Configuring Laravel

After installing Laravel, it's pretty much ready to go without much need for configuration. However, there are a few settings we want to make sure to update.

Getting ready

For this recipe, we need a regular installation of Laravel.

How to do it...

To complete this recipe, follow these steps:

1. Open /app/config/app.php and update these lines:

   'url' => 'http://localhost/,
   'locale' => 'en',
   'key' => 'Seriously-ChooseANewKey',

2. Open app/config/database.php and choose your preferred database:

   'default' => 'mysql',
   'connections' => array(
       'mysql' => array(
           'driver'    => 'mysql',
           'host'      => 'localhost',
           'database'  => 'database',
           'username'  => 'root',
           'password'  => '',
           'charset'   => 'utf8',
           'collation' => 'utf8_unicode_ci',
           'prefix'    => '',
           ),
       ),

3. In the command line, go to the root of the app and make sure the storage folder is writable:

   chmod –R 777 app/storage
   

How it works...

Most of the configuration will happen in the /app/config/app.php file. While setting the URL isn't required, and Laravel does a great job figuring it out without setting it, it's always good to remove any work from the framework that we can. Next, we set our location. If we choose to provide localization in our app, this setting will be our default. Then, we set our application key, since it's best to not keep the default.

Next, we set which database driver we'll be using. Laravel comes with four drivers out of the box: mysql, sqlite, sqlsrv (MS SQL Server), and pgsql (Postgres).

Finally, our app/storage directory will be used for keeping any temporary data, such as sessions or cache, if we choose. To allow this, we need to make sure the app can write to the directory.

There's more...

For an easy way to create a secure application key, remove the default key and leave it empty. Then, in your command line, navigate to your application root directory and type:

php artisan key:generate

That will create a unique and secure key and automatically save it in your configuration file.