Hosting on shared servers

From public to public_html

On shared hosting servers (e.g. sinners.be), the default folder for your website is probably not named public, but public_html
With the steps described below, you can reconfigure your Laravel application to use the folder public_html instead of public

Rename the public folder

Rename the public folder to public_html

Update homestead

Stop Vagrant: vagrant halt
Open C:\vagrant\homestead\Homestead.yaml and change, under sites:, the public folder of your project to public_html.
E.g. for vinyl_shop.test:

-   map: vinyl_shop.test
    to: /home/vagrant/code/vinyl_shop/public_html

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Start Vagrant with provisioning: vagrant up --provision

Modify Laravel files

Open public_html/index.php and add some code to overwrite the default public path

$app = require_once __DIR__.'/../bootstrap/app.php';
// overwrite the default public path with the path of the current folder
$app->bind('path.public', function() {
    return __DIR__;
});

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Open bootstrap/app.php and fix the path for Artisan scripts

$app = new Illuminate\Foundation\Application(
    $_ENV['APP_BASE_PATH'] ?? dirname(__DIR__)
);
// fix path for Artisan scripts
$app->bind('path.public', function() {
    return base_path().'/public_html';
});

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Modify Laravel mix

Open webpack.mix.js
- Set the public path to public_html
- Change the output path for mix.js() to js and for mix.sass() to css

mix.setPublicPath('public_html');

mix.js('resources/js/app.js', 'js')
    .sass('resources/sass/app.scss', 'css');

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Put your website online

Recompile your assets for production

The assets app.css and app.js are not production ready and should be minified/optimized using the command npm run prod.
See also Config -> Laravel Mix -> Recompile for production.

Upload the files to your hosting provider

Upload all folders, except .git, .idea, database, node_modules and tests
Upload only the file .env

'FTP your files'

Test the homepage of your online application

'Remote homepage'

REMARK

If your online application (e.g. on sinners.be) results in an error, you can replace the content of the (remote) file public_html/.htaccess with this code:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]

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Disable debug mode

It's best practice to disable debug mode on a live webserver
Open the REMOTE (not the local!) .env file and set APP_DEBUG=false

Export/import the vinylshop database

Open http://phpmyadmin.test/ (or http://homestead.test/phpmyadmin/)
- Click on the vinylshop database, go to the tab "Exporteren" and click on "Starten"
- Save the file vinylshop.sql to your desktop

'Export the local vinylshop database'

Create a new database on your hosting
- Open your remote phpMyAdmin
- "Importeer" (= the tab next to "Exporteren") vinylshop.sql (in your newly created database on your remote phpMyAdmin)
Open the REMOTE .env file and update all DB_... variables
- E.g. for sinners.be, the values of the DB_... variables can be found at the database page of the Sin Control panel:

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=db.sinners.be
DB_PORT=3306                  # NOT port 33060 like in Homestead!
DB_DATABASE=xxxxx_vinylshop
DB_USERNAME=xxxxx
DB_PASSWORD=xxxxx

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Open one of the pages relying on the database (e.g. the shop master page) to test the remote database connection

'Check remote shop page'

Configure a real mail server

TIP

From now on it's best to use REAL mail addresses (to send your mail from), as fake sender mail addresses (like @example.com or @mailinator.com) will probably show up in your spam folder

First, open the REMOTE .env file and update the APP_URL variable with the real URL (as this URL is used e.g. in the header of the sent mails)
Next, your application (contact page, reset password page) needs a real outgoing mail server (SMTP server) to send out the emails. You have different options to establish this:

Use the SMTP server from your hosting provider
- All paid hosting solutions have there own SMTP server(s)
- Open the REMOTE .env file and update all MAIL_... variables, as specified in your control panel
Use your Office365 SMTP server
- Open the REMOTE .env file and update all MAIL_... variables

MAIL_DRIVER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.office365.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=sxxxxxxx@student.thomasmore.be           # office365 login account
MAIL_PASSWORD=xxxxx                                    # office365 password
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=name.surname@student.thomasmore.be   # office365 mail address
MAIL_FROM_NAME="Name Surname"                          # doesn't matter, as your office365 name will be used

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REMARK

If you use the Office365 SMTP server, the from address MUST be your Office 365 mail address!
- Because of this limitation, you have to refactor the (@thevinylshop.com) from address of the contact form

Use your Gmail SMTP server
- Limited to 500 emails a day
- If you have a Gmail-account, you can use the following MAIL_... variables in the REMOTE .env file

MAIL_DRIVER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=xxxxx@gmail.com       # your gmail address
MAIL_PASSWORD=xxxxx                 # your gmail password
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=xxxxx@gmail.com   # any real mail address is ok, but your gmail address will be used
MAIL_FROM_NAME="Name Surname"

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REMARK

Unless your Google account is configured with 2-factor authentication (2-step verification), you have to (TEMPORARILY) allow less secure apps to access your Google account

Use a (free) cloud-based SMTP provider like Sendgrid
- Create a new (free) account on SendGrid
  - A free SendGrid account is limited to 100 emails a day
  - Login to your account and go to the Integration guide
  - Choose SMTP relay and create a new API Key
    IMPORTANT: your code behind this API key will only show once (at creation time), so copy it to a save place!
  - You can edit the API key settings on the left side under settings -> API Keys
- Open the REMOTE .env file and update all MAIL_... variables

MAIL_DRIVER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.sendgrid.net
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=apikey
MAIL_PASSWORD=xxxxxx                                   # the code behind your API key
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=name.surname@student.thomasmore.be   # any real mail address is ok
MAIL_FROM_NAME="Name Surname"

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Updates and maintenance

A Laravel application is a never ending story ...
- When you add/update a file (Blade view, controller, ...), upload them individually to your remote host
- When you delete a file, don't forget to delete the file from your remote host as well
- When you update resources/js/vinylShop.js or resources/sass/app.scss, don't forget to upload the COMPILED files public_html/js/app.js and public_html/css/app.css
  IMPORTANT: Don't forget to recompile your assets for production before uploading!
- When you update your composer packages (with composer update), it's best to delete the whole external vendor folder and upload it again

# Hosting on shared servers

# From public to public_html

# Rename the public folder

# Update homestead

# Modify Laravel files

# Modify Laravel mix

# Put your website online

# Recompile your assets for production

# Upload the files to your hosting provider

# Disable debug mode

# Export/import the vinylshop database

# Configure a real mail server

# Updates and maintenance

Hosting on shared servers

From public to public_html

Rename the public folder

Update homestead

Modify Laravel files

Modify Laravel mix

Put your website online

Recompile your assets for production

Upload the files to your hosting provider

Disable debug mode

Export/import the vinylshop database

Configure a real mail server

Updates and maintenance