What are the connections and how are they implemented in Laravel

Explore the different types of relationships available in Laravel and learn how to implement them in your projects with an example.

Connections in Laravel

Connections in Laravel allow developers to communicate with a database. They offer a simple yet powerful way to interact with the underlying data store. Connections are implemented in Laravel through the Eloquent ORM. This ORM provides an easy-to-use interface for working with databases and allows developers to quickly create and interact with models, which are objects that represent data stored in a database.

In order to use a connection in Laravel, developers must first create a database connection. This can be done by adding a connection configuration to the config/database.php file. The configuration follows the following syntax:

'connections' => [
    'mysql' => [
        'driver' => 'mysql',
        'host' => env('DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1'),
        'port' => env('DB_PORT', '3306'),
        'database' => env('DB_DATABASE', 'forge'),
        'username' => env('DB_USERNAME', 'forge'),
        'password' => env('DB_PASSWORD', ''),
        'unix_socket' => env('DB_SOCKET', ''),
        'charset' => 'utf8mb4',
        'collation' => 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci',
        'prefix' => '',
        'prefix_indexes' => true,
        'strict' => true,
        'engine' => null,
        'options' => extension_loaded('pdo_mysql') ? array_filter([
            PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_SSL_CA => env('MYSQL_ATTR_SSL_CA'),
        ]) : [],
    ],
],

Once the connection configuration is in place, developers can then use the Eloquent ORM to interact with the database. This ORM provides a number of functions that allow developers to query the database, create models, update existing models, and delete models. For example, the following code retrieves all records from the users table:

$users = User::all();

Once the records have been retrieved, developers can then manipulate the data using the various Eloquent methods. For example, the following code updates the name of a user:

$user = User::find(1);
$user->name = 'John Doe';
$user->save();

Connections in Laravel allow developers to quickly and easily interact with a database. By using the Eloquent ORM, developers can create models, query the database, and manipulate data with minimal effort. With the proper configuration, developers can quickly create a powerful and robust application with minimal effort.