Using the resource flag to create CRUD methods

Let's see another feature of the Artisan CLI, creating all of the Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations using a single command.

First, in the app/Http/Controllers folder, delete the BandController.php file:

1. Open your Terminal window and type the following command:

php artisan make:controller BandController --resource

This action will create the same file again, but now, it includes the CRUD operations, as shown in the following code:

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
class BandController extends Controller
 {
     /**
     * Display a listing of the resource.
     *
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
     public function index()
     {
         //
     }
    /**
     * Show the form for creating a new resource.
     *
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
     public function create()
     {
         //
     }
    /**
     * Store a newly created resource in storage.
     *
     * @param \Illuminate\Http\Request $request
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
     public function store(Request $request)
     {
         //
     }
    /**
     * Display the specified resource.
     *
     * @param int $id
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
     public function show($id)
     {
         //
     }
    /**
     * Show the form for editing the specified resource.
     *
     * @param int $id
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
     public function edit($id)
     {
         //
     }
    /**
     * Update the specified resource in storage.
     *
     * @param \Illuminate\Http\Request $request
     * @param int $id
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
     public function update(Request $request, $id)
     {
         //
     }
    /**
     * Remove the specified resource from storage.
     *
     * @param int $id
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
     public function destroy($id)
     {
         //
     }
 }

For this example, we will write only two methods: one to list all of the records, and another to get a specific record. Don't worry about the other methods; we will cover all of the methods in the upcoming chapters.

2. Let's edit public function index() and add the following code:

$bands = Band::all();
 return $bands;

3. Now, edit public function show() and add the following code:

$band = Band::find($id);
 return view('bands.show', array('band' => $band));

4. Add the following line, right after App\Http\Requests:

use App\Band;

5. Update the routes.php file, inside the routes folder, to the following code:

Route::get('/', function () {
 return view('welcome');
 });
Route::resource('bands', 'BandController');

6. Open your browser and go to http://localhost:8081/bands, where you will see the following content:

[{
  "id": 1,
  "name": "porro",
  "description": "Minus sapiente ut libero explicabo et voluptas harum.",
  "created_at": "2018-03-02 19:20:58",
  "updated_at": "2018-03-02 19:20:58"}
...]

Don't worry if your data is different from the previous code; this is due to Faker generating random data. Note that we are returning a JSON directly to the browser, instead of returning the data to the view. This is a very important feature of Laravel; it serializes and deserializes data, by default.