To develop modern single-page applications (SPAs) with Laravel, you can utilize Inertia. This allows you to integrate with frontend frameworks like React, Vue, or Svelte, serving as a bridge between Laravel's backend and the frontend framework of your choice. While Laravel handles server-side operations, Inertia manages client-side interactions.

Why Develop a Modern Single Page Application?

Modern SPAs offer faster speeds and enhanced user experiences by enabling seamless navigation and operations without page reloads. This enhances user satisfaction and efficiency, as SPAs generally use less data and reduce wait times.

Inertia Installation

You have three installation options: Laravel Jetstream, Laravel Breeze, or manual setup. Laravel Jetstream and Laravel Breeze offer pre-configured stacks with Inertia. For this example, we'll use Laravel Breeze.

First, install Laravel Breeze via Composer:

composer require laravel/breeze --dev

Next, install and set up Breeze:

php artisan breeze:install

php artisan migrate
npm install
npm run dev

During the installation with Breeze, choose your preferred stack. Select "React with Inertia" since we'll use React.

Routes and Controllers

Here's an example of routing and controller structure:

web.php

Route::get('/', [PageController::class, 'home'])->name('home');

PageController.php

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Models\Form;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Inertia\Inertia;

class PageController extends Controller
{
    public function home(Request $request)
    {
        $data["form"] = Form::with('programs')->get();
        return Inertia::render('Home', $data);
    }
}

Home.js

import { Layout } from "@/Layouts";
import { usePage } from "@inertiajs/react";

export default function Home({ form }) {
  return (
    <Layout>
      <div className="flex flex-1 w-full max-w-screen-lg flex-wrap gap-8">
        {form?.map((form, index) => {
          return (
            <div
              key={index}
              className="flex flex-1 w-full max-w-screen-sm flex-col gap-8 p-12 rounded-md bg-white"
            >
              {form.name}
            </div>
          );
        })}
      </div>
    </Layout>
  );
}

The lifecycle in this example works as follows:

Request -> Routing -> PageController -> Inertia::render -> Home.js -> Response

When a request is made to "/", it directs to the 'home' method in PageController. Here, the 'form' variable is passed to the 'Home' component via Inertia::render for rendering.

Using the 'form' variable, we display form data on the screen using Inertia. This approach allows you to develop modern SPAs in Laravel effectively. This is a simplified example; you can develop more complex applications.

For instance, instead of refreshing the page with each form submission, you can use Inertia Forms with the useForm hook in React to handle form submissions without page reloads. Leveraging React and Inertia together with Laravel provides a robust solution to meet your application needs.

Conclusion

If you're developing a monolithic application and aiming to build a modern SPA, consider leveraging Inertia. It serves as a bridge between Laravel and frontend frameworks, enabling you to handle server-side operations with Laravel while building a modern single-page application on the frontend. This approach enhances application speed and delivers an improved user experience. For further information, visit the Inertia website.

Happy coding!