**Course Title:** Modern PHP Development: Best Practices and Advanced Techniques **Section Title:** PHP Frameworks: Introduction to Laravel or Symfony **Topic:** Build a simple web application using a modern PHP framework like Laravel or Symfony.(Lab topic) **Objective:** By the end of this lab topic, you should be able to build a simple web application using a modern PHP framework like Laravel or Symfony. This lab topic will help you gain hands-on experience with creating a complete web application using a PHP framework. **Prerequisites:** Before proceeding with this lab topic, make sure you have completed the following topics: * Introduction to PHP and Development Environment * Control Structures and Functions * Working with Forms and User Input * Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) in PHP * Working with Databases (MySQL/MariaDB) * Modern PHP Features: Traits, Generators, and Anonymous Classes * Error Handling and Exception Management * Security in PHP: Best Practices * PHP Frameworks: Introduction to Laravel or Symfony **Software Requirements:** * PHP 8.x or later * Composer (for dependency management) * A modern PHP framework like Laravel or Symfony * A code editor or IDE (Integrated Development Environment) of your choice * A MySQL or MariaDB database management system **Lab Instructions:** For this lab topic, we will be using Laravel as our modern PHP framework. However, the concepts and techniques you learn here can be applied to other PHP frameworks like Symfony. **Step 1: Create a New Laravel Project** 1. Open your terminal or command prompt and navigate to the directory where you want to create your new Laravel project. 2. Run the following command to create a new Laravel project using Composer: ```bash composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel blog ``` This command will create a new Laravel project called "blog" in the current directory. **Step 2: Configure the Database** 1. Open the `.env` file in your code editor or IDE. 2. Update the database settings to match your MySQL or MariaDB database credentials. ```makefile DB_CONNECTION=mysql DB_HOST=127.0.0.1 DB_PORT=3306 DB_DATABASE=blog DB_USERNAME=root DB_PASSWORD= ``` **Step 3: Create the Database Tables** 1. Open the `database/migrations` directory in your code editor or IDE. 2. You will see several migration files that were generated by Laravel when you created the project. 3. Run the following command to create the database tables: ```bash php artisan migrate ``` **Step 4: Create the Blog Model** 1. Open the `app/Models` directory in your code editor or IDE. 2. Create a new file called `Blog.php` and add the following code: ```php namespace App\Models; use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model; class Blog extends Model { protected $fillable = ['title', 'content']; } ``` **Step 5: Create the Blog Controller** 1. Open the `app/Http/Controllers` directory in your code editor or IDE. 2. Create a new file called `BlogController.php` and add the following code: ```php namespace App\Http\Controllers; use App\Models\Blog; use Illuminate\Http\Request; class BlogController extends Controller { public function index() { $blogs = Blog::all(); return view('blogs', compact('blogs')); } public function create() { return view('create'); } public function store(Request $request) { $blog = new Blog(); $blog->title = $request->input('title'); $blog->content = $request->input('content'); $blog->save(); return redirect()->route('blog.index'); } } ``` **Step 6: Create the Routes** 1. Open the `routes/web.php` file in your code editor or IDE. 2. Add the following code to define the routes for the blog application: ```php use App\Http\Controllers\BlogController; Route::get('/blog', [BlogController::class, 'index'])->name('blog.index'); Route::get('/blog/create', [BlogController::class, 'create'])->name('blog.create'); Route::post('/blog', [BlogController::class, 'store'])->name('blog.store'); ``` **Step 7: Create the Views** 1. Open the `resources/views` directory in your code editor or IDE. 2. Create a new file called `blogs.blade.php` and add the following code: ```php <h1>Blogs</h1> @foreach($blogs as $blog) <h2>{{ $blog->title }}</h2> <p>{{ $blog->content }}</p> @endforeach ``` 3. Create a new file called `create.blade.php` and add the following code: ```php <h1>Create Blog</h1> <form method="post" action="{{ route('blog.store') }}"> @csrf <label for="title">Title:</label> <input type="text" id="title" name="title"><br><br> <label for="content">Content:</label> <textarea id="content" name="content"></textarea><br><br> <input type="submit" value="Create Blog"> </form> ``` **Conclusion:** In this lab topic, you have learned how to build a simple web application using Laravel, a modern PHP framework. You have created a blog application that allows users to create and view blogs. This application demonstrates the use of Eloquent ORM for database interactions, view templates for rendering HTML, and routes for mapping URLs to controller actions. **Additional Resources:** * Laravel Documentation: [https://laravel.com/docs/8.x](https://laravel.com/docs/8.x) * Symfony Documentation: [https://symfony.com/doc/current/index.html](https://symfony.com/doc/current/index.html) **What's Next:** In the next topic, we will discuss the importance of testing in modern PHP development. We will explore the different types of testing, including unit testing, integration testing, and functional testing. We will also learn how to use PHPUnit for writing and running tests in PHP. **Leave a Comment/Ask for Help:** If you have any questions or need help with this lab topic, please leave a comment below.