Laravel Foundations: The PHP Framework

Overview

Laravel is to PHP what Nest.js is to TypeScript—a full-featured framework with elegant syntax, powerful features, and exceptional developer experience. If you've worked with Nest.js, Express, or Rails, Laravel will feel familiar yet distinctively refined.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you'll be able to:

• ✅ Set up a Laravel project
• ✅ Understand Laravel's MVC architecture
• ✅ Create routes and controllers
• ✅ Use dependency injection (Laravel's IoC container)
• ✅ Work with Eloquent ORM
• ✅ Handle requests and responses
• ✅ Use middleware and service providers
• ✅ Apply Laravel best practices

Code Examples

📁 View Code Examples on GitHub

This chapter includes Laravel foundation examples:

• 01-setup-guide.md - Complete Laravel setup instructions
• 02-routes.php - Comprehensive routing patterns
• 03-controllers.php - Controller examples and comparisons
• 04-dependency-injection.php - Service container and DI
• 05-middleware.php - Middleware patterns
• 06-form-requests.php - Form validation examples

Get started:

cd code/php-typescript-developers/chapter-13
# Review the setup guide for creating a Laravel project
cat 01-setup-guide.md

Framework Comparison

Laravel	Nest.js	Express	Purpose
Full-stack	✅	❌	Complete framework vs library
ORM	Eloquent	TypeORM	Database abstraction
DI Container	✅	✅	❌
CLI	Artisan	Nest CLI	N/A
Template Engine	Blade	EJS/Pug	EJS/Pug
Auth System	Built-in	Passport	Passport

Laravel ≈ Nest.js (both are opinionated, full-featured frameworks)

Installation

Nest.js Setup

npm install -g @nestjs/cli
nest new my-app
cd my-app
npm run start:dev

Laravel Setup

# Install Laravel via Composer
composer create-project laravel/laravel my-app
cd my-app

# Start development server
php artisan serve
# Visit: http://localhost:8000

Directory Structure:

my-app/
├── app/            # Application code
│   ├── Http/
│   │   └── Controllers/
│   └── Models/
├── routes/         # Route definitions
│   ├── web.php     # Web routes
│   └── api.php     # API routes
├── resources/      # Views, assets
│   └── views/
├── database/       # Migrations, seeders
├── public/         # Web root
└── artisan         # CLI tool

Routing

Nest.js Routes

// users.controller.ts
import { Controller, Get, Post, Body, Param } from '@nestjs/common';

@Controller('users')
export class UsersController {
  @Get()
  findAll() {
    return ['Alice', 'Bob'];
  }

  @Get(':id')
  findOne(@Param('id') id: string) {
    return { id, name: 'Alice' };
  }

  @Post()
  create(@Body() createUserDto: CreateUserDto) {
    return { id: 1, ...createUserDto };
  }
}

Laravel Routes

<?php
// routes/api.php
use App\Http\Controllers\UserController;

// GET /api/users
Route::get('/users', [UserController::class, 'index']);

// GET /api/users/{id}
Route::get('/users/{id}', [UserController::class, 'show']);

// POST /api/users
Route::post('/users', [UserController::class, 'store']);

// Or use resource routes (RESTful)
Route::apiResource('users', UserController::class);

<?php
// app/Http/Controllers/UserController.php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class UserController extends Controller {
    public function index() {
        return response()->json(['Alice', 'Bob']);
    }

    public function show(string $id) {
        return response()->json(['id' => $id, 'name' => 'Alice']);
    }

    public function store(Request $request) {
        return response()->json([
            'id' => 1,
            ...$request->all()
        ], 201);
    }
}

Dependency Injection

Nest.js DI

// users.service.ts
@Injectable()
export class UsersService {
  findAll() {
    return ['Alice', 'Bob'];
  }
}

// users.controller.ts
@Controller('users')
export class UsersController {
  constructor(private usersService: UsersService) {}

  @Get()
  findAll() {
    return this.usersService.findAll();
  }
}

Laravel DI

<?php
// app/Services/UserService.php
namespace App\Services;

class UserService {
    public function getAll(): array {
        return ['Alice', 'Bob'];
    }
}

// app/Http/Controllers/UserController.php
class UserController extends Controller {
    public function __construct(
        private UserService $userService
    ) {}

    public function index() {
        return response()->json($this->userService->getAll());
    }
}

Laravel automatically resolves dependencies via type hints!

Request Validation

Nest.js with class-validator

import { IsString, IsEmail, MinLength } from 'class-validator';

export class CreateUserDto {
  @IsString()
  @MinLength(3)
  name: string;

  @IsEmail()
  email: string;
}

@Post()
create(@Body() createUserDto: CreateUserDto) {
  // Validated automatically
  return this.usersService.create(createUserDto);
}

Laravel Form Requests

<?php
// app/Http/Requests/StoreUserRequest.php
namespace App\Http\Requests;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;

class StoreUserRequest extends FormRequest {
    public function rules(): array {
        return [
            'name' => ['required', 'string', 'min:3'],
            'email' => ['required', 'email', 'unique:users'],
        ];
    }
}

// Controller
class UserController extends Controller {
    public function store(StoreUserRequest $request) {
        // $request is automatically validated!
        $validated = $request->validated();
        // Create user...
    }
}

Middleware

Nest.js Middleware

@Injectable()
export class LoggerMiddleware implements NestMiddleware {
  use(req: Request, res: Response, next: NextFunction) {
    console.log(`${req.method} ${req.url}`);
    next();
  }
}

Laravel Middleware

<?php
// app/Http/Middleware/LogRequests.php
namespace App\Http\Middleware;

use Closure;

class LogRequests {
    public function handle($request, Closure $next) {
        \Log::info($request->method() . ' ' . $request->path());
        return $next($request);
    }
}

// Apply to route
Route::get('/users', [UserController::class, 'index'])
    ->middleware(LogRequests::class);

// Or globally in app/Http/Kernel.php

Eloquent ORM

Laravel's Eloquent ORM is more elegant than TypeORM:

TypeORM

@Entity()
export class User {
  @PrimaryGeneratedColumn()
  id: number;

  @Column()
  name: string;

  @Column()
  email: string;

  @OneToMany(() => Post, post => post.user)
  posts: Post[];
}

// Usage
const user = await userRepository.findOne({ where: { id: 1 } });
const users = await userRepository.find();

Laravel Eloquent

<?php
// app/Models/User.php
namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class User extends Model {
    protected $fillable = ['name', 'email'];

    public function posts() {
        return $this->hasMany(Post::class);
    }
}

// Usage (so much cleaner!)
$user = User::find(1);
$users = User::all();
$user->posts; // Automatic eager loading

More details in Chapter 14!

Artisan CLI

Laravel's Artisan is like Nest CLI:

Nest CLI

nest generate controller users
nest generate service users
nest generate module users

Artisan

php artisan make:controller UserController
php artisan make:model User
php artisan make:migration create_users_table
php artisan make:request StoreUserRequest
php artisan make:middleware LogRequests

List all commands:

php artisan list

Environment Configuration

Nest.js (.env)

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://localhost/mydb
JWT_SECRET=secret

// app.module.ts
ConfigModule.forRoot({
  envFilePath: '.env',
});

// Usage
constructor(private configService: ConfigService) {}

const dbUrl = this.configService.get('DATABASE_URL');

Laravel (.env)

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_DATABASE=mydb
JWT_SECRET=secret

<?php
// Usage (anywhere)
$dbHost = env('DB_HOST');
$secret = config('app.jwt_secret');

Complete CRUD Example

Create Controller

php artisan make:controller Api/UserController --api

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers\Api;

use App\Models\User;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;

class UserController extends Controller {
    // GET /api/users
    public function index() {
        return User::all();
    }

    // GET /api/users/{id}
    public function show(User $user) {
        return $user; // Route model binding!
    }

    // POST /api/users
    public function store(Request $request) {
        $validated = $request->validate([
            'name' => 'required|string',
            'email' => 'required|email|unique:users',
        ]);

        $user = User::create($validated);
        return response()->json($user, 201);
    }

    // PUT /api/users/{id}
    public function update(Request $request, User $user) {
        $validated = $request->validate([
            'name' => 'sometimes|string',
            'email' => 'sometimes|email|unique:users,email,' . $user->id,
        ]);

        $user->update($validated);
        return $user;
    }

    // DELETE /api/users/{id}
    public function destroy(User $user) {
        $user->delete();
        return response()->noContent();
    }
}

Routes

<?php
// routes/api.php
Route::apiResource('users', UserController::class);

// Equivalent to:
// GET    /api/users       -> index()
// POST   /api/users       -> store()
// GET    /api/users/{id}  -> show()
// PUT    /api/users/{id}  -> update()
// DELETE /api/users/{id}  -> destroy()

Service Providers

Laravel's service providers are like Nest.js modules:

<?php
// app/Providers/AppServiceProvider.php
namespace App\Providers;

use Illuminate\Support\ServiceProvider;

class AppServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider {
    public function register(): void {
        // Bind interfaces to implementations
        $this->app->bind(
            \App\Contracts\UserRepositoryInterface::class,
            \App\Repositories\UserRepository::class
        );
    }

    public function boot(): void {
        // Run code on application boot
    }
}

Testing

Laravel includes PHPUnit with helpful assertions:

<?php
// tests/Feature/UserApiTest.php
namespace Tests\Feature;

use Tests\TestCase;
use App\Models\User;

class UserApiTest extends TestCase {
    public function test_can_list_users(): void {
        User::factory()->count(3)->create();

        $response = $this->getJson('/api/users');

        $response->assertStatus(200)
            ->assertJsonCount(3);
    }

    public function test_can_create_user(): void {
        $data = [
            'name' => 'Alice',
            'email' => 'alice@example.com',
        ];

        $response = $this->postJson('/api/users', $data);

        $response->assertStatus(201)
            ->assertJsonPath('name', 'Alice');

        $this->assertDatabaseHas('users', $data);
    }
}

Run tests:

php artisan test

Key Takeaways

1. Laravel ≈ Nest.js - Both are full-featured, opinionated frameworks with rich ecosystems
2. Routing is clean and expressive with multiple definition styles
3. Dependency injection works automatically via type hints (no manual binding needed)
4. Eloquent ORM is incredibly elegant - Active Record pattern beats TypeORM's Data Mapper
5. Artisan CLI generates boilerplate (controllers, models, migrations, tests, etc.)
6. Middleware pipeline like Express/Nest for request/response modification
7. Testing is built-in and powerful with PHPUnit integration
8. Service container resolves dependencies automatically - just type-hint in constructors
9. Form request validation provides clean, reusable validation logic
10. Route model binding automatically injects models - no manual findOrFail()
11. API resources provide consistent JSON transformation layer
12. Laravel ecosystem rivals Node.js: Forge (deployment), Vapor (serverless), Nova (admin panel)

Laravel vs Nest.js

Feature	Laravel	Nest.js
Language	PHP	TypeScript
Philosophy	Convention over configuration	TypeScript + Angular patterns
Learning Curve	Gentle	Moderate
ORM	Eloquent (Active Record)	TypeORM (Data Mapper)
Templating	Blade	Various (EJS, Handlebars)
Real-time	Laravel Echo + Pusher	Socket.io
Queue System	Built-in	Bull (separate)
Admin Panel	Nova (commercial)	Various

Next Steps

Now that you know Laravel basics, let's dive deeper into Eloquent ORM and databases.

Next Chapter: 14: Database & ORMs: TypeORM meets Eloquent

Resources

• Laravel Documentation
• Laracasts - Video tutorials
• Laravel News
• Laravel Daily

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Questions or feedback? Open an issue on GitHub