Introduction

A Laravel publishing platform but on Canvas, a fully open source package to extend your application and get you up-and-running with a blog in just a few minutes. In addition to a distraction-free writing experience, you can view monthly trends on your content, get insights into reader traffic and more!

Quick and easy Installation

1. Run

git clone https://github.com/connecteev/laravel-blog-built-on-cnvs.git

2. Modify .env with your DB settings:

DB_DATABASE=laravel-blog-built-on-cnvs
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=root

3. Run:

php artisan migrate
php artisan db:seed
php artisan storage:link

NOTE: You do NOT need to run these steps (from the cnvs documentation: https://github.com/cnvs/canvas):

composer require cnvs/canvas
php artisan make:auth (this has been run and creates the admin user)
php artisan canvas:install (has been run)
php artisan canvas:setup

4. (Optional) To seed with Fake data (1 fake admin user, fake posts, tags, topics, etc.), run:

composer dump-autoload
php artisan db:seed --class=CnvsFakeDataSeeder

Note that this is NOT run by default when you run php artisan db:seed

5. Run php artisan serve

6. (Optional) If you haven't used the seeder (see above) to create an admin user yet, you should do that now. Navigate your browser to /register to create an admin user. Then go to /login and log in to the CMS / Admin dashboard using your admin username and password (or username and password: admin@gmail.com / admin1234 if you used the seeder)

7. Navigate your browser to /blog to see the Blog's front-end.

Optional Configuration

Note: The following steps are optional configurations, you are not required to complete them.

Want to get started fast? Just run php artisan canvas:setup after installing Canvas. Then, navigate your browser to http://your-app.test/blog or any other URL that is assigned to your application. This command scaffolds a default frontend for your entire blog!

If you want to include Unsplash images in your post content, set up a new application at https://unsplash.com/oauth/applications. Grab your access key and update config/canvas.php:

'unsplash' => [
    'access_key' => env('CANVAS_UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY'),
],

Want a weekly summary? Canvas provides support for a weekly e-mail that gives you quick stats of the content you've authored, delivered straight to your inbox. Once your application is configured for sending mail, update config/canvas.php:

'mail' => [
    'enabled' => env('CANVAS_MAIL_ENABLED', false),
],

Since the weekly digest runs on Laravel's Scheduler, you'll need to add the following cron entry to your server:

* * * * * cd /path-to-your-project && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

Updates

You may update your Canvas installation using composer:

composer update

Run any new migrations using the migrate Artisan command:

php artisan migrate

Re-publish the assets using the canvas:publish Artisan command:

php artisan canvas:publish

Testing

Run the tests with:

composer test