Starter Kit Installation and Code Analysis

The goal of our first course section is to create a full CRUD like this:

In this first lesson, we will install Laravel with the React starter kit and familiarize ourselves with its general structure and code.

Installation

We install a new Laravel project and will choose the React starter kit:

laravel new laravel

We stay with the default values for all the other choices in the wizard.

As a result, we have a regular Laravel homepage with "Log in" and "Register" links at the top.

When we register as a new user, we land on an empty dashboard with a sidebar.

In addition to the layout, we have the "Settings" menu item that allows user profile data:

So yeah, that's all about installation! Simple, huh? Now, let's see what's inside the code.

Project Code Structure: Back-End

I typically start analyzing any Laravel project with Routes.

routes/web.php:

Route::get('/', function () {
    return Inertia::render('welcome');
})->name('home');
 
Route::middleware(['auth', 'verified'])->group(function () {
    Route::get('dashboard', function () {
        return Inertia::render('dashboard');
    })->name('dashboard');
});
 
require __DIR__.'/settings.php';
require __DIR__.'/auth.php';

Nothing special here, right? Regular routes, Inertia, and a few includes of other route files.

In the Settings route, we can find a few Controllers:

routes/settings.php:

use App\Http\Controllers\Settings\PasswordController;
use App\Http\Controllers\Settings\ProfileController;
 
Route::middleware('auth')->group(function () {
    Route::redirect('settings', 'settings/profile');
 
    Route::get('settings/profile', [ProfileController::class, 'edit'])->name('profile.edit');
    Route::patch('settings/profile', [ProfileController::class, 'update'])->name('profile.update');
    Route::delete('settings/profile', [ProfileController::class, 'destroy'])->name('profile.destroy');
 
    Route::get('settings/password', [PasswordController::class, 'edit'])->name('password.edit');
    Route::put('settings/password', [PasswordController::class, 'update'])->name('password.update');
 
    Route::get('settings/appearance', function () {
        return Inertia::render('settings/appearance');
    })->name('appearance');
});

If we look at the ProfileController, it returns Inertia with React components:

app/Http/Controllers/Settings/ProfileController.php:

use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use App\Http\Requests\Settings\ProfileUpdateRequest;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Auth\MustVerifyEmail;
use Illuminate\Http\RedirectResponse;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
use Inertia\Inertia;
use Inertia\Response;
 
class ProfileController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * Show the user's profile settings page.
     */
    public function edit(Request $request): Response
    {
        return Inertia::render('settings/profile', [
            'mustVerifyEmail' => $request->user() instanceof MustVerifyEmail,
            'status' => $request->session()->get('status'),
        ]);
    }
 
    /**
     * Update the user's profile settings.
     */
    public function update(ProfileUpdateRequest $request): RedirectResponse
    {
        $request->user()->fill($request->validated());
 
        if ($request->user()->isDirty('email')) {
            $request->user()->email_verified_at = null;
        }
 
        $request->user()->save();
 
        return to_route('profile.edit');
    }
 
    /**
     * Delete the user's account.
     */
    public function destroy(Request $request): RedirectResponse
    {
        $request->validate([
            'password' => ['required', 'current_password'],
        ]);
 
        $user = $request->user();
 
        Auth::logout();
 
        $user->delete();
 
        $request->session()->invalidate();
        $request->session()->regenerateToken();
 
        return redirect('/');
    }
}

The main "meat" of the pages is inside the React components in the resources/js folder.

Project Code Structure: Front-End

Let's look at what's inside that Inertia::render('settings/profile') file in React.

It's pretty big! But don't get scared if you're not that familiar with React. In the course, we will create our own React components where I will explain everything step-by-step.

resources/js/pages/settings/profile.tsx:

import { type BreadcrumbItem, type SharedData } from '@/types';
import { Transition } from '@headlessui/react';
import { Head, Link, useForm, usePage } from '@inertiajs/react';
import { FormEventHandler } from 'react';
 
import DeleteUser from '@/components/delete-user';
import HeadingSmall from '@/components/heading-small';
import InputError from '@/components/input-error';
import { Button } from '@/components/ui/button';
import { Input } from '@/components/ui/input';
import { Label } from '@/components/ui/label';
import AppLayout from '@/layouts/app-layout';
import SettingsLayout from '@/layouts/settings/layout';
 
const breadcrumbs: BreadcrumbItem[] = [
    {
        title: 'Profile settings',
        href: '/settings/profile',
    },
];
 
interface ProfileForm {
    name: string;
    email: string;
}
 
export default function Profile({ mustVerifyEmail, status }: { mustVerifyEmail: boolean; status?: string }) {
    const { auth } = usePage<SharedData>().props;
 
    const { data, setData, patch, errors, processing, recentlySuccessful } = useForm<Required<ProfileForm>>({
        name: auth.user.name,
        email: auth.user.email,
    });
 
    const submit: FormEventHandler = (e) => {
        e.preventDefault();
 
        patch(route('profile.update'), {
            preserveScroll: true,
        });
    };
 
    return (
        <AppLayout breadcrumbs={breadcrumbs}>
            <Head title="Profile settings" />
 
            <SettingsLayout>
                <div className="space-y-6">
                    <HeadingSmall title="Profile information" description="Update your name and email address" />
 
                    <form onSubmit={submit} className="space-y-6">
                        <div className="grid gap-2">
                            <Label htmlFor="name">Name</Label>
 
                            <Input
                                id="name"
                                className="mt-1 block w-full"
                                value={data.name}
                                onChange={(e) => setData('name', e.target.value)}
                                required
                                autoComplete="name"
                                placeholder="Full name"
                            />
 
                            <InputError className="mt-2" message={errors.name} />
                        </div>
 
                        <div className="grid gap-2">
                            <Label htmlFor="email">Email address</Label>
 
                            <Input
                                id="email"
                                type="email"
                                className="mt-1 block w-full"
                                value={data.email}
                                onChange={(e) => setData('email', e.target.value)}
                                required
                                autoComplete="username"
                                placeholder="Email address"
                            />
 
                            <InputError className="mt-2" message={errors.email} />
                        </div>
 
                        {mustVerifyEmail && auth.user.email_verified_at === null && (
                            <div>
                                <p className="text-muted-foreground -mt-4 text-sm">
                                    Your email address is unverified.{' '}
                                    <Link
                                        href={route('verification.send')}
                                        method="post"
                                        as="button"
                                        className="text-foreground underline decoration-neutral-300 underline-offset-4 transition-colors duration-300 ease-out hover:decoration-current! dark:decoration-neutral-500"
                                    >
                                        Click here to resend the verification email.
                                    </Link>
                                </p>
 
                                {status === 'verification-link-sent' && (
                                    <div className="mt-2 text-sm font-medium text-green-600">
                                        A new verification link has been sent to your email address.
                                    </div>
                                )}
                            </div>
                        )}
 
                        <div className="flex items-center gap-4">
                            <Button disabled={processing}>Save</Button>
 
                            <Transition
                                show={recentlySuccessful}
                                enter="transition ease-in-out"
                                enterFrom="opacity-0"
                                leave="transition ease-in-out"
                                leaveTo="opacity-0"
                            >
                                <p className="text-sm text-neutral-600">Saved</p>
                            </Transition>
                        </div>
                    </form>
                </div>
 
                <DeleteUser />
            </SettingsLayout>
        </AppLayout>
    );
}

It's not the most straightforward file to start with, but it's here for common understanding. For now, notice the main things:

• Laravel starter kits use TypeScript, with the file extension .tsx. It's not a strict requirement, you can proceed writing your custom code with regular JavaScript, but it may be a good tool to adopt. Here's our free article about TypeScript in Laravel.
• The design elements are taken from @/components/ui/ powered by Shadcn library.
• React.js component consists mainly of two sections: import libraries on top, and then export the HTML, enhanced by JS components and internal variables/functions
• The main page structure is in <AppLayout>, with <Head> and then content inside.

And this is exactly our next step for the next lesson: customizing the layout.