Set Up a Headless CMS in Laravel Using Strapi: complete tutorial with benefit

Headless refers to a software architecture in which the front-end presentation layer and the back-end content management system are decoupled from each other. In other words, headless means that the content management system (CMS) provides content via an API, and the front-end application consumes that content.

A headless CMS allows developers to create web applications that are faster, more flexible, and easier to maintain. With a headless, developers can build a custom front-end experience that is optimized for their specific use case, without having to worry about the limitations of a traditional CMS.

In this scenario, the CMS would provide an API for accessing blog posts, categories, tags, and other content. The front-end application could then use this API to display blog posts on a custom-designed website or mobile app.

One advantage of using a headless for a blog is that it allows for greater flexibility in the presentation of content. For instance, a developer could create a custom front-end that displays blog posts in a unique and engaging way, rather than being limited to a pre-designed template.

Another advantage of using a headless is that it can make it easier to manage content across multiple channels. For example, a blog post could be written once and then published to both a website and a mobile app, without the need for additional formatting or content creation.

Overall, a headless offers many benefits for developers who want to create custom web applications that are optimized for their specific use case.

Another advantage of using a headless is that it can make it easier to work with different development technologies. For example, a front-end developer might prefer to work with React, while a back-end developer might prefer to work with Node.js. With a headless, each developer can work with the tools they are most comfortable with, without being constrained by the CMS platform.

Headless architecture is also helpful for creating scalable applications. When the front-end and back-end are decoupled, it’s easier to scale each component independently, depending on the specific needs of the application. For example, if the website experiences a sudden surge in traffic, it may be necessary to scale up the front-end servers to handle the increased load. With a headless architecture, this can be done without affecting the back-end CMS.

Overall, headless architecture offers many advantages for developers who want to create custom web applications that are optimized for their specific needs. It allows for greater flexibility in the presentation of content, easier management of content across multiple channels, and easier integration with different development technologies.

Implementing Serverless Architecture with PHP and AWS Lambda with benefits

Setup headless in php

Setting up a headless CMS in PHP involves a few steps. Here are some general steps to follow:

Choose a headless platform that is compatible with PHP. Some popular options include Strapi, Directus, and Contentful.

Install the headless platform on a server or cloud service. This can usually be done by following the installation instructions provided by the platform.

Create a new project in the headless platform and set up the necessary content types and fields.

Use PHP to connect to the headless CMS platform’s API and retrieve the necessary content. This can usually be done using an HTTP client library like Guzzle.

Use the retrieved content in your PHP application to generate the necessary HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the front-end of your application.

Here is an example of how to use Guzzle to retrieve data from a headless CMS in PHP:

<?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use GuzzleHttp\Client;

$client = new Client([
    // Base URI is used with relative requests
    'base_uri' => 'http://my-headless-cms.com/api/',
]);

$response = $client->request('GET', 'posts');

$posts = json_decode($response->getBody(), true);

foreach ($posts as $post) {
    echo '<h2>' . $post['title'] . '</h2>';
    echo '<p>' . $post['body'] . '</p>';
}

In this example, we are using Guzzle to make a GET request to the /api/posts endpoint of our headless CMS platform. We then decode the response body into an associative array and loop through the array to generate HTML for each post.

Headless CMS in Laravel:

Prerequisites:

• Basic knowledge of Laravel.
• A local development environment set up for Laravel.
• Composer installed on your local machine.

Step 1: Install Strapi

The first step is to install Strapi. You can either install it locally or on a remote server. For this tutorial, we will install it locally.

To install Strapi, open a terminal and run the following command:

npm install strapi@beta -g

This will install the Strapi beta version globally on your local machine.

Step 2: Create a New Strapi Project

After installing Strapi, we can now create a new project. In the terminal, navigate to your Laravel project directory and run the following command:

cd cms

Step 3: Configure the Strapi API

Now that we have created a new Strapi project, we can configure the API. Start the Strapi server by running:

strapi develop

This will start the Strapi server in development mode. Once the server is running, you can access the Strapi admin panel by opening a web browser and navigating to http://localhost:1337/admin. Here you can configure your content types and create new entries.

Step 4: Create an API endpoint in Laravel

Now that we have a headless CMS up and running, we can create an API endpoint in Laravel to retrieve data from Strapi. Create a new Laravel controller by running the following command:

php artisan make:controller StrapiController In the newly created controller, we can use the Guzzle HTTP client library to retrieve data from Strapi. First, let's install Guzzle by running the following command:

composer require guzzlehttp/guzzle

In the controller, we can define a function to retrieve data from Strapi by making a GET request to the Strapi API. Here is an example function:

<?php

use GuzzleHttp\Client;

public function getDataFromStrapi()
{
    $client = new Client([
        'base_uri' => 'http://localhost:1337',
        'headers' => [
            'Content-Type' => 'application/json',
            'Accept' => 'application/json',
        ],
    ]);

    $response = $client->request('GET', '/posts');

    $posts = json_decode($response->getBody());

    return response()->json($posts);
}

Route::get('/strapi', 'StrapiController@getDataFromStrapi'); This defines a GET route that calls the getDataFromStrapi function in the StrapiController.