post = cache()->remember("posts.$slug", 5 / seconds /, fn () => file_get_contents($path));

11. Use the Filesystem Class to Read a Directory

Extracted the database functionality into a new file, App\Models\Post. For ease of reading, the web.php has the following keywords: $post = Post::find($slug); return view('post', [ 'post' => $post ]);

Now it reads: "Find a Post and Return it to the View" The caching and file_exists() check is now inside the Post model, in a find() function.

Path shothands were mentioned; app_path(), base_path(), resource_path() etc.
The find() in App\Models\Post is not responsible for redirects. Instead, throw new ModelNotFoundException();
To make the original '/' posts page more dynamic, did a foreach() and Post::all() from the view
Illuminate\Support\Facades\File class was mentioned; used ::files('/path/here').
return array_map(fn ($file) => $file->getContents(), $files) loops over an array, does something to it, and returns an array.

12. Find a Composer Package for Post Metadata

yaml-front-matter

composer require spatie/yaml-front-matter

You can now add metadata to the html files. Accessing through code is simple:

$files = File::files(resource_path('posts'));
$documents = array_map(fn ($file) => YamlFrontMatter::parseFile($file), $files);

dd($documents);

This will pass it as a Yaml object.

// Output
array:4 [▼ // routes\web.php:13
  0 => 
Spatie\YamlFrontMatter
\
Document {#296 ▼
    #matter: []
    #body: """
      <h1>My First post</h1>

      <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Dicta impedit ullam ea voluptatum dolor modi. Ipsam

          commodi voluptatibus, nam suscipit expedita in unde ad perspiciatis dolores magnam repudiandae. Nulla, quae.

      </p>
      """
  }
  1 => 
Spatie\YamlFrontMatter
\
Document {#308 ▼
    #matter: array:2 [▼
      "title" => "My Second Post"
      "date" => 1710460800
    ]
    #body: """
      

      <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Dicta impedit ullam ea voluptatum dolor modi. Ipsam

          commodi voluptatibus, nam suscipit expedita in unde ad perspiciatis dolores magnam repudiandae. Nulla, quae.

      </p>
      """
  }
]

Accessing the properties is simple:

$yamlObj->body(); // Get body (no metadata)
$yamlObj->matter(); // Get all metadata (usually as array)
$yamlObj->matter('title'); // Get specific attribute
$yamlObj->title; // Same as above

Collections can be used with a constructor:

public static function all()
{
	return collect(File::files(resource_path('posts')))
	->map(fn ($file) => YamlFrontMatter::parseFile($file))
	->map(fn ($doc) => new Post(
		$doc->title,
		$doc->excerpt,
		$doc->date,
		$doc->body(),
		$doc->slug
	));
}

13. Collection Sorting and Caching Refresher

collect()->sortBy[Desc]();
cache()->rememberForever('unique.name'); // Needs to be cleared
cache()->forget('unique.name');
cache()->put('key', 'value');
cache(['key' => 'value']);

If you want some more control without changing your code:

php artisan tinker

Potential homework: Service Providers

III. Blade

14. Blade: The Absolute Basics

{{ Display with htmlspecialchars }}
{!! Display without htmlspecialchars !!}
@foreach ($posts as $post) @endforeach
@dd($var) // <?php dd($var); ?>
<article class="{{ $loop->even ? 'mb-4' : '' }}"> // $loop variable
@if (true) @endif
@unless @endunless

Inside storage\framework\views, you'll find the compiled versions of your views.

15. Blade Layouts Two Ways

Option 1: @extends, @yield

{{-- layout.blade.php --}}
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/app.css">
<body>
	@yield('name')
</body>

{{-- example.blade.php --}}
@extends('layout')
@section('name')
	{{-- Add new code here --}}
@endsection

Option 2: Components

{{-- components/layout.blade.php --}}
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/app.css">
<body>
	{{ $content }}
	{{-- Alternatively, $slot is used if it's only a variable or text being 'slotted' into it. --}}
</body>

{{-- example.blade.php --}}
<x-layout>
    <x-slot name="content">
		{{-- Add new code here --}}
    </x-slot>
</x-layout>

16. A Few Tweaks and Considerations

Added findOrFail() method

IV. Working with Databases

17. Environment Files and Database Connections

.env file is private / sensitive info
php artisan migrate starts the table migrations
GUIs like TablePlus help visualise the data
The necessary values are usually read by the various files in the '/config' directory.

Note

[Many config files are no more in Laravel 11.]

18. Migrations: The Absolute Basics

php artisan migrate uses the database/migrations directory
up() runs the migration (ie, creates tables) and down() reverses it The code for making a table is easy to understand:

function (Blueprint $table) {
	$table->id();
	$table->string('name');
	$table->string('email')->unique();
	$table->timestamp('email_verified_at')->nullable();
	$table->string('password');
	$table->rememberToken();
	$table->timestamps();
}

The migrations table has a 'batch' record that specifies the rollback-hierarchy in descending order.

php artisan migrate:fresh deletes everything and migrates again
- This will not practically be used in production
- APP_ENV can be set to production to try to prevent this

19. Eloquent and the Active Record Pattern

Per Wikipedia:

The active record pattern is an approach to accessing data in a database. A database table or view is wrapped into a class. Thus, an object instance is tied to a single row in the table. After creation of an object, a new row is added to the table upon save.

Each table can have a corresponding Eloquent model You can use php artisan tinker:

$user = new App\Models\User;
$user->name = 'Someone';
$user->email = 'name@example.com;
$user->password = bcrypt('password');

$user->save();

User::find(1); // id
User::findOrFail(1);
User::all();
// Here you can add changes and update

$user = new App\Models\User;

// Here you can't

$users = User::all();
$users->pluck('name'); // Returns object with only specified records
$users->first(); // OR $users[0]

20. Make a Post Model and migration

php artisan make:migration create_{names}_table
php artisan make:model {Name}

php artisan tinker

Inside tinker:

$name = new [App\Models\]{Name}
$name->attribute = 'add here'
$name->oops = 'Can't add to DB; attribute doesn't exist';
unset($name->oops);

$name->save()

21. Eloquent Updates and HTML Escaping

$temp = App\Models\Temp::find({id});
$temp->attribute = "Add or change" . $temp->attribute
$temp->save()

22. 3 Ways to Mitigate Mass Assignment Vulnerabilities

This throws a MassAssignmentException:

Temp::create(['attribute' => 'Something'])

The above wants you to add 'attribute' to a fillable property:

namespace App\Models\Temp;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Temp extends Model
{
	use HasFactory;
	protected $guarded = []; // Just this signals to expert programmers that things should never be mass-assigned
	// Meaning, never take an array or something and then mass assign it
	
	protected $fillable = [ 'attribute' ]; // Now Mass Assignment is possible if you explicitly declare like this
}

To change the instance to the original, before save():

$temp->fresh()

You can also update a specific instance as follows:

$temp->update(['attribute' => 'Change val'])

23. Route Model Binding

Route::get('/post/{post/*:attribute*/}', function (Post $post) {
    return view('post', [
        'post' => $post
    ]);
});

Alternatively, you can do this in the Model:

class getRouteKeyName(){
	return 'attibute';
}

Now, use Route::get('/post/{post}'){};

24. Your First Eloquent Relationship

class Post extends Post
{
	public function category()
	{
		return $this->belongsTo(Category::class);
	}
}

In tinker, to run the function:

$post = Post::find(1)->category

Now you can access it using normal attribute accessing.

25. Show All Posts Associated With a Category

Route handling:

// web.php
Route::get('/categories/{category:slug}', function (Category $category) {
    return view('posts', [
        'posts' => $category->posts
    ]);
});

Model logic:

namespace App\Models;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Category extends Model
{
    use HasFactory;
    public function posts()
    {
        return $this->hasMany(Post::class);
    }
}

Linking on posts[s].blade.php:

<a href="/categories/{{ $post->category->slug }}">
	Show {{ $post->category->name }} posts
</a>

26. Clockwork, and the N+1 Problem

Inside the loop, you're accessing a relationship that has not yet been loaded:

 @foreach ($posts as $post)
	<a href="/categories/{{ $post->category->slug }}">
		Show {{ $post->category->name }} posts
	</a>
@endforeach

Meaning, you run an additional SQL query for each item in the loop. To prove this:

\Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB::listen(function ($query) {
	logger($query->sql);
});

Returns this on the log:

[2024-03-18 11:32:05] local.DEBUG: select * from posts
[2024-03-18 11:32:05] local.DEBUG: select * from categories where categories.id = ? limit 1
[2024-03-18 11:32:05] local.DEBUG: select * from categories where categories.id = ? limit 1
[2024-03-18 11:32:05] local.DEBUG: select * from categories where categories.id = ? limit 1
[2024-03-18 11:32:05] local.DEBUG: update sessions set payload = ?, last_activity = ?, user_id = ?, ip_address = ?, user_agent = ? where id = ?

Alternatively, install Clockwork for a tab in DevTools.

You can change the 'lazy load':

'posts' => Post::all()

To:

'posts' => Post::with('category')->get()

It will load the relationship as well.

27. Database Seeding Saves Time

// Truncate to avoid seeding dupes
 User::truncate();
Category::truncate();
Post::truncate();

$user = User::factory()->create();

$personal = Category::create([
	'name' => 'Personal', 
	'slug' => 'personal'
]);

// You can access attributes for IDs
Post::create([
	'user_id' => $user->id,
	'category_id' => $personal->id,
	'title' => 'My Family Post',
	'slug' => 'my-family-post',
	'excerpt' => 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.',
	'body' => 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Veniam, totam voluptas. Impedit dignissimos id nobis ipsam sint, tempore, voluptates facilis soluta error deserunt aspernatur recusandae ipsum reiciendis odio numquam molestiae?'
]);

28. Turbo Boost With Factories

To add migration, factory and seeder:

php artisan make:model -mfs

This:

$this->faker

is the same as this:

fake()

Simplest way to

public function definition(): array
{
	return [
		'other_model_id' => \App\Models\ModelName::factory(), // Choose
		'title' => fake()->title(),
		'slug' => fake()->unique()->slug(),
		'excerpt' => fake()->sentence(),
		'body' => fake()->paragraph() // etc.
	];
}

Override certain randomised data:

$user = User::factory()->create([
	'name' => 'John Doe'
]);

Post::factory(5)->create([
	'user_id' => $user->id
]);

29. View All Posts by an Author

// web.php
// latest() orders by; column name can be specified
'posts' => Post::latest()->with('category')->get()

// Specify foreign key
public function author() // Laravel assumes author_id
{
	return $this->belongsTo(User::class, 'user_id');
}

30. Eager Load Relationships on an Existing Model

// Eager-load by default in any model
$with = ['parent_table', 'subtable'];

// `id` fields are foreign keys in DB
function parent_table()
{
	return $this->belongsTo(ParentModel::class, 'id');
}
function subtable()
{
	return $this->hasMany(ChildModel::class, 'id');
}

Disabling for a single query:

App\Models\ModelName::without('parent_table')->get();

V. Integrate the Design

31. Convert the HTML and CSS to Blade

Downloaded core from GitHub Basically moved things around so it's easier to read.

32.

To pass a variable through, you can do this:

<x-post-featured-card :post="$post"/>

Default timestamps are instances of class+library "Carbon"

Example:

Published {{ $post->created_at->diffForHumans() }}
{{-- Published 2 hours ago (in my case)--}}

For loops, you can skip:

@foreach ($posts->skip(1) as $post) @endforeach

Extra:

{{-- Main view example --}}
<x-post-card :post="$post" class="bg-red-500"/>

{{-- Incorporate on component / prop --}}
<a{{ $attributes->merge(['class' => 'hover:bg-gray-100 border border-black']) }}></a>

33. Convert the Blog Post Page

Moved some stuff, added images, incorporated Blade even more.

34. A Small JavaScript Dropdown Detour

Adding AlpineJS to aid with linking to categories. Basic styling Exmample:

<div x-data="{ show: false }">
	<!-- Problem: Longer text shrinks to width 	-->
	<button @click="show = !show">Text</button>

	<div x-show="show">
		<a href="#">Much longer text here</a>
	</div>
</div>

<!-- Solution: tailwind css class="w-32" or some other number -->
<!-- @click.away -->

35. How to Extract a Dropdown Blade Component

Extracted into components

36. Quick Tweaks and Clean-Up

Styling. Added '

' tags to excerpt.

VI. Search

37. Search (The Messy Way)

Route::get('/', function () {
    $posts = Post::latest();

    if (request('search'))
        $posts
            ->where('title', 'like', '%' . request('search') . '%')
            ->orWhere('body', 'like', '%' . request('search') . '%');

    $try = $posts->get();
    isset($try) ? $posts = $posts->get() : redirect('/no-results');

    return view('posts', [
        'posts' => $try,
        'categories' => Category::all()
    ]);
});

38. Search (The Cleaner Way)

// Post model
public function scopeFilter($query, array $filters)
{
	$query
		->when($filters['search'] ?? false, fn ($query, $search) =>
			$query
				->where('title', 'like', "%$search%")
				->orWhere('body', 'like', "%$search%")
	);
}

// Controller function executed in web.php
public function index()
{
	// dd(request(['search']));
	return view('posts', [
		'posts' => Post::latest()->filter(request(['search']))->get(),
		'categories' => Category::all()
	]);
}

VII. Filtering

39. Advanced Eloquent Query Constraints

What you are trying to emulate:

SELECT * FROM `posts`
WHERE EXISTS (
	SELECT * FROM `categories`
	WHERE `categories`.`id` = `posts`.`category_id` AND `categories`.`slug` = 'earum-illum-consequuntur-eligendi-consequatur-aliquam-ullam'
)
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC
)

Here's how it looks in Laravel:

public function scopeFilter($query, array $filters)
{
	$query->when(
		$filters['category'] ?? false,
		fn ($query, $category) =>
		$query
			->whereExists(fn ($query) =>
				$query->from('categories')
					->whereColumn('categories.id', 'posts.category_id')
					->where('categories.slug', $category)
			)
	);
}

Even simpler, use whereHas:

$query->when(
	$filters['category'] ?? false,
	fn ($query, $category) =>
	$query->whereHas(
		'category',
		fn ($query) =>
		$query->where('slug', $category)
	)
);

// This reads like:
// "Give

Then in the controller:

public function index()
{
		return view('posts', [
		'posts' => Post::latest()->filter(request(['search', 'category']))->get(),
		'categories' => Category::all(),
		'currentCategory' => Category::firstWhere('slug', request('category'))
	]);
}

40. Extract a Category Dropdown Blade Component

Best practice is for

class PostController extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        // dd(request(['search']));
        return view('posts.index', [
            'posts' => Post::latest()->filter(request(['search', 'category']))->get()
        ]);
    }
    public function show(Post $post)
    {
        return view('posts.show', [
            'post' => $post
        ]);
    }
}

41. Author Filtering

Add author filtering to the scopeFilter:

$query->when(
	$filters['author'] ?? false,
	fn ($query, $author) =>
	$query->whereHas(
		'author',
		fn ($query) =>
		$query->where('username', $author)
	)
);

Update the view by adding author to the check

return view('posts.index', [
	'posts' => Post::latest()->filter(request(['search', 'category', 'author']))->get()
]);

42. Merge Category and Search Queries

<x-dropdown-item href="/?category={{ $cat->slug }}&{{ http_build_query(request()->except('category')) }}"
	:active="request('category') === $cat->slug">
	{{ ucfirst($cat->name) }}
</x-dropdown-item>

43. Fix a Confusing Eloquent Query Bug

This:

public function scopeFilter($query, array $filters)
{
	$query->when(
		$filters['search'] ?? false,
		fn ($query, $search) =>
		$query
			->where('title', 'like', "%$search%")
			->orWhere('body', 'like', "%$search%")
	);

	$query->when(
		$filters['category'] ?? false,
		fn ($query, $category) =>
		$query->whereHas(
			'category',
			fn ($query) =>
			$query->where('slug', $category)
		)
	);

	$query->when(
		$filters['author'] ?? false,
		fn ($query, $author) =>
		$query->whereHas(
			'author',
			fn ($query) =>
			$query->where('username', $author)
		)
	);
}

Produces this SQL:

SELECT *
FROM `posts`
WHERE (`title` LIKE '%et%' OR `body` LIKE '%et%' AND EXISTS (
SELECT *
FROM `categories`
WHERE `posts`.`category_id` = `categories`.`id` AND `slug` = 'unde-fugiat-praesentium-praesentium-aut-adipisci-ut-omnis-eum'))
ORDER BY `created_at` DESC

Problem with this is the (title OR body and EXISTS()) are grouped as opposed to being separate queries.

To fix this, the first part is like this

$query
	->when(
		$filters['search'] ?? false,
		fn ($query, $search) =>
		$query->where(
			fn ($query) =>
			$query
				->where('title', 'like', "%$search%")
				->orWhere('body', 'like', "%$search%")
	)
);

Difference: Everything in the search is now inside a single where() method.

VIII. Pagination

44. Laughably Simple Pagination

Pagination syntax:

return view('posts.index', [
	'posts' => Post::latest()->filter(
		request(['search', 'category', 'author'])
	)
	// Without pagination
//		->get()
	// With pagination
		->paginate(/* How many? Def: 15 */)
	// Allows for filter-hopping:
		->withQueryString()
]);

To get the links, in your Blade view:

{{ $variableInController->links() }}

Then, if you click on a filter add the except to refresh:

href="/?category={{ $cat->slug }}&{{ http_build_query(request()->except('category', 'page')) }}"

php artisan vendor:publish is what you need to generate the views that you can edit for styling the links.

In your App\Providers\AppServiceProvider file in the 'boot()', you can set Paginator::use... for Tailwind/Bootstrap. Tailwind is default.

->simplePaginate() will not calculate the amount of pages (< 1 2 3 4 5 >) but just give << Previous and << Next

IX. Forms and Authentication

44. Build a Register User Page

Simple register form, method="POST", action="/register" @csrf generates a hidden input with a session id

Inside web.php

Route::post('register', [RegisterController::class, 'store']);

Then in the controller

public function store()
{
	$attributes = request()->validate([
		'name' => 'required',
		'username' => 'required',
		'email' => ['required', 'email'],
		'password' => 'required|min:7|max:255'

	]);

	User::create($attributes);

	return redirect('/');
    }

46. Automatic Password Hashing With Mutators

bcrypt() hashes passwords

Check if some value equals hashed value in DB: Illuminate\Support\Facades\Hash::check('text-to-check', App\Models\User::find($id)->password);

To auto-encrypt:

public function setPasswordAttribute($password)
{
	$this->attributes['password'] = bcrypt($password);
}

Now it will be hashed by default.

47. Failed Validation and Old Input Data

value="{{ old('id-here') }}" can be added to keep the old values upon submission

Validation messages:

@error('email')
	<p class="text-red-500 text-xs mt-1">{{ $message }}</p>
@enderror

Alternative way to show errors:

@if ($errors->any())
	<ul>
		@foreach ($errors->all() as $err)
			<li class="text-red-500 text-xs">{{ $err }}</li>
		@endforeach
	</ul>
@endif

To prevent duplicates from the controller, specify 'unique:table,column: 'username' => 'required|min:3|unique:users,username', Or: 'username' => ['required', 'min:3', 'max:255', /* Illumninate\Validation\ */ Rule::unique('users', 'username')],

48. Show a Success Flash Message

Add to the session, but only until next page load. session()->flash('success', 'Your account has been created.'); Even better, upon redirect, do ->with() instead of session()->flash()

Here you can add AlpineJS to a div that shows a success message:

@if (session()->has('success'))
	<div x-data="{ show: true }"
		x-init="setTimeout(() => show = false, 4000)"
		x-show="show"
		class="fixed bg-blue-500 text-white py-2 px-4 rounded-xl bottom-3 right-3 text-sm"
	>
		<p>{{ session('success') }}</p>
	</div>
@endif

49. Login and Logout

In the RegisterController to log a user in, you can add: auth()->login($user);

In the web.php file, you can add middleware: Route::post('register', [RegisterController::class, 'store'])->middleware('guest');

According to Jeffrey Way at around 2:18:

Just think of it(middleware) as a piece of logic that will run whenever a new request comes in. ... You have the opportunity to inspect that request and perform pieces of logic or even redirect the user elsewhere.

50. Build the Log In Page

If failed,

return back()
	->withInput()
	->withErrors(['email' => 'Your provided credentials could not be verified.']);

Or

throw ValidationException::withMessage([
	'email' => 'Your provided credentials could not be verified.'
]);

session()->regenerate(); before logging in prevents session fixation

51. Laravel Breeze Quick Peek

Check if you have node and npm:

node -v
npm -v

php artisan breeze:install npm install && npm run dev

You should only pull in Breeze at the beginning of the project.

X. Comments

52. Write the Markup for a Post Comment

Basic strucutre to the comments, extracted to post-comment component.

53. Table Consistency and Foreign Key Constraints

IDs are unsigned big integers that auto_increment, so foreign IDs have to be the same datatype.

Schema::create(
	'comments',
	function (Blueprint $table) {
		$table->id();
		$table->foreignId('post_id')->constrained()->cascadeOnDelete();
		$table->foreignId('user_id')->constrained()->cascadeOnDelete();
		$table->text('body');
		$table->timestamps();
	}
);

->constrained forces the foreign ID to match up with an existing primary key in the table it references. ->cascadeOnDelete() is usually "maintains DB consistency".

54. Make the Comments Section Dynamic

Created comments model, migration, factory and controller and added to seeder. Same old, took data from table as collection variables and displayed them using attribute access.

55. Design the Comment Form

Get logged-in user's id: auth()->id()

56. Activate the Comment Form

The 7 RESTful commands you'll see in controllers: index, show, create, store, edit, update, destroy

Usually you'd want your controllers' functions to correlate with the above-mentioned. If it doesn't quite fit, you might want a different controller.

To unguard all at the model level (inside App\Providers\AppServiceProvider)

public function boot(): void
{
    Model::unguard();
}

57. Some Light Chapter Cleanup

Sometimes you can just extract a component and @include() it if you do not need to pass variables r make it dynamic instead of using a Blade directive

XI. Newsletters and APIs

58. Mailchimp API Tinkering

Mailchimp

Signed up for free account
Generated API key for Mailchimp
Added to .env and read it in at config/services.php
config('services.mailchimp') will fetch the entire value for from services.php
Followed the official documentation
composer require mailchimp/marketing

$mailchimp = new \MailchimpMarketing\ApiClient();

$mailchimp->setConfig([
	'apiKey' => config('services.mailchimp.api_key'),
	'server' => 'us18'
]);

$response = $mailchimp->ping->get();
ddd($response);

Look for what you need on the documentation

59. Make the Newsletter Form Work

Straightforward form functionalities.

60. Extract a Newsletter Service

You can make an invokable Controller: php artisan make:controller [ThingController] -i Call in the route:

Route::post('path', ThingController::class);

The API handling was added under App\Services and was called by the controller by creating a new instance.

As an extra you can add this as a global function:

function removePlussesEmail(string $email)
{
    // Deconstruct
    $parts = explode('@', $email);

    // Find '+'
    $firstPart = $parts[0];
    $plusIndex = strpos($firstPart, '+');

    // Truncate '+' and everything after it in the username
    if ($plusIndex)
        $firstPart = substr($firstPart, 0, $plusIndex);

    // return (new) username@domain
    return  $firstPart . '@' . (isset($parts[1]) ? $parts[1] : null);
}

61. Toy Chests and Contracts

Service providers, containers and contracts

Service Containers

Service containers work like toychests. Laravel will look into the parameters of a function, digging through what you had given. Laravel tries to put something in if you didn't. If there are no constructors, it will just run new ClassCalled() If there is a constructor, it will recursively resolve dependencies when applicable.

Example: this

<?php
namespace App\Services;
use MailchimpMarketing\ApiClient;
class Newsletter
{
    public function initMailchimp(): ApiClient
    {
        return (new ApiClient())->setConfig([
            'apiKey' => config('services.mailchimp.api_key'),
            'server' => 'us18'
        ]);;
    }
}

can be turned into this

<?php

namespace App\Services;

use MailchimpMarketing\ApiClient;

class Newsletter
{
    public function __construct(protected ApiClient $client){}

    public function initMailchimp(): ApiClient
    {
        return $this->client->setConfig([
            'apiKey' => config('services.mailchimp.api_key'),
            'server' => 'us18'
        ]);;
    }
}

Now if you do something like this:

<?php

namespace App\Htpp\Controllers;

class NewsletterController extends Controller
{
    public function __invoke(Newsletter $newsletter){}
}

Laravel will recursively loook through any dependencies that were not defined and do that.

Using the code above from the Service Provider and considering ApiClient has an empty constructor, Laravel will eventually run new Newsletter(new ApiClient));

The program will fail if there are no values defined for certain variables / datatypes like string and int.

Unresolvable dependency resolving [Parameter #... ... ]] in class ...

Service Providers

Registering Service Providers is done using App\Providers For example, in the register() function of AppServiceProvider.php you can bind your own like:

app()->bind('foo', fn() => 'bar');

You can call it using resolve('foo'), app()->get('foo') or $this->app->get('foo').

Contracts

An Interface was described as a program that enforces subclasses to use functions declared in it. This is a 'contract' relationship.

XII. Admin Section

62. Limit Access to Only Admins

To make something optional:

auth()->user()?->username;

php artisan make:middleware AdminsOnly This has to be configured inside bootstrap\app.php from Laravel 11:

->withMiddleware(function (Middleware $middleware) {
	$middleware->alias(['admin' => AdminsOnly::class]);
})

63. Create the Publish Post Form

Basic form. Uses admin middleware.

64. Validate and Store Post Thumbnails

If a file-type input is used, enctype="multipart/form-data" needs to be added to the form.

Illuminate\Http\UploadedFiles is used to interact with files using, in part, the config\filesystems.php file. By default, it's stored in the storage\app directory, but this can be changed in filesystems.php.

php artisan storage:link will move your folders from storage\app\public to just public\storage The asset() function will use the full path as opposed to the relative path.

65. Extract Form-Specific Blade Components

Extracted components.

66. Extend the Admin Layout

<x-dropdown>
    <x-slot name="trigger">
        <button class="text-xs font-bold uppercase">
            Welcome, {{ auth()->user()->name }}!
        </button>
    </x-slot>

    <x-dropdown-item href="/admin/posts/create" :active="request()->is('admin/posts/create')">
        New Post
    </x-dropdown-item>
    <x-dropdown-item href="#" x-data="{}"
        @click.prevent="document.querySelector('#logout').submit()">Log Out</x-dropdown-item>

    <form id="logout" action="/logout" method="post" class="hidden">
        @csrf
    </form>
</x-dropdown>

67. Create a Form to Edit and Delete Posts

Passed the posts through AdminPostController to the admin/posts path

Copied Tailwind code here

Created admin pages for updating and deleting pages ('Dashboard' and 'Update'.

Made the form.input component more dynamic.

Using @method('PATCH') and @method('DELETE') under a form creates hidden inputs that let the server know that the browser wants to PATCH or DELETE.

Using {!! old('variable', $variable) !!} lets the old() function default to another value if there's nothing in the cache.

68. Group and Store Validation Logic

My first piece of advice for things like this (trying to avoid duplication as much as possible), is try not to create and wire up miles of misdirection; new files; references and dependencies all for the sake of saving yourself just a little bit of duplication. In those cases, have you really improved the code or did you complicate the code?

69. Authorization

Gate

In App\Providers\AppServiceProvider.php:

public function boot(): void
{
	Gate::define('admin', fn (User $user) => $user->is_admin == '1');
}

You can check this with normal Laravel files 2 ways:

// Returns a boolean based on the Gate check
request()->user()->can/*not*/('admin');

// An abort_if returning 403
$this->authorize('admin');

Or, using blade:

@can('admin')
	{-- Only admins see this --}
@endcan

Custom Blade directive