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In this course, we’ll build a REST API with Laravel that allows you to submit your favorite books and authors. The REST API we’re building, from scratch -- can return a list of books with authors and also allows you to submit, update and delete books and authors. This aggregating of information is a common use case for APIs as well as SaaS applications, short for software as a service-- such as Turbo Tax or Spotify. Let’s get started!
Laravel version
It is recommended that you use Laravel 6 when following along with this course. Laravel version 6 is the latest LTS (long-term support) version available currently.
REST
- Roy Fielding and the 6 guiding constraints of REST ie Statelessness
- What is Statelessness
- Application State vs Resource State
Console Warning
Disregard the console warning as we are not using the php-console-color package in this course. Feel free to try using Laravel 7 as well.
Laravel Mix
Database Review
Prerequisites
[MUSIC]
0:00
Hi, I'm Jonathan,
a full stack web developer and
0:05
instructor here at Treehouse.
0:08
In this course, we're going to
build a REST API with Laravel,
0:12
one of the most popular
PHP frameworks today.
0:16
Even if you've never built an API,
0:20
the concept is very similar
to web applications.
0:22
They both take in a request and
return a response.
0:26
The critical difference
is how they respond.
0:30
Web applications return an HTML format.
0:33
While REST APIs most commonly return
a JSON format, and sometimes XML.
0:37
So what is REST, exactly?
0:44
REST is an acronym that stands for
Representational State Transfer.
0:47
An architectural style first
represented by Roy Fielding in 2000.
0:53
Check the teachers notes below to
learn more about Roy Fielding and
0:58
the six guiding constraints for
all REST APIs.
1:02
The most important constraint
to remember is statelessness.
1:08
Requests from clients to the server
1:12
must contain all of the information
necessary to understand the request.
1:14
And cannot store any state context
on the server, only on the client.
1:19
It's also important to remember that
1:26
application state is not
the same as resource state.
1:28
Resource state, in the context of REST,
1:33
is the state of some data represented
on the server at any point in time.
1:36
Application state, on the other hand,
is everything necessary to keep
1:42
your application running,
which is stored in the server's memory,
1:47
and is faster than storing and
retrieving information from a database.
1:52
For example,
to identify incoming requests,
1:57
such as creating, modifying,
or deleting a resource.
2:01
Before taking this course, you should
be familiar with setting up a Laravel
2:06
project with composer and have a basic
understanding of rest API's using postman.
2:11
If you need to brush up on Laravel,
Composer, REST APIs, or
2:18
Postman, check out
the teachers notes below.
2:23
As always,
you can use the controls to speed up or
2:27
slow down this video, and
the captions are moveable.
2:30
So feel free to move the closed
captions to suit your needs.
2:35
Finally, try to develop a solid habit of
2:39
reading the Laravel
documentation regularly.
2:42
And be sure to select the correct
Laravel version as well.
2:46
Laravel has excellent documentation.
2:50
And if you're not sure what version
of Laravel you're working with,
2:53
navigate to your project
directory in the terminal and
2:56
type php artisan --version to find out.
3:00
Building a REST API is
a valuable skill that any PHP
3:06
developer should have in their
wheelhouse of development skills.
3:10
Front-end frameworks are becoming
more popular every day, and
3:15
they will all need a backend server
responding to their requests.
3:18
Mobile applications have become part
of everyday life around the world.
3:23
And yet, they all need to
communicate with a database or
3:27
some infrastructure, most commonly REST.
3:31
In this course,
we'll build a REST API with Laravel
3:35
that allows you to submit your
favorite books and authors.
3:39
The REST API we're building from scratch
can return a list of books with authors,
3:43
and also allows you to submit,
update, and delete books and authors.
3:50
This aggregating of information
is a common use case for APIs,
3:56
as well as SaaS applications,
short for software as a service,
4:00
such as TurboTax, or Spotify.
4:05
Let's get started.
4:09
To get started, you'll need to
install Laravel with Composer,
4:11
then create a new Laravel project in
your preferred working directory.
4:14
For demonstration purposes,
4:19
I'll use laravel_apps in
the desktop directory, like this.
4:21
Open the terminal and
4:28
navigate to the desktop using the cd
Desktop/laravel_apps/ command,
4:29
then use the following command to create a
Laravel project using Composer like this.
4:35
While Composer installs Laravel, it's
worth noting that any existing Laravel
4:42
project that uses dependencies, will
need to run the Composer update command
4:47
to install any dependencies used
by the existing application.
4:52
Since this is a new project, we don't need
to use the Composer update command, but
4:56
you will eventually need to use
it when working with teams, or
5:01
when you want to run an existing
Laravel application using dependencies.
5:05
To learn more about Composer update, and
5:10
Laravel mix,
check out the teacher's notes below.
5:13
Next, let's navigate to our
new Laravel project using
5:17
cd Laravel_rest_api/ then
use the following command
5:22
to open our new Laravel
project in Visual Studio code.
5:27
Finally, let's review our Laravel app
by using the following command in
5:32
the integrated terminal like this.
5:37
Great job.
5:45
We have our Laravel application up and
running.
5:46
Before we continue,
let's open a new terminal so
5:51
we can continue serving our Laravel
application using the first terminal.
5:54
Next, create a database, user, and
5:59
password which will add to
the .env file like this
6:02
Note that some Mac OS
users may need to use
6:11
an additional database
variable named DB_SOCKET.
6:15
Remember, if you need to review how
to create a database, user, and
6:20
password, or
you're getting errors such as db-errors or
6:24
max length errors, be sure to
check the teacher's notes below.
6:28
To test our new Laravel application and
the database credentials we entered,
6:33
simply type php artisan
migrate in the terminal.
6:38
Great job,
we successfully migrated our database.
6:45
This next step is optional, but
i like to use the default welcome view for
6:49
testing so I can see what our API looks
like in the browser as we add new routes.
6:54
Let's edit the welcome view located
in the resources/views directory,
7:01
or download the project files and
simply paste the welcome blade like this.
7:06
First, change the titles on line 7 and
84 to build
7:13
a Laravel REST API Next,
let's add the following links.
7:18
Replace the # sign with the URL for
your README if you have one for
7:28
this project on GitHub Next,
we're going to add the author's link.
7:33
The author's link uses the built in
env function to access the app URL.
7:41
Cool.
7:47
Next, we're going to add
the books link like this.
7:49
The books link also uses the built in
env function to access the app URL.
7:54
Finally, let's add a Chrome
extension link like this.
8:00
The handy Chrome extension named
json-formatter displays JSON
8:06
in a more human readable format.
8:10
Let's take a look at
the updated welcome view.
8:14
Nice job, we have a landing page,
or welcome view,
8:19
showing off our application with a README,
our author, and
8:23
book routes, and a link to the JSON
formatter chrome extension.
8:28
We're off to a great start.
8:34
We've installed Laravel using Composer,
added our database credentials to the env
8:36
file, and tested our database
connection using the artisan command,
8:42
php artisan migrate.
8:47
We even updated the welcome view
to make a useful landing page.
8:51
In the next section, we're going to
delete our default migrations and
8:55
use artisan to create our projects
database models and migrations.
9:00
See you there.
9:05
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