Creating a simple Todo List application using Laravel 5 involves a structured process that integrates various components of the Laravel framework. This comprehensive guide will navigate you through the initial steps, focusing on setting up the environment, configuring Laravel, and creating the essential components of the Todo List application.

Step 1: Environment Setup

Before delving into Laravel development, ensure that you have a suitable development environment with PHP, Composer, and a database system like MySQL or SQLite installed. Laravel utilizes Composer for package management, so make sure it’s available in your environment.

Once your environment is ready, open a terminal and install Laravel using the following Composer command:

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composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel todo-list

This command fetches the latest Laravel version and creates a new project named “todo-list.”

Step 2: Configure the Database

Navigate to the newly created project directory:

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cd todo-list

Next, configure the database connection by modifying the .env file. Provide the necessary details such as database name, username, and password. For example:

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DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=todo_list
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

Save the changes and run the following Artisan command to create the configured database:

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php artisan migrate

This command creates the required tables for Laravel’s default authentication system.

Step 3: Model and Migration for Tasks

In Laravel, models represent database tables and encapsulate their interactions. Let’s create a model for our Todo List tasks along with the corresponding database migration.

Generate a model and migration with the following Artisan command:

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php artisan make:model Task -m

This creates a Task model in the app directory and a migration file in the database/migrations directory.

Edit the generated migration file to define the structure of the tasks table. Open the migration file (timestamp will vary) and modify the up method:

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public function up()
{
    Schema::create('tasks', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->id();
        $table->string('title');
        $table->text('description')->nullable();
        $table->timestamps();
    });
}

Run the migration to apply these changes to the database:

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php artisan migrate

Step 4: Task Controller

Now, let’s create a controller to handle task-related operations. Generate a controller using the following Artisan command:

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php artisan make:controller TaskController

This command generates a TaskController.php file in the app/Http/Controllers directory.

Open the TaskController.php file and define methods to handle tasks. For simplicity, let’s start with basic CRUD operations: index, create, store, edit, update, and destroy.

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

public function create()
{
    return view('tasks.create');
}

public function store(Request $request)
{
    $validatedData = $request->validate([
        'title' => 'required|max:255',
        'description' => 'nullable',
    ]);

    Task::create($validatedData);

    return redirect('/tasks')->with('success', 'Task created successfully!');
}

public function edit(Task $task)
{
    return view('tasks.edit', compact('task'));
}

public function update(Request $request, Task $task)
{
    $validatedData = $request->validate([
        'title' => 'required|max:255',
        'description' => 'nullable',
    ]);

    $task->update($validatedData);

    return redirect('/tasks')->with('success', 'Task updated successfully!');
}

public function destroy(Task $task)
{
    $task->delete();

    return redirect('/tasks')->with('success', 'Task deleted successfully!');
}

Step 5: Views

Create the necessary views for the Todo List application. Laravel uses the Blade templating engine. Let’s create views for listing tasks (index.blade.php), creating tasks (create.blade.php), editing tasks (edit.blade.php), and a layout view (app.blade.php).

In the resources/views directory, create a new folder named tasks. Inside this folder, create the necessary Blade views.

resources/views/tasks/index.blade.php:

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@extends('layouts.app')

@section('content')
    
Todo List

    @foreach ($tasks as $task)
        

            
{{ $task->title }}
            
{{ $task->description }}
            Edit
            

                @csrf
                @method('DELETE')
                Delete
            
        
    @endforeach

    Add Task
@endsection

resources/views/tasks/create.blade.php:

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@extends('layouts.app')

@section('content')
    
Create Task

    

        @csrf
        Title:
        
        

        Description:
        
        

        Create Task
    
@endsection

resources/views/tasks/edit.blade.php:

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@extends('layouts.app')

@section('content')
    
Edit Task

    

        @csrf
        @method('PATCH')
        Title:
        
        

        Description:
        {{ $task->description }}
        

        Update Task
    
@endsection

resources/views/layouts/app.blade.php:

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    @yield('content')

Step 6: Routes

Define routes for the Todo List application. Open the routes/web.php file and add the following code:

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use App\Http\Controllers\TaskController;

Route::resource('tasks', TaskController::class);

This single line of code generates all the necessary routes for the TaskController, providing endpoints for task-related actions.

Step 7: Testing the Application

With the routes, controller, models, and views in place, you can now test your Todo List application. Run the development server using the following command:

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php artisan serve

Visit http://127.0.0.1:8000/tasks in your browser to see the Todo List. You can add, edit, and delete tasks using the provided interfaces.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully set up a simple Todo List application using Laravel 5. This serves as a foundational structure, and you can further enhance and customize the application based on your requirements. Future parts of this guide can explore additional features, authentication, and optimization techniques for Laravel applications.