Laravel CRUD – Beginner’s Guide

We’ve already learned:
Routes – Handle incoming URLs.
Controllers – Organize logic.
Views & Blade – Show HTML pages.
Request & Validation – Handle and validate forms.
Models & Eloquent ORM – Save data in the database.

Now let’s use these to build a Contact Management CRUD application.

---

Setting Up the Model & Migration

If you already have the Contact model from the last lesson, you can skip this step.
Otherwise, create it with:

php artisan make:model Contact -m

Update the migration in database/migrations/xxxx_xx_xx_create_contacts_table.php:

public function up(): void
{
    Schema::create('contacts', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->id();
        $table->string('name');
        $table->string('email');
        $table->timestamps();
    });
}

Run:

php artisan migrate

Add this code to the Contact model class (located at Models/Contact.php) if it does not already exist.

class Contact extends Model
{
    protected $fillable = ['name', 'email'];
}

---

Creating the Controller

We’ll use a Resource Controller for all CRUD actions:

php artisan make:controller ContactController --resource

This creates ContactController.php with methods for all CRUD actions.

---

Defining Routes

In routes/web.php:

use App\Http\Controllers\ContactController;

Route::resource('contacts', ContactController::class);

This single line creates all routes:

Method	URL	Action
GET	/contacts	index
GET	/contacts/create	create
POST	/contacts	store
GET	/contacts/{id}	show
GET	/contacts/{id}/edit	edit
PUT	/contacts/{id}	update
DELETE	/contacts/{id}	destroy

---

Implementing CRUD Logic in the Controller

In app/Http/Controllers/ContactController.php:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Models\Contact;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class ContactController extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        $contacts = Contact::all();
        return view('contacts.index', compact('contacts'));
    }

    public function create()
    {
        return view('contacts.create');
    }

    public function store(Request $request)
    {
        $request->validate([
            'name'  => 'required|min:3',
            'email' => 'required|email'
        ]);

        Contact::create($request->only(['name', 'email']));

        return redirect()->route('contacts.index')->with('success', 'Contact created successfully.');
    }

    public function edit(Contact $contact)
    {
        $contact = Contact::findOrFail($id);
        return view('contacts.edit', compact('contact'));
    }

    public function update(Request $request, Contact $contact)
    {
        $request->validate([
            'name'  => 'required|min:3',
            'email' => 'required|email'
        ]);
        $contact = Contact::findOrFail($id);
        $contact->update($request->only(['name', 'email']));

        return redirect()->route('contacts.index')->with('success', 'Contact updated successfully.');
    }

    public function destroy(Contact $contact)
    {
        $contact->delete();
        return redirect()->route('contacts.index')->with('success', 'Contact deleted successfully.');
    }
}

---

Creating the Views

i) Contact List – resources/views/contacts/index.blade.php

@extends('layouts.main')

@section('title', 'Contacts')

@section('content')
    <h2>Contact List</h2>

    @if(session('success'))
        <p style="color:green;">{{ session('success') }}</p>
    @endif

    <a href="{{ route('contacts.create') }}">Add Contact</a>

    <ul>
        @foreach($contacts as $contact)
            <li>
                {{ $contact->name }} - {{ $contact->email }}
                <a href="{{ route('contacts.edit', $contact->id) }}">Edit</a>
                <form action="{{ route('contacts.destroy', $contact->id) }}" method="POST" style="display:inline;">
                    @csrf
                    @method('DELETE')
                    <button type="submit" onclick="return confirm('Delete this contact?')">Delete</button>
                </form>
            </li>
        @endforeach
    </ul>
@endsection

---

ii) Add Contact – resources/views/contacts/create.blade.php

@extends('layouts.main')

@section('title', 'Add Contact')

@section('content')
    <h2>Add New Contact</h2>
    <form action="{{ route('contacts.store') }}" method="POST">
        @csrf
        <label>Name:</label>
        <input type="text" name="name" value="{{ old('name') }}">
        @error('name') <p style="color:red;">{{ $message }}</p> @enderror

        <label>Email:</label>
        <input type="email" name="email" value="{{ old('email') }}">
        @error('email') <p style="color:red;">{{ $message }}</p> @enderror

        <button type="submit">Save</button>
    </form>
@endsection

---

iii) Edit Contact – resources/views/contacts/edit.blade.php

@extends('layouts.main')

@section('title', 'Edit Contact')

@section('content')
    <h2>Edit Contact</h2>
    <form action="{{ route('contacts.update', $contact->id) }}" method="POST">
        @csrf
        @method('PUT')

        <label>Name:</label>
        <input type="text" name="name" value="{{ old('name', $contact->name) }}">
        @error('name') <p style="color:red;">{{ $message }}</p> @enderror

        <label>Email:</label>
        <input type="email" name="email" value="{{ old('email', $contact->email) }}">
        @error('email') <p style="color:red;">{{ $message }}</p> @enderror

        <button type="submit">Update</button>
    </form>
@endsection

---

Summary of the CRUD Flow

• Create → /contacts/create → store in DB.
• Read → /contacts → list all contacts.
• Update → /contacts/{id}/edit → save changes.
• Delete → /contacts/{id} → remove from DB.

---

Conclusion:
You now have a complete Laravel CRUD application.