How to Get to Know Your Controller: A Basic Guide

🧠 What is a Laravel Controller?

Imagine you're building a website where users can view, add, or delete products. The Controller is like the manager that handles these tasks. It takes requests from the user, processes them, and returns the appropriate response.

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🛠️ Step-by-Step Guide to Working with Laravel Controllers

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1. Creating a Controller

To create a controller, open your terminal and run:

php artisan make:controller ProductController

This command creates a new file named ProductController.php in the app/Http/Controllers directory.

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2. Defining Methods in the Controller

Open the ProductController.php file and define methods to handle different actions:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class ProductController extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        return 'Display all products';
    }

    public function create()
    {
        return 'Show form to create a new product';
    }

    public function store(Request $request)
    {
        return 'Store new product';
    }

    public function show($id)
    {
        return "Display product with ID: $id";
    }

    public function edit($id)
    {
        return "Show form to edit product with ID: $id";
    }

    public function update(Request $request, $id)
    {
        return "Update product with ID: $id";
    }

    public function destroy($id)
    {
        return "Delete product with ID: $id";
    }
}

Each method corresponds to a specific action related to products.

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3. Setting Up Routes

Next, we need to tell Laravel which URL should trigger each method. Open the routes/web.php file and add:

use App\Http\Controllers\ProductController;

Route::resource('products', ProductController::class);

This single line automatically sets up routes for all the methods in your controller.

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4. Creating Views

For each action, you'll want to display a view. Create Blade templates in the resources/views/products directory:

• index.blade.php: Display all products.

• create.blade.php: Form to create a new product.

• edit.blade.php: Form to edit an existing product.

• show.blade.php: Display a single product.

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5. Handling Form Submissions

In the store and update methods, you'll handle form submissions. Use the Request object to access the submitted data:

public function store(Request $request)
{
    $validated = $request->validate([
        'name' => 'required|max:255',
        'price' => 'required|numeric',
    ]);

    // Store the product
}

This ensures the data is valid before storing it.

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6. Displaying Data

In the index method, you can retrieve all products from the database and pass them to the view:

public function index()
{
    $products = Product::all();
    return view('products.index', compact('products'));
}

In your index.blade.php:

@foreach ($products as $product)
    <p>{{ $product->name }} - ${{ $product->price }}</p>
@endforeach

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7. Redirecting After Actions

After performing actions like storing or updating, it's a good practice to redirect the user:

return redirect()->route('products.index');

This sends the user back to the list of products.

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8. Handling Deletions

In the destroy method, you can delete a product:

public function destroy($id)
{
    Product::destroy($id);
    return redirect()->route('products.index');
}

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1. User makes a request (e.g., clicks a link).

2. Route maps the request to a controller method.

3. Controller processes the request and interacts with the Model.

4. Model retrieves or manipulates data.

5. Controller returns a View to the user.

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✅ Summary

• Controllers handle user requests and return responses.

• Use php artisan make:controller to create a new controller.

• Define methods for each action (index, create, store, etc.).

• Set up routes in web.php to link URLs to controller methods.

• Create Blade views to display data to the user.

• Use the Request object to handle form submissions and validate data.

• Redirect users after actions to improve user experience.

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