Laravel Authentication Example - Educational Django to Laravel Translation

This project is a pedagogical translation of Django's authentication system to Laravel, designed to learn Laravel by comparing it with Django/Python concepts.

🚀 QUICK START (Recommended)

Option 1: Automated Setup with manage.sh (Easiest)

For first-time setup after cloning from GitHub:

# Make the script executable (if needed)
chmod +x manage.sh

# Run the interactive manager
./manage.sh

# Select option 9: "🚀 Configuración inicial completa"

This will automatically:

• ✅ Check PHP and Composer dependencies
• ✅ Install Laravel dependencies
• ✅ Create .env file from template
• ✅ Generate application key (Laravel's SECRET_KEY)
• ✅ Setup SQLite database
• ✅ Run migrations
• ✅ Create test users
• ✅ Start the server automatically!
• ✅ Open browser automatically (if possible)

Option 2: Manual Setup

# Install PHP dependencies with Composer
composer install

# Copy environment configuration
cp .env.example .env

# Generate application key (equivalent to Django's SECRET_KEY)
php artisan key:generate

# Create SQLite database file
touch database/database.sqlite

# Run migrations to create tables
php artisan migrate

# Seed database with test users
php artisan db:seed --class=UserSeeder

🎯 Start the Server

# Using manage.sh (recommended)
./manage.sh
# Then select option 1: "🚀 Iniciar servidor Laravel"

# OR manually
php artisan serve

# Check server status anytime
./check-server.sh

🎯 Ready to Test!

• Home: http://localhost:8000/
• Login: http://localhost:8000/auth/login
• Dashboard: http://localhost:8000/dashboard (requires authentication)

Test Users:

• Username: admin | Email: admin@example.com | Password: password123
• Username: testuser | Email: testuser@example.com | Password: password123

📚 Django vs Laravel Comparison

🗂️ Routing (URLs)

Aspect	Django	Laravel
File	urls.py	routes/web.php
Syntax	path('login/', login_view, name='login')	Route::get('login', [AuthController::class, 'showLogin'])->name('login')
Parameters	path('user/<int:id>/', user_detail)	Route::get('user/{id}', [UserController::class, 'show'])
Groups	include() or path() with prefix	Route::prefix('auth')->group()

🎮 Controllers/Views

Aspect	Django	Laravel
File	views.py	app/Http/Controllers/AuthController.php
Function	def login(request):	public function login(Request $request)
Request	request.POST.get('username')	$request->input('username')
Response	return render(request, 'template.html')	return view('template')
Redirect	return redirect('home')	return redirect()->route('home')

🗄️ Models/ORM

Aspect	Django	Laravel
File	models.py	app/Models/User.php
Definition	class User(AbstractUser):	class User extends Authenticatable
Fields	email = models.EmailField()	protected $fillable = ['email']
Queries	User.objects.all()	User::all()
Create	User.objects.create()	User::create()
Filter	User.objects.filter(active=True)	User::where('active', true)->get()

🗃️ Migrations

Aspect	Django	Laravel
Create	python manage.py makemigrations	php artisan make:migration
Run	python manage.py migrate	php artisan migrate
Rollback	python manage.py migrate app 0001	php artisan migrate:rollback
Status	python manage.py showmigrations	php artisan migrate:status

🎨 Templates

Aspect	Django	Laravel Blade
Inheritance	{% extends 'base.html' %}	@extends('layouts.app')
Blocks	{% block content %}{% endblock %}	@section('content') @endsection
Variables	{{ user.username }}	{{ Auth::user()->username }}
Conditionals	{% if user.is_authenticated %}	@auth @endauth
Loops	{% for item in items %}	@foreach($items as $item)
CSRF	{% csrf_token %}	@csrf

🛡️ Authentication

Aspect	Django	Laravel
Login	auth_login(request, user)	Auth::login($user)
Logout	auth_logout(request)	Auth::logout()
Current User	request.user	Auth::user()
Is Authenticated?	user.is_authenticated	Auth::check()
Protect Routes	@login_required decorator	->middleware('auth')

🔒 Middleware/Decorators

Aspect	Django	Laravel
Login Required	@login_required	->middleware('auth')
Guest Only	@unauthenticated_user	->middleware('guest')
CSRF Protection	@csrf_protect	Automatic (can exclude with middleware)
Rate Limiting	Custom middleware	->middleware('throttle:5,1')

🚀 Implemented Features

• ✅ Login with username/email and password
• ✅ Secure logout
• ✅ Rate limiting (brute force protection)
• ✅ Remember me functionality
• ✅ CSRF protection
• ✅ Authentication middleware
• ✅ Protected dashboard
• ✅ User migration
• ✅ Database seeders with test data
• ✅ Responsive templates with Bootstrap
• ✅ Flexible authentication (username or email)
• ✅ Flash messages
• ✅ Error handling and validation

📝 Test Users

After running php artisan db:seed --class=UserSeeder:

Username	Email	Password
admin	admin@example.com	password123
testuser	testuser@example.com	password123

🎓 Key Learning Concepts

1. Artisan CLI vs Django manage.py

# Laravel                          # Django
php artisan migrate                # python manage.py migrate
php artisan make:model User        # Edit models.py manually
php artisan serve                  # python manage.py runserver
php artisan tinker                 # python manage.py shell
php artisan make:controller Auth   # Create views.py manually

2. Eloquent ORM vs Django ORM

// Laravel
$users = User::where('active', true)->get();
$user = User::find(1);
User::create(['name' => 'John']);

# Django
users = User.objects.filter(active=True)
user = User.objects.get(id=1)
User.objects.create(name='John')

3. Blade Templates vs Django Templates

{{-- Laravel Blade --}}
@if(Auth::check())
    Welcome, {{ Auth::user()->username }}!
@endif

{# Django Templates #}
{% if user.is_authenticated %}
    Welcome, {{ user.username }}!
{% endif %}

4. Routes with Middleware vs Decorators

// Laravel
Route::middleware('auth')->group(function () {
    Route::get('/dashboard', function () {
        return view('dashboard');
    });
});

# Django
@login_required
def dashboard(request):
    return render(request, 'dashboard.html')

� Project Structure

├── app/
│   ├── Http/
│   │   ├── Controllers/
│   │   │   ├── Controller.php          # Base controller with shared methods
│   │   │   └── AuthController.php      # Authentication controller
│   │   └── Middleware/
│   │       └── Authenticate.php        # Authentication middleware
│   ├── Models/
│   │   └── User.php                    # User model (Eloquent)
│   └── Providers/
│       └── AppServiceProvider.php      # Service provider configuration
├── config/                             # Configuration files (like Django settings)
├── database/
│   ├── migrations/                     # Database migrations
│   └── seeders/                        # Database seeders
├── resources/views/                    # Blade templates
│   ├── layouts/
│   ├── auth/
│   ├── dashboard.blade.php
│   └── welcome.blade.php
├── routes/
│   └── web.php                         # Web routes (like Django urls.py)
└── storage/                           # File storage and logs

🔄 Next Steps for Learning

To continue learning, you can implement:

1. User Registration (equivalent to Django's register view)
2. Password Reset (equivalent to Django's password reset)
3. Email Verification (equivalent to Django's email verification)
4. User Profile Management (equivalent to Django's user profile)
5. REST API (equivalent to Django REST Framework)
6. Unit Testing (equivalent to Django's TestCase)

📖 Learning Resources

• Laravel Documentation
• Eloquent ORM
• Blade Templates
• Laravel Authentication
• Artisan Console

Note: This project is designed exclusively for educational purposes and comparison between Django and Laravel. It is not optimized for production use.