Laravel Nova: A Beginner’s Guide
Tags: beginners, laravel, php, database
Published: 2023-06-07 11:16:41

Introduction

Are you tired of struggling with managing your Laravel resources? Good for you, Laravel Nova is here to save the day! Laravel Nova is a powerful administration panel for Laravel applications that simplifies resource management.

For beginners, this tool is a godsend. With its intuitive user interface and advanced features, you can easily create and manage resources without having to write a single line of code. Buckle up, and let’s dive into the world of Laravel Nova. Trust me, it’s going to be exciting!

Setting up Laravel Nova

Setting up Laravel Nova is an essential part of the process of efficient resource management. Before you start using Laravel Nova, there are a few things you need to know:

» Requirements

» Installation

» Configuration

Firstly, Laravel Nova requires a minimum of PHP 7.2. since it requires your Laravel project to be running on version 5.6 or higher. Once the requirements are met, you’re all set to install Laravel Nova.

To install Laravel Nova, you can use the following steps:

1. Add the Nova repository to your application’s composer.json file:

```
"repositories": [
{
"type": "composer",
"url": "https://nova.laravel.com"
}
],
```

2. Run the following CLI command to add the Composer repository to your composer.json file:

```
composer config repositories.nova '{"type": "composer", "url": "https://nova.laravel.com"}' - file composer.json
```

3. Install Laravel Nova via Composer:

`composer require laravel/nova`

Alternatively, you can use the composer create-project command to install Laravel and then install Laravel Nova. Here is an example command:

```
composer create-project - prefer-dist laravel/laravel my-app
cd my-app
composer require laravel/nova
```

After installing Laravel Nova via Composer, you need to follow these steps:

1. Verify that the App\Providers\NovaServiceProvider was added to the providers array in your app configuration file. If it wasn’t, add it manually.

2. Run the nova:install and migrate Artisan commands to install Nova’s service provider and public assets within your application.

```
php artisan nova:install
php artisan migrate
```

3. Verify that the App\Providers\NovaServiceProvider was added to the providers array in your app configuration file again.

Configuration of Nova can be personalized as per your needs. Laravel Nova provides options to customize the dashboard as per your requirements, such as rearranging the resources, adding a customized header, footer, and more.

Additionally, you can also add custom tools to the dashboard, which will enhance the work process. Setting up Laravel Nova might appear like hard work, but believe me, it’s worth it. With Laravel Nova, managing resources is made effortless, and you can concentrate more on your work process.

**Resource creation and management**

Laravel Nova’s primary goal is to make it easy for developers to set up an administration panel. With that in mind, creating a resource is simple. All you need is to define your resource’s fields, and Nova will automatically generate the necessary UI.

To create a resource, you need to extend the Nova Resource class, which provides various methods that assist in displaying the resource, such as fields and filters. Fields allow you to spec out your resource’s data, from its attribute fields to its relationships.

Linking resources is equivalent to adding joins between tables in your database. In Nova, every resource is a separate entity, so if your application has various types of resources, you will need some way to link them. Nova provides a way to link related resources, meaning that a resource can belong to another.

In web applications, you might want to modify resources in bulk. For example, you might want to change the status of multiple orders from ‘Pending’ to ‘Completed’ or ‘Cancelled.’ Nova provides Actions to allow developers to modify multiple resources simultaneously.

For example, you can write an action to change the status of selected orders to complete. Resource management in Laravel Nova is incredibly straightforward. Creating and linking resources, defining their fields, and using actions to manage them, Nova has it all.

Overall, resource management in Laravel Nova can be summed up in one word: easy!

**Filters, sorting, and searching**

So, you have your resources all set up, and now you want to make them more manageable. This is where filtering, sorting, and searching come in handy. Laravel Nova allows us to create filters to narrow down the records that we want to view.

Suppose you want to see only the orders that were created last week. Create a filter that filters out all orders that were not created in the specified time range. Easy peasy, right?

Sorting is another feature that makes managing resources much more manageable. Say you have a large number of records and want to sort them in ascending or descending order. You only need to add a single line of code, and Laravel Nova will take care of the rest.

Further, Laravel Nova makes it easy for you to create a search filter that narrows down the records based on the search query. You can search for any field in the resource, and Nova will only display the records that match the query.

**Authorization and Authentication**

Authorization and authentication are the security duo of Laravel Nova. Now, listen up folks, because as important as it is, it can be a bit confusing. Luckily, as a beginner, you have this guide to help you through it.

First up, defining authorization rules. This is essentially specifying which user roles have access to which resources. A role could be an admin, a moderator, or a regular user.

Laravel Nova has a Policies feature that allows you to define the authorization rules. These are then checked every time a user tries to access a resource.

A role specifies which resources a user can access. A permission specifies what a user can do with the resource. For example, an admin role may have permission to create, read, update, and delete a resource while a regular user may only have permission to read it.

Laravel Nova has a Roles and Permissions feature that allows you to assign roles and manage permissions.

Now, here’s where things get interesting, implementing authentication. This is essentially verifying the identity of a user and ensuring that they have permission to access a resource.

Laravel Nova uses Laravel’s built-in authentication system, which means you don’t have to write any code yourself. Once a user is authenticated, all subsequent requests are authorized using the policies we talked about earlier.

Last but not least, securing resources. This involves protecting resources from unauthorized access or modification. Laravel Nova has a Gates feature that allows you to define authorization checks for specific actions, such as deleting a resource. You can check if the user has permission to perform the action before allowing them to do so.

**Presenting data**

The moment of truth. You’ve worked hard to create and manage your resources, and now it’s time to show them off in all their glory. Fortunately, Laravel Nova gives you plenty of tools to do just that.

Want to customize the way your resources are displayed? No problem. With Laravel Nova, you can easily modify resource views to suit your needs.

Want to work with cards and metrics? Piece of cake. Laravel Nova makes it easy to visualize and track data using a variety of different card and metric types.

But if you really want to take your data presentation to the next level, you should consider creating custom lenses. Lenses allow you to create custom views of your data that are tailored to your specific needs.

Whether you want to filter data, create custom statistics, or just present things in a different way, lenses give you the flexibility to do just that.

And if you need to get that data out of Nova and into another format or system, don’t worry. Laravel Nova makes it easy to export your data in a variety of different formats, including CSV and JSON.

So whether you need to share data with colleagues, integrate it with another system, or just work with it in a different tool, Laravel Nova has you covered.

All in all, Laravel Nova gives you the power and flexibility to manage and present your data in just about any way you can imagine. So go ahead and get creative!

**Conclusion**

After reading this beginner’s guide to Laravel Nova, you are now equipped with the knowledge and skills to manage resources efficiently. The benefits of using Laravel Nova include simplifying resource management tasks, customizing views in a hassle-free manner, and exporting data easily.

The next steps for you include implementing authorization rules, managing user roles and permissions effectively, and securing resources. Don’t wait any longer, sign up now and start managing resources like a pro!