Building Scalable Laravel Apps with PostgreSQL

Laravel is one of the hottest frameworks for backend and full-stack development of Web applications today. It boasts a large number of quality features out-of-the-box, but it’s still easy to learn the basics. The community is vast, and there are tons of free resources available on the Internet.

This sample application will use Postgres as the backend database system, Okta for user authentication, and Heroku for quick deployment to a scalable platform. Heroku is a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that allows you to get started and go live faster because it handles the underlying infrastructure automatically. It also helps your application grow elastically by managing the available resources according to the load. Heroku is also probably the cheapest option for low-traffic sites – you can’t beat free!

Okta For Identity Management

Okta is an API Identity service that allows you to create, edit, and securely store user accounts and user account data, and connect them with one or more applications. We might be biased, but we think Okta makes identity management easier, more secure, and more scalable than what you’re used to.

To complete this tutorial, you’ll need to register for a forever-free developer account.

MySQL and PostgreSQL - Choose the Right Database for Your Project

We just published an overview on the tradeoffs between MySQL and PostgreSQL that covers many of the factors in choosing a database. Check it out for an in-depth review, but here are the highlights:

• Performance - modern versions and engines have created performance parity between the two databases. Performance tradeoffs should not be a deciding factor for most applications.
• Concurrency - PostgreSQL handles concurrency better than MySQL
• Default installation is cleaner with Postgres, and it’s more extensible, supporting more datatypes, operators, and index types
• MySQL is faster for simple, read-heavy workflows and may require less memory to run
• Postgres is a newer technology with a smaller community, but a better commitment to open source than MySQL

We chose Postgres for this tutorial because many of our customers use it for their products.

Bootstrapping a Laravel/Postgres Project with Authentication Scaffolding

Laravel supports Postgres out-of-the-box (although it suggests MySQL in its example configuration). In this section, you’ll start a new Laravel project with the Authentication scaffolding. Then you’ll configure it to use Postgres as a data store.

The tutorial assumes your development environment already has PHP, Composer, and Postgres. If you need help setting up Postgres for your platform, please refer to its documentation.

Start by creating a new Postgres database and granting access to it:

psql
create database laravel;
create user laravel with encrypted password 'laravel';
grant all privileges on database laravel to laravel;

Create a new Laravel project:

composer global require laravel/installer
laravel new okta-laravel-pg-demo && cd okta-laravel-pg-demo

Add the authentication scaffolding and pull the Laravel Socialite and SocialiteProviders/Okta packages (you’ll need these when switching the authentication method from a local database to Okta):

php artisan make:auth
composer require laravel/socialite socialiteproviders/okta

Create an Okta Account and Application

Before you proceed, you need to log into your Okta account (or create a new one for free) and create an OAuth application. You’ll need to get a client ID and a client secret for your application.

Start by going to the Applications menu item and click the Add Application button:

Select Web and click Next.

Enter a title, and set http://localhost:8000/ as the Initiate Login URI and http://localhost:8000/login/okta/callback as the Login Redirect URI, then click Done. You can leave the rest of the settings as they are.

Copy the Client ID and Client Secret values from the application settings. Go to Api > Authorization Servers, and copy just the host name part of the the Issuer URI field (without the /oauth2/default part) - this is your Okta Base URL (it looks like https:// but the numbers may be different in your case).

Configuring Okta and the Database in Your Application

Edit .env.example, add the following:

OKTA_CLIENT_ID=
OKTA_CLIENT_SECRET=
OKTA_BASE_URL=
OKTA_REDIRECT_URI=http://localhost:8000/login/okta/callback

Edit .env, configure your database, add the Okta keys and input the values you copied in the previous section:

DB_CONNECTION=pgsql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=5432
DB_DATABASE=laravel
DB_USERNAME=laravel
DB_PASSWORD=laravel

OKTA_CLIENT_ID=
OKTA_CLIENT_SECRET=
OKTA_BASE_URL=
OKTA_REDIRECT_URI=http://localhost:8000/login/okta/callback

Before running the database migrations, make some changes:

Delete database/migrations/2014_10_12_100000_create_password_resets_table.php file (you won’t need to handle password resets for your users after switching to Okta authentication).

Replace database/migrations/2014_10_12_000000_create_users_table.php with:

<?php

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;

class CreateUsersTable extends Migration
{
    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function up()
    {
        Schema::create('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->bigIncrements('id');
            $table->string('email')->unique();
            $table->text('token');
            $table->timestamps();
        });
    }

    /**
     * Reverse the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function down()
    {
        Schema::dropIfExists('users');
    }
}

You only need to store an email and a token (both received from Okta after successful authentication) for each user in your database.

It’s necessary to edit the User model as well. Replace app/User.php:

<?php

namespace App;

use Illuminate\Notifications\Notifiable;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Auth\MustVerifyEmail;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Auth\User as Authenticatable;

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use Notifiable;

    /**
     * The attributes that are mass assignable.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $fillable = [
        'email', 'token'
    ];

}

Run the database migrations:

php artisan migrate
Migration table created successfully.
Migrating: 2014_10_12_000000_create_users_table
Migrated:  2014_10_12_000000_create_users_table

Open psql (the Postgres command-line tool) and confirm there are two tables (migrations and users):

psql laravel
laravel=# \dt
           List of relations
 Schema |    Name    | Type  |  Owner
--------+------------+-------+---------
 public | migrations | table | laravel
 public | users      | table | laravel
(2 rows)

laravel=# \q

Configuring Socialite for Okta Authentication

If you run php artisan serve and load [http://localhost:8000/](http://localhost:8000/ "http://localhost:8000/") you should see the default Laravel application with Login / Register links in the top right corner. However, it still uses the local database to authenticate users. In this section, you’ll switch the application to Okta authentication.

Configure the Socialite provider:

Add to the $providers array in config/app.php:

$providers = [
    ...
    \SocialiteProviders\Manager\ServiceProvider::class,
    ...    
]

Add to the $listen array in app/Providers/EventServiceProvider.php:

protected $listen = [
    ...
    \SocialiteProviders\Manager\SocialiteWasCalled::class => [
        'SocialiteProviders\\Okta\\OktaExtendSocialite@handle',
    ],
    ...
];

Add to config/services.php:

'okta' => [
    'client_id' => env('OKTA_CLIENT_ID'),
    'client_secret' => env('OKTA_CLIENT_SECRET'),
    'redirect' => env('OKTA_REDIRECT_URI'),
    'base_url' => env('OKTA_BASE_URL')
],

Add to routes/web.php:

Route::get('login/okta', 'Auth\LoginController@redirectToProvider')->name('login-okta');
Route::get('login/okta/callback', 'Auth\LoginController@handleProviderCallback');

Replace app/Http/Controllers/Auth/LoginController.php with:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers\Auth;

use App\User;
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
use Socialite;

class LoginController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * Redirect the user to the GitHub authentication page.
     *
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
    public function redirectToProvider()
    {
        return Socialite::driver('okta')->redirect();
    }

    /**
     * Obtain the user information from GitHub.
     *
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
    public function handleProviderCallback(\Illuminate\Http\Request $request)
    {
        $user = Socialite::driver('okta')->user();

        $email = $user->email;
        $token = $user->token;

        $localUser = User::where('email', $email)->first();

        // create a local user with the email and token from Okta
        if (! $localUser) {
            $localUser = User::create([  
                'email' => $email,
                'token' => $token,
            ]);
        } else {

            // if the user already exists, just update the token:
            $localUser->token = $token;
            $localUser->save();
        }

        Auth::login($localUser);

        return redirect('/home');
    }

    public function logout()
    {
        Auth::logout();

        return redirect('/');
    }
}

Modify the section of resources/views/welcome.php that displays the top right menu:

@if (Route::has('login'))
    <div class="top-right links">
        @auth
            <a href="{{ url('/home') }}">Home</a>
        @else
            <a href="{{ url('/login/okta') }}">Log in with Okta</a>
        @endauth
    </div>
@endif

Modify resources/views/layouts/app.blade.php, replace {{ Auth::user()->name }} with {{ Auth::user()->email }}

Update app/Http/Middleware/Authenticate.php, replace return route('login'); with return route('login-okta');

Phew, that was a lot of changes! Run the development web server again:

php artisan serve

Load [http://localhost:8000](http://localhost:8000 "http://localhost:8000"). Click Login with Okta and after a successful login you will see the dashboard and the Okta email as your login identifier in the top right corner.

Create a Heroku Account

In the last part of the tutorial, you’ll deploy the application to Heroku. Before proceeding, head straight to Heroku signup and create a new free account.

Install the Heroku command-line interface (CLI), verify the installation and login. Refer to the Heroku documentation on how to do this on your platform (Windows or Linux). Here are the steps for MacOS:

brew tap heroku/brew && brew install heroku
heroku --version
heroku/7.24.3 darwin-x64 node-v11.14.0
heroku login

Then initialize a new heroku app inside your project directory (okta-laravel-pg-demo):

heroku create
Creating app... done, ⬢ warm-bastion-91341
https://warm-bastion-91341.herokuapp.com/ | https://git.heroku.com/warm-bastion-91341.git

The application ID will differ, but make a note of it. It’s a part of the deployment URL of your application (in this example, it’s https://warm-bastion-91341.herokuapp.com/).. “https://warm-bastion-91341.herokuapp.com/).”)

Head to Okta, edit your application and replace [http://localhost:8000/](http://localhost:8000/ "http://localhost:8000/") with your deployment URL. Using the example above, you would set:

Login redirect URIs: https://warm-bastion-91341.herokuapp.com/login/okta/callback
Initiate login URI: https://warm-bastion-91341.herokuapp.com/

Of course, use your own domain name.

Deploy the Application to Heroku

These deployment instructions are largely based on the Heroku Laravel Guide.

Create a Procfile first to define the correct document root (/public) for your Laravel app:

echo "web: vendor/bin/heroku-php-apache2 public/" > Procfile

The project needs to be a git repo in order to deploy it to Heroku. Initialize a new git repo in this folder, and add all the current files:

git init
git add .
git commit -m "new laravel project"

Then set the Okta keys you want to use (make sure to replace the callback URL with the new heroku deployment URL):

heroku config:set APP_KEY=$(php artisan --no-ansi key:generate --show)
heroku config:set OKTA_CLIENT_ID=<YOUR OKTA CLIENT ID>
heroku config:set OKTA_CLIENT_SECRET=<YOUR OKTA CLIENT SECRET>
heroku config:set OKTA_BASE_URL=<YOUR OKTA BASE URL>
heroku config:set OKTA_REDIRECT_URI=<YOUR HEROKU URL>/login/okta/callback
heroku config:set DB_CONNECTION=pgsql

Go to dashboard.heroku.com/apps, then click on your app, click Resources and in the Add-ons section find Postgres:

Select the Hobby Dev - Free plan and provision it for your app:

Heroku provides a DATABASE_URL environment variable that you can parse to extract the database credentials. Update config/database.php:

$DATABASE_URL = parse_url(getenv("DATABASE_URL"));

return [
    // ...
    'connections' => [
        // ...
        'pgsql' => [
            'driver' => 'pgsql',
            'host' => env('DB_HOST') ?? $DATABASE_URL["host"],
            'port' => env('DB_PORT') ?? $DATABASE_URL["port"],
            'database' => env('DB_DATABASE') ?? ltrim($DATABASE_URL["path"], "/"),
            'username' => env('DB_USERNAME') ?? $DATABASE_URL["user"],
            'password' => env('DB_PASSWORD') ?? $DATABASE_URL["pass"],
            'charset' => 'utf8',
            'prefix' => '',
            'schema' => 'public',
            'sslmode' => 'require',
        ],
        // ...
    ],
    // ...
];

The code uses the DB_... variables if available but if they are not set, it falls back to the DATABASE_URL parsing.

Commit your changes, deploy the application to Heroku and run the database migrations. Finally, open the application:

git commit -am 'updated database config'
git push heroku master
heroku run php artisan migrate
heroku open

The heroku deployment URL should open in a browser and you can test the Okta login. Well done!

Learn More About Laravel, Postgres and Heroku

You can find the completed code example on GitHub.

If you are interested in other Laravel tutorials that build a single-page application and use Okta for authentication (through the implicit flow method), check this series where you can build the same example application with an Angular, React or Vue frontend:

☞ Serverless PHP on App Engine and Cloud Firestore with Firevel (serverless Laravel framework)

☞ How to use and install Ckeditor with image upload in Laravel 5.8

☞ How To Set Up Laravel App on Docker, With NGINX and MySQL

☞ 8 Ways To Laravel Performance Optimization

☞ How to implement Paypal in Laravel 5.8 Application

Laravel is one of the hottest frameworks for backend and full-stack development of Web applications today. It boasts a large number of quality features out-of-the-box, but it’s still easy to learn the basics. The community is vast, and there are tons of free resources available on the Internet.

This sample application will use Postgres as the backend database system, Okta for user authentication, and Heroku for quick deployment to a scalable platform. Heroku is a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that allows you to get started and go live faster because it handles the underlying infrastructure automatically. It also helps your application grow elastically by managing the available resources according to the load. Heroku is also probably the cheapest option for low-traffic sites – you can’t beat free!

Okta For Identity Management

Okta is an API Identity service that allows you to create, edit, and securely store user accounts and user account data, and connect them with one or more applications. We might be biased, but we think Okta makes identity management easier, more secure, and more scalable than what you’re used to.

To complete this tutorial, you’ll need to register for a forever-free developer account.

MySQL and PostgreSQL - Choose the Right Database for Your Project

We just published an overview on the tradeoffs between MySQL and PostgreSQL that covers many of the factors in choosing a database. Check it out for an in-depth review, but here are the highlights:

• Performance - modern versions and engines have created performance parity between the two databases. Performance tradeoffs should not be a deciding factor for most applications.
• Concurrency - PostgreSQL handles concurrency better than MySQL
• Default installation is cleaner with Postgres, and it’s more extensible, supporting more datatypes, operators, and index types
• MySQL is faster for simple, read-heavy workflows and may require less memory to run
• Postgres is a newer technology with a smaller community, but a better commitment to open source than MySQL

We chose Postgres for this tutorial because many of our customers use it for their products.

Bootstrapping a Laravel/Postgres Project with Authentication Scaffolding

Laravel supports Postgres out-of-the-box (although it suggests MySQL in its example configuration). In this section, you’ll start a new Laravel project with the Authentication scaffolding. Then you’ll configure it to use Postgres as a data store.

The tutorial assumes your development environment already has PHP, Composer, and Postgres. If you need help setting up Postgres for your platform, please refer to its documentation.

Start by creating a new Postgres database and granting access to it:

psql
create database laravel;
create user laravel with encrypted password 'laravel';
grant all privileges on database laravel to laravel;

Create a new Laravel project:

composer global require laravel/installer
laravel new okta-laravel-pg-demo && cd okta-laravel-pg-demo

Add the authentication scaffolding and pull the Laravel Socialite and SocialiteProviders/Okta packages (you’ll need these when switching the authentication method from a local database to Okta):

php artisan make:auth
composer require laravel/socialite socialiteproviders/okta

Create an Okta Account and Application

Before you proceed, you need to log into your Okta account (or create a new one for free) and create an OAuth application. You’ll need to get a client ID and a client secret for your application.

Start by going to the Applications menu item and click the Add Application button:

Select Web and click Next.

Enter a title, and set http://localhost:8000/ as the Initiate Login URI and http://localhost:8000/login/okta/callback as the Login Redirect URI, then click Done. You can leave the rest of the settings as they are.

Copy the Client ID and Client Secret values from the application settings. Go to Api > Authorization Servers, and copy just the host name part of the the Issuer URI field (without the /oauth2/default part) - this is your Okta Base URL (it looks like https:// but the numbers may be different in your case).

Configuring Okta and the Database in Your Application

Edit .env.example, add the following:

OKTA_CLIENT_ID=
OKTA_CLIENT_SECRET=
OKTA_BASE_URL=
OKTA_REDIRECT_URI=http://localhost:8000/login/okta/callback

Edit .env, configure your database, add the Okta keys and input the values you copied in the previous section:

DB_CONNECTION=pgsql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=5432
DB_DATABASE=laravel
DB_USERNAME=laravel
DB_PASSWORD=laravel

OKTA_CLIENT_ID=
OKTA_CLIENT_SECRET=
OKTA_BASE_URL=
OKTA_REDIRECT_URI=http://localhost:8000/login/okta/callback

Before running the database migrations, make some changes:

Delete database/migrations/2014_10_12_100000_create_password_resets_table.php file (you won’t need to handle password resets for your users after switching to Okta authentication).

Replace database/migrations/2014_10_12_000000_create_users_table.php with:

<?php

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;

class CreateUsersTable extends Migration
{
    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function up()
    {
        Schema::create('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->bigIncrements('id');
            $table->string('email')->unique();
            $table->text('token');
            $table->timestamps();
        });
    }

    /**
     * Reverse the migrations.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function down()
    {
        Schema::dropIfExists('users');
    }
}

You only need to store an email and a token (both received from Okta after successful authentication) for each user in your database.

It’s necessary to edit the User model as well. Replace app/User.php:

<?php

namespace App;

use Illuminate\Notifications\Notifiable;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Auth\MustVerifyEmail;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Auth\User as Authenticatable;

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use Notifiable;

    /**
     * The attributes that are mass assignable.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $fillable = [
        'email', 'token'
    ];

}

Run the database migrations:

php artisan migrate
Migration table created successfully.
Migrating: 2014_10_12_000000_create_users_table
Migrated:  2014_10_12_000000_create_users_table

Open psql (the Postgres command-line tool) and confirm there are two tables (migrations and users):

psql laravel
laravel=# \dt
           List of relations
 Schema |    Name    | Type  |  Owner
--------+------------+-------+---------
 public | migrations | table | laravel
 public | users      | table | laravel
(2 rows)

laravel=# \q

Configuring Socialite for Okta Authentication

If you run php artisan serve and load [http://localhost:8000/](http://localhost:8000/ "http://localhost:8000/") you should see the default Laravel application with Login / Register links in the top right corner. However, it still uses the local database to authenticate users. In this section, you’ll switch the application to Okta authentication.

Configure the Socialite provider:

Add to the $providers array in config/app.php:

$providers = [
    ...
    \SocialiteProviders\Manager\ServiceProvider::class,
    ...    
]

Add to the $listen array in app/Providers/EventServiceProvider.php:

protected $listen = [
    ...
    \SocialiteProviders\Manager\SocialiteWasCalled::class => [
        'SocialiteProviders\\Okta\\OktaExtendSocialite@handle',
    ],
    ...
];

Add to config/services.php:

'okta' => [
    'client_id' => env('OKTA_CLIENT_ID'),
    'client_secret' => env('OKTA_CLIENT_SECRET'),
    'redirect' => env('OKTA_REDIRECT_URI'),
    'base_url' => env('OKTA_BASE_URL')
],

Add to routes/web.php:

Route::get('login/okta', 'Auth\LoginController@redirectToProvider')->name('login-okta');
Route::get('login/okta/callback', 'Auth\LoginController@handleProviderCallback');

Replace app/Http/Controllers/Auth/LoginController.php with:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers\Auth;

use App\User;
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
use Socialite;

class LoginController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * Redirect the user to the GitHub authentication page.
     *
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
    public function redirectToProvider()
    {
        return Socialite::driver('okta')->redirect();
    }

    /**
     * Obtain the user information from GitHub.
     *
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
    public function handleProviderCallback(\Illuminate\Http\Request $request)
    {
        $user = Socialite::driver('okta')->user();

        $email = $user->email;
        $token = $user->token;

        $localUser = User::where('email', $email)->first();

        // create a local user with the email and token from Okta
        if (! $localUser) {
            $localUser = User::create([  
                'email' => $email,
                'token' => $token,
            ]);
        } else {

            // if the user already exists, just update the token:
            $localUser->token = $token;
            $localUser->save();
        }

        Auth::login($localUser);

        return redirect('/home');
    }

    public function logout()
    {
        Auth::logout();

        return redirect('/');
    }
}

Modify the section of resources/views/welcome.php that displays the top right menu:

@if (Route::has('login'))
    <div class="top-right links">
        @auth
            <a href="{{ url('/home') }}">Home</a>
        @else
            <a href="{{ url('/login/okta') }}">Log in with Okta</a>
        @endauth
    </div>
@endif

Modify resources/views/layouts/app.blade.php, replace {{ Auth::user()->name }} with {{ Auth::user()->email }}

Update app/Http/Middleware/Authenticate.php, replace return route('login'); with return route('login-okta');

Phew, that was a lot of changes! Run the development web server again:

php artisan serve

Load [http://localhost:8000](http://localhost:8000 "http://localhost:8000"). Click Login with Okta and after a successful login you will see the dashboard and the Okta email as your login identifier in the top right corner.

Create a Heroku Account

In the last part of the tutorial, you’ll deploy the application to Heroku. Before proceeding, head straight to Heroku signup and create a new free account.

Install the Heroku command-line interface (CLI), verify the installation and login. Refer to the Heroku documentation on how to do this on your platform (Windows or Linux). Here are the steps for MacOS:

brew tap heroku/brew && brew install heroku
heroku --version
heroku/7.24.3 darwin-x64 node-v11.14.0
heroku login

Then initialize a new heroku app inside your project directory (okta-laravel-pg-demo):

heroku create
Creating app... done, ⬢ warm-bastion-91341
https://warm-bastion-91341.herokuapp.com/ | https://git.heroku.com/warm-bastion-91341.git

The application ID will differ, but make a note of it. It’s a part of the deployment URL of your application (in this example, it’s https://warm-bastion-91341.herokuapp.com/).. “https://warm-bastion-91341.herokuapp.com/).”)

Head to Okta, edit your application and replace [http://localhost:8000/](http://localhost:8000/ "http://localhost:8000/") with your deployment URL. Using the example above, you would set:

Login redirect URIs: https://warm-bastion-91341.herokuapp.com/login/okta/callback
Initiate login URI: https://warm-bastion-91341.herokuapp.com/

Of course, use your own domain name.

Deploy the Application to Heroku

These deployment instructions are largely based on the Heroku Laravel Guide.

Create a Procfile first to define the correct document root (/public) for your Laravel app:

echo "web: vendor/bin/heroku-php-apache2 public/" > Procfile

The project needs to be a git repo in order to deploy it to Heroku. Initialize a new git repo in this folder, and add all the current files:

git init
git add .
git commit -m "new laravel project"

Then set the Okta keys you want to use (make sure to replace the callback URL with the new heroku deployment URL):

heroku config:set APP_KEY=$(php artisan --no-ansi key:generate --show)
heroku config:set OKTA_CLIENT_ID=<YOUR OKTA CLIENT ID>
heroku config:set OKTA_CLIENT_SECRET=<YOUR OKTA CLIENT SECRET>
heroku config:set OKTA_BASE_URL=<YOUR OKTA BASE URL>
heroku config:set OKTA_REDIRECT_URI=<YOUR HEROKU URL>/login/okta/callback
heroku config:set DB_CONNECTION=pgsql

Go to dashboard.heroku.com/apps, then click on your app, click Resources and in the Add-ons section find Postgres:

Select the Hobby Dev - Free plan and provision it for your app:

Heroku provides a DATABASE_URL environment variable that you can parse to extract the database credentials. Update config/database.php:

$DATABASE_URL = parse_url(getenv("DATABASE_URL"));

return [
    // ...
    'connections' => [
        // ...
        'pgsql' => [
            'driver' => 'pgsql',
            'host' => env('DB_HOST') ?? $DATABASE_URL["host"],
            'port' => env('DB_PORT') ?? $DATABASE_URL["port"],
            'database' => env('DB_DATABASE') ?? ltrim($DATABASE_URL["path"], "/"),
            'username' => env('DB_USERNAME') ?? $DATABASE_URL["user"],
            'password' => env('DB_PASSWORD') ?? $DATABASE_URL["pass"],
            'charset' => 'utf8',
            'prefix' => '',
            'schema' => 'public',
            'sslmode' => 'require',
        ],
        // ...
    ],
    // ...
];

The code uses the DB_... variables if available but if they are not set, it falls back to the DATABASE_URL parsing.

Commit your changes, deploy the application to Heroku and run the database migrations. Finally, open the application:

git commit -am 'updated database config'
git push heroku master
heroku run php artisan migrate
heroku open

The heroku deployment URL should open in a browser and you can test the Okta login. Well done!

Learn More About Laravel, Postgres and Heroku

You can find the completed code example on GitHub.

If you are interested in other Laravel tutorials that build a single-page application and use Okta for authentication (through the implicit flow method), check this series where you can build the same example application with an Angular, React or Vue frontend:

☞ Serverless PHP on App Engine and Cloud Firestore with Firevel (serverless Laravel framework)

☞ How to use and install Ckeditor with image upload in Laravel 5.8

☞ How To Set Up Laravel App on Docker, With NGINX and MySQL

☞ 8 Ways To Laravel Performance Optimization

☞ How to implement Paypal in Laravel 5.8 Application

#laravel #php

What is GEEK

Buddha Community

How long does it take to develop/build an app?

With more of us using smartphones, the popularity of mobile applications has exploded. In the digital era, the number of people looking for products and services online is growing rapidly. Smartphone owners look for mobile applications that give them quick access to companies’ products and services. As a result, mobile apps provide customers with a lot of benefits in just one device.

Likewise, companies use mobile apps to increase customer loyalty and improve their services. Mobile Developers are in high demand as companies use apps not only to create brand awareness but also to gather information. For that reason, mobile apps are used as tools to collect valuable data from customers to help companies improve their offer.

There are many types of mobile applications, each with its own advantages. For example, native apps perform better, while web apps don’t need to be customized for the platform or operating system (OS). Likewise, hybrid apps provide users with comfortable user experience. However, you may be wondering how long it takes to develop an app.

To give you an idea of how long the app development process takes, here’s a short guide.

App Idea & Research

_Average time spent: two to five weeks _

This is the initial stage and a crucial step in setting the project in the right direction. In this stage, you brainstorm ideas and select the best one. Apart from that, you’ll need to do some research to see if your idea is viable. Remember that coming up with an idea is easy; the hard part is to make it a reality.

All your ideas may seem viable, but you still have to run some tests to keep it as real as possible. For that reason, when Web Developers are building a web app, they analyze the available ideas to see which one is the best match for the targeted audience.

Targeting the right audience is crucial when you are developing an app. It saves time when shaping the app in the right direction as you have a clear set of objectives. Likewise, analyzing how the app affects the market is essential. During the research process, App Developers must gather information about potential competitors and threats. This helps the app owners develop strategies to tackle difficulties that come up after the launch.

The research process can take several weeks, but it determines how successful your app can be. For that reason, you must take your time to know all the weaknesses and strengths of the competitors, possible app strategies, and targeted audience.

The outcomes of this stage are app prototypes and the minimum feasible product.

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How to start an electric scooter facility/fleet in a university campus/IT park

Are you leading an organization that has a large campus, e.g., a large university? You are probably thinking of introducing an electric scooter/bicycle fleet on the campus, and why wouldn’t you?

Introducing micro-mobility in your campus with the help of such a fleet would help the people on the campus significantly. People would save money since they don’t need to use a car for a short distance. Your campus will see a drastic reduction in congestion, moreover, its carbon footprint will reduce.

Micro-mobility is relatively new though and you would need help. You would need to select an appropriate fleet of vehicles. The people on your campus would need to find electric scooters or electric bikes for commuting, and you need to provide a solution for this.

To be more specific, you need a short-term electric bike rental app. With such an app, you will be able to easily offer micro-mobility to the people on the campus. We at Devathon have built Autorent exactly for this.

What does Autorent do and how can it help you? How does it enable you to introduce micro-mobility on your campus? We explain these in this article, however, we will touch upon a few basics first.

Micro-mobility: What it is

You are probably thinking about micro-mobility relatively recently, aren’t you? A few relevant insights about it could help you to better appreciate its importance.

Micro-mobility is a new trend in transportation, and it uses vehicles that are considerably smaller than cars. Electric scooters (e-scooters) and electric bikes (e-bikes) are the most popular forms of micro-mobility, however, there are also e-unicycles and e-skateboards.

You might have already seen e-scooters, which are kick scooters that come with a motor. Thanks to its motor, an e-scooter can achieve a speed of up to 20 km/h. On the other hand, e-bikes are popular in China and Japan, and they come with a motor, and you can reach a speed of 40 km/h.

You obviously can’t use these vehicles for very long commutes, however, what if you need to travel a short distance? Even if you have a reasonable public transport facility in the city, it might not cover the route you need to take. Take the example of a large university campus. Such a campus is often at a considerable distance from the central business district of the city where it’s located. While public transport facilities may serve the central business district, they wouldn’t serve this large campus. Currently, many people drive their cars even for short distances.

As you know, that brings its own set of challenges. Vehicular traffic adds significantly to pollution, moreover, finding a parking spot can be hard in crowded urban districts.

Well, you can reduce your carbon footprint if you use an electric car. However, electric cars are still new, and many countries are still building the necessary infrastructure for them. Your large campus might not have the necessary infrastructure for them either. Presently, electric cars don’t represent a viable option in most geographies.

As a result, you need to buy and maintain a car even if your commute is short. In addition to dealing with parking problems, you need to spend significantly on your car.

All of these factors have combined to make people sit up and think seriously about cars. Many people are now seriously considering whether a car is really the best option even if they have to commute only a short distance.

This is where micro-mobility enters the picture. When you commute a short distance regularly, e-scooters or e-bikes are viable options. You limit your carbon footprints and you cut costs!

Businesses have seen this shift in thinking, and e-scooter companies like Lime and Bird have entered this field in a big way. They let you rent e-scooters by the minute. On the other hand, start-ups like Jump and Lyft have entered the e-bike market.

Think of your campus now! The people there might need to travel short distances within the campus, and e-scooters can really help them.

How micro-mobility can benefit you

What advantages can you get from micro-mobility? Let’s take a deeper look into this question.

Micro-mobility can offer several advantages to the people on your campus, e.g.:

• Affordability: Shared e-scooters are cheaper than other mass transportation options. Remember that the people on your campus will use them on a shared basis, and they will pay for their short commutes only. Well, depending on your operating model, you might even let them use shared e-scooters or e-bikes for free!
• Convenience: Users don’t need to worry about finding parking spots for shared e-scooters since these are small. They can easily travel from point A to point B on your campus with the help of these e-scooters.
• Environmentally sustainable: Shared e-scooters reduce the carbon footprint, moreover, they decongest the roads. Statistics from the pilot programs in cities like Portland and Denver showimpressive gains around this key aspect.
• Safety: This one’s obvious, isn’t it? When people on your campus use small e-scooters or e-bikes instead of cars, the problem of overspeeding will disappear. you will see fewer accidents.

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Best Electric Bikes and Scooters for Rental Business or Campus Facility

The electric scooter revolution has caught on super-fast taking many cities across the globe by storm. eScooters, a renovated version of old-school scooters now turned into electric vehicles are an environmentally friendly solution to current on-demand commute problems. They work on engines, like cars, enabling short traveling distances without hassle. The result is that these groundbreaking electric machines can now provide faster transport for less — cheaper than Uber and faster than Metro.

Since they are durable, fast, easy to operate and maintain, and are more convenient to park compared to four-wheelers, the eScooters trend has and continues to spike interest as a promising growth area. Several companies and universities are increasingly setting up shop to provide eScooter services realizing a would-be profitable business model and a ready customer base that is university students or residents in need of faster and cheap travel going about their business in school, town, and other surrounding areas.

Electric Scooters Trends and Statistics

In many countries including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, U.K., Germany, France, China, Japan, India, Brazil and Mexico and more, a growing number of eScooter users both locals and tourists can now be seen effortlessly passing lines of drivers stuck in the endless and unmoving traffic.

A recent report by McKinsey revealed that the E-Scooter industry will be worth― $200 billion to $300 billion in the United States, $100 billion to $150 billion in Europe, and $30 billion to $50 billion in China in 2030. The e-Scooter revenue model will also spike and is projected to rise by more than 20% amounting to approximately $5 billion.

And, with a necessity to move people away from high carbon prints, traffic and congestion issues brought about by car-centric transport systems in cities, more and more city planners are developing more bike/scooter lanes and adopting zero-emission plans. This is the force behind the booming electric scooter market and the numbers will only go higher and higher.

Companies that have taken advantage of the growing eScooter trend develop an appthat allows them to provide efficient eScooter services. Such an app enables them to be able to locate bike pick-up and drop points through fully integrated google maps.

List of Best Electric Bikes for Rental Business or Campus Facility 2020:

It’s clear that e scooters will increasingly become more common and the e-scooter business model will continue to grab the attention of manufacturers, investors, entrepreneurs. All this should go ahead with a quest to know what are some of the best electric bikes in the market especially for anyone who would want to get started in the electric bikes/scooters rental business.

We have done a comprehensive list of the best electric bikes! Each bike has been reviewed in depth and includes a full list of specs and a photo.

Billy eBike

 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/enkicycles/billy-were-redefining-joyrides

To start us off is the Billy eBike, a powerful go-anywhere urban electric bike that’s specially designed to offer an exciting ride like no other whether you want to ride to the grocery store, cafe, work or school. The Billy eBike comes in 4 color options – Billy Blue, Polished aluminium, Artic white, and Stealth black.

Price: $2490

Available countries

Available in the USA, Europe, Asia, South Africa and Australia.This item ships from the USA. Buyers are therefore responsible for any taxes and/or customs duties incurred once it arrives in your country.

Features

• Control – Ride with confidence with our ultra-wide BMX bars and a hyper-responsive twist throttle.
• Stealth- Ride like a ninja with our Gates carbon drive that’s as smooth as butter and maintenance-free.
• Drive – Ride further with our high torque fat bike motor, giving a better climbing performance.
• Accelerate – Ride quicker with our 20-inch lightweight cutout rims for improved acceleration.
• Customize – Ride your own way with 5 levels of power control. Each level determines power and speed.
• Flickable – Ride harder with our BMX /MotoX inspired geometry and lightweight aluminum package

Specifications

• Maximum speed: 20 mph (32 km/h)
• Range per charge: 41 miles (66 km)
• Maximum Power: 500W
• Motor type: Fat Bike Motor: Bafang RM G060.500.DC
• Load capacity: 300lbs (136kg)
• Battery type: 13.6Ah Samsung lithium-ion,
• Battery capacity: On/off-bike charging available
• Weight: w/o batt. 48.5lbs (22kg), w/ batt. 54lbs (24.5kg)
• Front Suspension: Fully adjustable air shock, preload/compression damping /lockout
• Rear Suspension: spring, preload adjustment
• Built-in GPS

Why Should You Buy This?

• Riding fun and excitement
• Better climbing ability and faster acceleration.
• Ride with confidence
• Billy folds for convenient storage and transportation.
• Shorty levers connect to disc brakes ensuring you stop on a dime
• belt drives are maintenance-free and clean (no oil or lubrication needed)

**Who Should Ride Billy? **

Both new and experienced riders

**Where to Buy? **Local distributors or ships from the USA.

Genze 200 series e-Bike

 https://www.genze.com/fleet/

Featuring a sleek and lightweight aluminum frame design, the 200-Series ebike takes your riding experience to greater heights. Available in both black and white this ebike comes with a connected app, which allows you to plan activities, map distances and routes while also allowing connections with fellow riders.

Price: $2099.00

Available countries

The Genze 200 series e-Bike is available at GenZe retail locations across the U.S or online via GenZe.com website. Customers from outside the US can ship the product while incurring the relevant charges.

Features

• 2 Frame Options
• 2 Sizes
• Integrated/Removable Battery
• Throttle and Pedal Assist Ride Modes
• Integrated LCD Display
• Connected App
• 24 month warranty
• GPS navigation
• Bluetooth connectivity

Specifications

• Maximum speed: 20 mph with throttle
• Range per charge: 15-18 miles w/ throttle and 30-50 miles w/ pedal assist
• Charging time: 3.5 hours
• Motor type: Brushless Rear Hub Motor
• Gears: Microshift Thumb Shifter
• Battery type: Removable Samsung 36V, 9.6AH Li-Ion battery pack
• Battery capacity: 36V and 350 Wh
• Weight: 46 pounds
• Derailleur: 8-speed Shimano
• Brakes: Dual classic
• Wheels: 26 x 20 inches
• Frame: 16, and 18 inches
• Operating Mode: Analog mode 5 levels of Pedal Assist Thrott­le Mode

Norco from eBikestore

 https://ebikestore.com/shop/norco-vlt-s2/

The Norco VLT S2 is a front suspension e-Bike with solid components alongside the reliable Bosch Performance Line Power systems that offer precise pedal assistance during any riding situation.

Price: $2,699.00

Available countries

This item is available via the various Norco bikes international distributors.

Features

• VLT aluminum frame- for stiffness and wheel security.
• Bosch e-bike system – for their reliability and performance.
• E-bike components – for added durability.
• Hydraulic disc brakes – offer riders more stopping power for safety and control at higher speeds.
• Practical design features – to add convenience and versatility.

Specifications

• Maximum speed: KMC X9 9spd
• Motor type: Bosch Active Line
• Gears: Shimano Altus RD-M2000, SGS, 9 Speed
• Battery type: Power Pack 400
• Battery capacity: 396Wh
• Suspension: SR Suntour suspension fork
• Frame: Norco VLT, Aluminum, 12x142mm TA Dropouts

Bodo EV

http://www.bodoevs.com/bodoev/products_show.asp?product_id=13

Manufactured by Bodo Vehicle Group Limited, the Bodo EV is specially designed for strong power and extraordinary long service to facilitate super amazing rides. The Bodo Vehicle Company is a striking top in electric vehicles brand field in China and across the globe. Their Bodo EV will no doubt provide your riders with high-level riding satisfaction owing to its high-quality design, strength, breaking stability and speed.

Price: $799

Available countries

This item ships from China with buyers bearing the shipping costs and other variables prior to delivery.

Features

• Reliable
• Environment friendly
• Comfortable riding
• Fashionable
• Economical
• Durable – long service life
• Braking stability
• LED lighting technology

Specifications

• Maximum speed: 45km/h
• Range per charge: 50km per person
• Charging time: 8 hours
• Maximum Power: 3000W
• Motor type: Brushless DC Motor
• Load capacity: 100kg
• Battery type: Lead-acid battery
• Battery capacity: 60V 20AH
• Weight: w/o battery 47kg

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Laravel App Development Company in India, Hire Laravel Developers

Hire our expert team of Laravel app developers for flexible PHP applications across various cloud service providers.

With this easy build technology, we develop feature-rich apps that make your complex business process a lot easier. Our apps are,

• More secure and scalable.
• A good framework lets you manage and organize resources better.
• And have a rich community base.

Get your business a best in classlaravel app. Hire laravel app developers in India. We have the best organizational set-up to provide you the most advanced app development services.

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How much would it cost to build an app like Twitter?

Many times, the cost of developing a social networking app depends on your selection of a Mobile App Development Company. The fact is there is no fix cost to develop a social networking app but it depends on features provided in social networking app and it is recommended for making an enchanting social networking app, you need to keep more focus on features.

Before you make any final decision on how much would it cost to develop a social networking app, you need to analyze the leading social networking app like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. The reason behind the success of these social networking apps is flawless user-friendly features. You also have to maintain your app and bring new updates and for that you need to have enough budgets.

Lets have a look at some of the features of Twitter as follows.

Timeline

Discover what your favorite sports, news, politics, and entertainment thought leaders are talking about
Experience dynamic media — like photos, videos, and GIFs
Retweet, share, like, or reply to Tweets in your timeline
Write a Tweet to let the world know what’s happening with you

Explore

See what topics and hashtags are trending now
Discover Moments, curated stories showcasing the very best of today’s biggest events
Get caught up on news headlines and videos
Relive the latest sports highlights
Be in the know about pop culture and entertainment
See what fun stories are going viral

Notifications

Find out who started following you
Discover which of your Tweets were liked or Retweeted
Respond to replies or be alerted to Tweets you were mentioned in

Messages

Chat privately with friends and followers
Share Tweets and other media
Create a group conversation with anyone who follows you

Profile

Customize your profile with a photo, description, location, and background photo
Look back at your Tweets, Retweets, replies, media, and likes

Connect

Get suggestions on influential people to follow
Sync your contacts to find friends currently on Twitter or invite more

As a starting application it can cost around $7000 to $45000, it all depends on how many features do want to include in your app.

Have a Project in Mind? Let’s talk!!!

Connect with us at http://www.appcluesinfotech.com/

View our portfolio: http://www.appcluesinfotech.com/#our-works

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