What's the simplest entity you can think of? It will probably be something like Tag, which only holds an id and a name. Let's create this new entity in the database, the model for it, then create a CRUD Panel to let admins manage entries for this entity.
We assume:
Tag model in your project;Since we don't have an Eloquent model for it already, we're going to use Jeffrey Way's Generators package, which is installed along with Backpack, to generate the migration.
# STEP 0. create migration
php artisan make:migration:schema create_tags_table --model=0 --schema="name:string:unique"
php artisan migrateNow that we have the tags table in the database, let's generate the actual files we'll be using:
# STEP 1. create a model, a request and a controller for the admin panel
php artisan backpack:crud tag #use singular, not plural
# STEP 2. add a route for the crud panel (under the admin prefix and auth middleware):
php artisan backpack:base:add-custom-route "CRUD::resource('tag', 'TagCrudController');"
# STEP 3. add an item to the sidebar menu
php artisan backpack:base:add-sidebar-content "<li><a href='{{ backpack_url('tag') }}'><i class='fa fa-tag'></i> <span>Tags</span></a></li>"The code above will have generated:
database/migrations/yyyy_mm_dd_xyz_create_tags_table.php);tags with just two columns: id and name);app/Models/Tag.php);app/Http/Controllers/Admin/TagCrudController.php);app/Http/Requests/TagCrudRequest.php);routes/backpack/custom.php;Next up: we'll need to go through the generated files, and customize for our needs.
We'll skip the migration and database table, since there's nothing there specific to Backpack, nothing to customize, and we've already run the migration.
Let's take a look at the generated model:
<?php
namespace App\Models;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Backpack\CRUD\CrudTrait;
class Tag extends Model {
use CrudTrait;
/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| GLOBAL VARIABLES
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/
protected $table = 'tags';
// protected $primaryKey = 'id';
// public $timestamps = false;
// protected $guarded = ['id'];
protected $fillable = [];
// protected $hidden = [];
// protected $dates = [];
/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| FUNCTIONS
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/
/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| RELATIONS
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/
/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| SCOPES
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/
/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ACCESSORS
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/
/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| MUTATORS
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/
}As we can see, this is a pretty standard Eloquent model. The only differences:
CrudTrait;As with all generated classes, we can see it's not exactly ready for use. It needs a little configuration. We should make sure:
$table contains the right table name (it does);$primaryKey is correct (we can see it's id in the database table so let's just uncomment the generated line);$fillable contains all the attributes we want the admin to be able to change (none are present, let's add name);$timestamps is configured, so that Eloquent can take care of them automatically (since we do have those columns in the database table, let's uncomment it and set it to true);Tag model);This is all standard procedure for new Laravel models - nothing Backpack-specific here. Here are all the changes we would make to this specific Tag model:
protected $table = 'tags';
- // protected $primaryKey = 'id';
+ protected $primaryKey = 'id';
- // public $timestamps = false;
+ public $timestamps = true;
// protected $guarded = ['id'];
- protected $fillable = [];
+ protected $fillable = ['name'];
// protected $hidden = [];
// protected $dates = [];We're now done configuring the model - because we didn't already have a valid Eloquent model to use for our CRUD Panel. If we did have a working Eloquent model, we only needed to add use \Backpack\CRUD\CrudTrait;
Let's take a look at app/Http/Controllers/Admin/TagCrudController.php. It should look something like this:
<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers\Admin;
use Backpack\CRUD\app\Http\Controllers\CrudController;
// VALIDATION: change the requests to match your own file names if you need form validation
use App\Http\Requests\TagRequest as StoreRequest;
use App\Http\Requests\TagRequest as UpdateRequest;
class TagCrudController extends CrudController
{
public function setup()
{
/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| CrudPanel Basic Information
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/
$this->crud->setModel('App\Models\Tag');
$this->crud->setRoute(config('backpack.base.route_prefix') . '/tag');
$this->crud->setEntityNameStrings('tag', 'tags');
/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| CrudPanel Configuration
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/
// TODO: remove setFromDb() and manually define Fields and Columns
$this->crud->setFromDb();
}
public function store(StoreRequest $request)
{
// your additional operations before save here
$redirect_location = parent::storeCrud($request);
// your additional operations after save here
// use $this->data['entry'] or $this->crud->entry
return $redirect_location;
}
public function update(UpdateRequest $request)
{
// your additional operations before save here
$redirect_location = parent::updateCrud($request);
// your additional operations after save here
// use $this->data['entry'] or $this->crud->entry
return $redirect_location;
}
}
What we should notice inside this TagCrudController is that:
TagCrudController extends CrudController, which, if we drill down, is a RESTful controller that already has a few methods we will be using - create(), edit(), show(), destroy(), etc.;TagCrudController has a setup() method, where can configure how the CRUD panel works;TagCrudController has its store() and update() methods with StoreRequest and UpdateRequest typehinted; which means those classes will be used for form validation; if we take a look at the top of the file, those Requests both lead to our newly generated app/Http/Requests/TagRequest.php;Let's move our attention to the setup() method, which is the gateway to configuring our CRUD Panel.
As we can tell from the comments there, in most cases we shouldn't use $this->crud->setFromDb(), which automagically figures out which columns and fields to show. That's because for real models, in real projects, it would never be able to 100% figure out which field types to use. Real projects are very custom - that's a fact. In real projects, models are complicated, use a bunch of field types and you'll want to customize things. Instead of using setFromDb() then gradually changing what you don't like, we heavily recommend you manually define all fields and columns you need.
Since our Tag model is so simple, we can leave it like this - it will work perfectly, since we only need a text field and a text column. But let's not do that. Let's define our fields and columns manually, like big boys:
public function setup()
{
/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| CrudPanel Basic Information
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/
$this->crud->setModel('App\Models\Tag');
$this->crud->setRoute(config('backpack.base.route_prefix') . '/tag');
$this->crud->setEntityNameStrings('tag', 'tags');
/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| CrudPanel Configuration
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/
- // TODO: remove setFromDb() and manually define Fields and Columns
- $this->crud->setFromDb();
+ // Columns
+ $this->crud->addColumn(['name' => 'name', 'type' => 'text', 'label' => 'Name']);
+
+ // Fields
+ $this->crud->addField(['name' => 'name', 'type' => 'text', 'label' => 'Name']);
}
}This will:
setFromDb() functionality;text column for our name attribute to the ListEntries operation (the table view);text field for our name attribute to the Create and Update forms;It's the exact same thing setFromDb() would have figured out, but done manually. This way, if we want to add other columns) or other fields, we can easily do that. If we want to change the label of the name field from Name to Tag name, we just make that small change. The benefits of not using setFromDb() will be more obvious once you use Backpack on real models, we promise.
Here, in the setup() method, is where you can also do a lot of other things, like enabling other operations, adding buttons, adding filters, customizing your query, etc. For a full list of the things you can do inside setup() check out our cheat sheet.
But for now, let's continue to our next generated file.
Backpack will also generate a standard FormRequest file, that you can use for validation of the Create and Update forms. There is nothing Backpack-specific in here, but let's take a look at the generated app/Http/Requests/TagCrudRequest.php file:
<?php
namespace App\Http\Requests;
use App\Http\Requests\Request;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;
class TagRequest extends FormRequest
{
/**
* Determine if the user is authorized to make this request.
*
* @return bool
*/
public function authorize()
{
// only allow updates if the user is logged in
return \Auth::check();
}
/**
* Get the validation rules that apply to the request.
*
* @return array
*/
public function rules()
{
return [
// 'name' => 'required|min:5|max:255'
];
}
/**
* Get the validation attributes that apply to the request.
*
* @return array
*/
public function attributes()
{
return [
//
];
}
/**
* Get the validation messages that apply to the request.
*
* @return array
*/
public function messages()
{
return [
//
];
}
}
This file is a 100% pure FormRequest file - all Laravel, nothing particular to Backpack. In generated FormRequest files, no validation rules are imposed by default. But we do want name to be required and unique, so let's do that, using the standard Laravel validation rules:
/**
* Get the validation rules that apply to the request.
*
* @return array
*/
public function rules()
{
return [
- // 'name' => 'required|min:5|max:255'
+ 'name' => 'required|min:5|max:255|unique:tags,name'
];
}If your validation needs to be different between the Create and Update operations, you can easily do that too.
We have already generated our CRUD route, and we don't need to do anything about it, but let's check our routes/backpack/custom.php. It should look like this:
<?php
// --------------------------
// Custom Backpack Routes
// --------------------------
// This route file is loaded automatically by Backpack\Base.
// Routes you generate using Backpack\Generators will be placed here.
Route::group([
'prefix' => config('backpack.base.route_prefix', 'admin'),
'middleware' => ['web', config('backpack.base.middleware_key', 'admin')],
'namespace' => 'App\Http\Controllers\Admin',
], function () { // custom admin routes
// CRUD resources and other admin routes
CRUD::resource('tag', 'Admin\TagCrudController');
}); // this should be the absolute last line of this fileHere, we can see that our routes have been placed:
config/backpack/base.php;config/backpack/base.php;App\Http\Controllers\Admin namespace, because that's where our custom CrudControllers will be generated;It's generally a good idea to have the all admin routes in this separate file. If you edit this file in the future, make sure you leave the last line intact, so that other routes can be automatically generated inside this file. And of course, add your routes inside this route group, so that:
admin/tag, admin/product, admin/dashboard);App\Http\Controllers\Admin);We've previously generated a menu item in the views/vendor/backpack/base/inc/sidebar_content.php file. You'll see this file is pure HTML. This will allow you to customize the menu as much as you want. The "active" state of the menu is done with JavaScript, based on the href attribute.
This is the bit that has been generated for you:
<li><a href="{{ backpack_url('tag') }}"><i class="fa fa-tag"></i> <span>Manage Tags</span></a></li>You can of course change anything here, if you want.
You are now ready to go to your-app-name.domain/admin/tag and see your fully functional admin panel for Tags.
Congratulations, you should now have a good understanding of how Backpack\CRUD works! This is a very very basic example, but the process will be identical for Models with 50+ attributes, complicated logic, etc.
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