Laravel 5.7 - PHP

Laravel is a free, open-source PHP web application framework used for web application development and is based on Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture.

Why Laravel?

Laravel provides an elegant, expressive syntax that helps in developing simple, as well as complex web applications. Some of the key features of Laravel are:

• MVC Architecture
• Artisan Command-Line Interface
• Authentication
• Routing
• Blade Templating Engine
• Eloquent ORM
• Middleware
• Queues
• Broadcasting
• Task Scheduling
• Testing

Installation

Laravel 5.7 requires PHP 7.1.3 or higher, along with several PHP extensions. You can install Laravel using Composer, which is a PHP dependency manager. Use the following command to install Laravel:

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel myproject "5.7.*"

MVC Architecture

Laravel follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture, which separates the application logic into three interconnected components: Model, View, and Controller. This helps in managing the codebase and makes it easier to maintain and extend the application.

Artisan Command-Line Interface

Artisan is an elegant command-line interface that comes bundled with Laravel, which provides a set of helpful commands for developing and managing Laravel applications. You can use Artisan to perform tasks like:

• Generating code
• Running database migrations
• Running unit tests
• Clearing application cache

Authentication

Laravel provides a simple, elegant authentication system that is easy to implement. You can use this to implement user registration, login, and password resets.

// Example of authentication in Laravel
if (Auth::attempt(['email' => $email, 'password' => $password])) {
    // Authentication successful
    return redirect()->intended('dashboard');
} else {
    // Authentication failed
    return back()->withErrors('Invalid email or password');
}

Routing

Laravel provides a simple, elegant routing system that helps in defining the application's endpoints. You can define routes using the Route facade or a closure.

// Example of a route in Laravel
Route::get('/', function () {
    return view('welcome');
});

Blade Templating Engine

Blade is Laravel's default templating engine, which provides an easy-to-use, yet powerful syntax for creating views. Blade provides features like template inheritance, loops, conditional statements, and more.

// Example of a Blade template in Laravel
@extends('layouts.app')

@section('content')
    <div class="container">
        <h1>{{ $title }}</h1>

        @if (count($users) > 0)
            <ul>
                @foreach ($users as $user)
                    <li>{{ $user->name }}</li>
                @endforeach
            </ul>
        @else
            <p>No users found</p>
        @endif
    </div>
@endsection

Eloquent ORM

Eloquent is Laravel's Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) system, which provides an easy-to-use, yet powerful syntax for working with databases. Eloquent allows you to define models that map to database tables, and provides simple APIs for querying and manipulating data.

// Example of querying data using Eloquent in Laravel
$users = User::where('active', 1)
             ->orderBy('name', 'desc')
             ->take(10)
             ->get();

Middleware

Middleware is a powerful feature in Laravel that allows you to modify the incoming requests before they are handled by the application. You can use middleware for tasks like logging, authentication, and more.

// Example of a middleware in Laravel
class RedirectIfAuthenticated
{
    public function handle($request, Closure $next)
    {
        if (Auth::check()) {
            return redirect('/dashboard');
        }

        return $next($request);
    }
}

Queues

Queues allow you to defer time-consuming tasks and process them asynchronously in the background. Laravel provides a simple, elegant API for creating, managing, and processing queues.

// Example of a job in Laravel
class SendEmail implements ShouldQueue
{
    use Dispatchable, InteractsWithQueue, Queueable, SerializesModels;

    protected $user;

    public function __construct(User $user)
    {
        $this->user = $user;
    }

    public function handle()
    {
        // Send email to user
    }
}

Broadcasting

Broadcasting allows you to broadcast events to other clients, such as WebSockets, so you can create real-time applications. Laravel provides a simple, elegant API for creating, managing, and broadcasting events.

// Example of broadcasting an event in Laravel
broadcast(new UserRegistered($user));

Task Scheduling

Task scheduling allows you to schedule tasks to run automatically at specified intervals. Laravel provides an easy-to-use, yet powerful API for scheduling tasks.

// Example of scheduling a task in Laravel
$schedule->command('emails:send')->daily();

Testing

Laravel provides a powerful testing framework, which allows you to write unit tests and functional tests for your application. Laravel makes it easy to write tests by providing an expressive syntax and useful testing helpers.

// Example of a test in Laravel
 public function test_user_can_login()
    {
        $user = factory(User::class)->create();

        $response = $this->post('/login', [
            'email' => $user->email,
            'password' => 'password',
        ]);

        $response->assertRedirect('/dashboard');
        $this->assertAuthenticatedAs($user);
    }

Conclusion

In conclusion, Laravel is a powerful, elegant web application framework that makes developing and maintaining PHP applications easy and fun. With its extensive set of features, you can build simple as well as complex applications with ease.