Introduction

Installation

This guide will walk you through the process of installing Laravolt in your Laravel project.

Server Requirements

Before installing Laravolt, make sure your environment meets the following requirements:

  1. PHP >= 8.2
  2. Laravel >= 11.0
  3. SQLite, MySQL, MariaDB, or PostgreSQL database
  4. Essential PHP Extensions:
    • BCMath - For high-precision mathematics
    • Ctype - For character type validation
    • cURL - For HTTP requests to external services
    • DOM - For XML/HTML document manipulation
    • Exif - For reading metadata from image files
    • Fileinfo - For MIME type detection
    • Filter - For data sanitization and validation
    • GD - For image manipulation (required for media and avatar features)
    • Hash - For hashing and encryption
    • Iconv - For character encoding conversion
    • JSON - For JSON data processing
    • Libxml - Required for DOM and XML extensions
    • Mbstring - For multibyte string handling
    • OpenSSL - For encryption and security features
    • PCRE - For regular expressions
    • PDO - For database connections
    • Session - For user session management
    • Tokenizer - For PHP code processing
    • XML - For XML data processing and API responses
    • XMLWriter - For generating XML files
    • Zip - For file compression and decompression
    • Zlib - For data compression

Checking PHP Extensions

There are several ways to check which PHP extensions are installed on your system:

  1. Using Terminal/Command Line:

    Bash
    php -m

    This command displays a list of all installed PHP extensions.

  2. Using a PHP Script: Create a file named phpinfo.php with the following content:

    PHP
    <?php phpinfo(); ?>

    Place this file in your web server directory and access it via browser.

  3. Using Composer in a Laravolt Project:

    Bash
    composer check-platform-reqs

    This command checks whether your system meets all platform requirements from installed packages.

Installing PHP Extensions

Here's how to install commonly used PHP extensions on various operating systems:

On Ubuntu/Debian:

Bash
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install php8.2-bcmath php8.2-curl php8.2-xml php8.2-gd php8.2-mbstring php8.2-zip
# Replace 8.2 with your PHP version

On CentOS/RHEL:

Bash
sudo yum install php-bcmath php-curl php-xml php-gd php-mbstring php-zip

On macOS (using Homebrew):

Bash
brew install php
# PHP from Homebrew usually includes most required extensions

On Windows (XAMPP/WAMP):

Most extensions are enabled by default. To enable additional extensions:

  1. Open the php.ini file (usually located in the PHP installation folder)
  2. Find the line containing the extension name (e.g., ;extension=gd)
  3. Remove the semicolon (;) at the beginning of the line to enable the extension
  4. Restart the web server

Common Troubleshooting

  1. "Call to undefined function" error: This error message typically indicates that a required PHP extension is not installed or enabled.

  2. Error during Composer installation:

    Bash
    Problem 1
        - laravolt/laravolt requires ext-gd * -> the requested PHP extension gd is missing from your system.

    Solution: Install the requested extension using the instructions above.

  3. Image or avatar errors: If image manipulation features aren't working, make sure the GD extension is properly installed:

    Bash
    php -m | grep gd

    If there's no output, the GD extension is not installed.

  4. Checking PHP version:

    Bash
    php --version

    Make sure you're using PHP 8.2 or higher for Laravolt.

Installing Laravolt

Laravolt is a package, so you must already have a Laravel application set up before installation. For Laravel installation, refer to the official documentation. Ensure your configuration is correct and the default Laravel page is accessible in your browser.

Once your Laravel application is ready, follow these steps:

1. Install the Package

Bash
composer require laravolt/laravolt

2. Set Up Laravolt

Several files need to be generated and customized for Laravolt to run properly. Simply run the following command:

Bash
php artisan laravolt:install

3. Migrate the Database

Next, don't forget to run the migrations:

Bash
php artisan migrate

4. Add an Admin User

To add a user with admin role, run the interactive command:

Bash
php artisan laravolt:admin

Or, for a quicker method without answering questions one by one:

Bash
php artisan laravolt:admin Administrator admin@laravolt.dev secret

5. Local Development

As known, running a PHP application requires a web server. Here are several ways to run Laravolt in a local development environment:

Using Laravel's PHP Built-in Server

The simplest way to run a Laravel application is with the development server via PHP's built-in server. Run the following command:

Bash
php artisan serve

The application will be accessible at http://localhost:8000.

Using Composer Scripts

Since Laravel 11, there's a dev script that can be used to run multiple services simultaneously. If you're using Laravel 11.28 or above, simply run:

Bash
composer dev

This script will run multiple services (Vite, queue worker, logs, web server) in a single terminal.

Alternative Local Development Tools

If you need a more comprehensive development server, try these alternatives:

  1. Laravel Herd - Official development server from Laravel
  2. Laragon - Recommended for Windows, all needs are integrated
  3. XAMPP - Popular for beginners
  4. WampServer - Alternative for Windows
  5. Laravel Valet - Specifically for macOS
  6. Laradock - Complete Docker solution for the Laravel ecosystem

6. Log in to the Application

After the server is running, access the application through your browser and log in using the admin credentials you created earlier:

  • URL: http://localhost:8000/auth/login
  • Email: the email you entered when running the laravolt:admin command (default: admin@laravolt.dev)
  • Password: the password you entered when running the laravolt:admin command (default: secret)

Congratulations, you've successfully installed and launched Laravolt!

What's Next?

Now that you have Laravolt installed, you might want to explore:

  1. UI Components - Learn about Laravolt's form, table, and other UI components
  2. Workflow - Integrate complex business processes with Camunda
  3. Access Control - Set up roles and permissions for your application
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