Laravel Advance | Comment System Tutorial from Scratch

A comment system is a primary requirement for a blog website or any tutorial website. in this post, I want to share with you how to create a comments system in laravel 5, laravel 6, laravel 7, and laravel 8 app. Most of the developers looking for a good package for the comment system, but if you are using laravel 5 then you can do it nested comment system using database relationships.

we will create a very simple comment system with which you can add comments and make replay to comment. we will use the laravel relationship for the comment system and it make it quick. you can also improve with add comment, edit the comment, delete command and replay comment with ajax if you want.

After following this tutorial, you do not need to use any extra plugin for comments like Disqus, etc on your website.

in this example, we will create a posts table and comments table using migration. you can create a new post and on the detail page of the post, you can add a comment on it. we will create laravel auth, create migration, controller, model, and blade files. you just need to follow a few steps to get a live comment system with your website.

Step 1: Install Laravel 5.7

first of all, we need to get a fresh Laravel 5.7 version application using bellow command, So open your terminal OR command prompt and run bellow command:

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel blog

Step 2: Update-Database Configuration

In the second step, we will make database configuration for the example database name, username, password, etc for our crud application of laravel 5.7. So let’s open the .env file and fill in all details like as below:

.env

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=here your database name(blog)
DB_USERNAME=here database username(root)
DB_PASSWORD=here database password(root)

Step 3: Create Post and Comment Table

we are going to create a comment system from scratch. so we have to create migration for “posts” and “comments” table using Laravel 5.7 PHP artisan command, so first fire bellow command:

php artisan make:migration create_posts_comments_table

After this command you will find one file in the following path “database/migrations” and you have to put the below code in your migration file for creating tables.

<?php
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
class CreatePostsCommentsTable extends Migration
{
/**
* Run the migrations.
*
* @return void
*/
public function up()
{
Schema::create('posts', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->increments('id');
$table->string('title');
$table->text('body');
$table->timestamps();
$table->softDeletes();
});
Schema::create('comments', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->increments('id');
$table->integer('user_id')->unsigned();
$table->integer('post_id')->unsigned();
$table->integer('parent_id')->unsigned()->nullable();
$table->text('body');
$table->timestamps();
$table->softDeletes();
});
}
/**
* Reverse the migrations.
*
* @return void
*/
public function down()
{
Schema::dropIfExists('posts');
Schema::dropIfExists('comments');
}
}

Now you have to run this migration by the following command:

php artisan migrate

Step 4: Create Auth

in this step, we need to create laravel auth scaffolding using auth command. laravel provides default user authentication. so simply run bellow command:

php artisan make:auth

Step 5: Create Model

In this step, we need to create a model Post and Comment for each table. we also need to make code for the laravel relationships for comments, replies, users. So create both models as below.

Run bellow command to create Post model:

php artisan make:model Post

app/Post.php

<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;
class Post extends Model
{
use SoftDeletes;
protected $dates = ['deleted_at'];
/**
* The attributes that are mass assignable.
*
* @var array
*/
protected $fillable = ['title', 'body'];
/**
* The has Many Relationship
*
* @var array
*/
public function comments()
{
return $this->hasMany(Comment::class)->whereNull('parent_id');
}
}

Run the below command to create a Comment model:

php artisan make:model Comment

app/Comment.php

<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;
class Comment extends Model
{
use SoftDeletes;
protected $dates = ['deleted_at'];
/**
* The attributes that are mass assignable.
*
* @var array
*/
protected $fillable = ['user_id', 'post_id', 'parent_id', 'body'];
/**
* The belongs to Relationship
*
* @var array
*/
public function user()
{
return $this->belongsTo(User::class);
}
/**
* The has Many Relationship
*
* @var array
*/
public function replies()
{
return $this->hasMany(Comment::class, 'parent_id');
}
}

Step 6: Create Controller

In this step, now we should create a new controller as PostController and CommentController. So run the below command and create a new controller. bellow controller for creating resource controller.

Create Post Controller using bellow command:

php artisan make:controller PostController

app/Http/Controllers

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Post;
class PostController extends Controller
{
/**
* Display a listing of the resource.
*
* @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
*/
public function index()
{
$posts = Post::all();
return view('posts.index', compact('posts'));
}
/**
* Show the form for creating a new resource.
*
* @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
*/
public function create()
{
return view('posts.create');
}
/**
* Store a newly created resource in storage.
*
* @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request  $request
* @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
*/
public function store(Request $request)
{
$request->validate([
'title'=>'required',
'body'=>'required',
]);
Post::create($request->all());
return redirect()->route('posts.index');
}
/**
* Show the form for creating a new resource.
*
* @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
*/
public function show($id)
{
$post = Post::find($id);
return view('posts.show', compact('post'));
}
}

Create Post Controller using bellow command:

php artisan make:controller CommentController

app/Http/CommentController.php

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Comment;
class CommentController extends Controller
{
/**
* Store a newly created resource in storage.
*
* @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request  $request
* @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
*/
public function store(Request $request)
{
$request->validate([
'body'=>'required',
]);
$input = $request->all();
$input['user_id'] = auth()->user()->id;
Comment::create($input);
return back();
}
}

Step 7: Create Blade Files

In the last step. In this step, we have to create just blade files. So mainly we have to create a layout file and then create new folder “posts” then create blade files for the comment system. So finally you have to create the following bellow blade file:

1) index.blade.php

2) show.blade.php

3) create.blade.php

4) commentsDisplay.blade.php

resources/views/posts/index.blade.php

@extends('layouts.app')
@section('content')
<div class="container">
<div class="row justify-content-center">
<div class="col-md-12">
<h1>Manage Posts</h1>
<a href="{{ route('posts.create') }}" class="btn btn-success" style="float: right">Create Post</a>
<table class="table table-bordered">
<thead>
<th width="80px">Id</th>
<th>Title</th>
<th width="150px">Action</th>
</thead>
<tbody>
@foreach($posts as $post)
<tr>
<td>{{ $post->id }}</td>
<td>{{ $post->title }}</td>
<td>
<a href="{{ route('posts.show', $post->id) }}" class="btn btn-primary">View Post</a>
</td>
</tr>
@endforeach
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
@endsection

resources/views/posts/show.blade.php

@extends('layouts.app')
@section('content')
<div class="container">
<div class="row justify-content-center">
<div class="col-md-8">
<div class="card">
<div class="card-body">
<h3 class="text-center text-success">Test</h3>
<br/>
<h2>{{ $post->title }}</h2>
<p>
{{ $post->body }}
</p>
<hr />
<h4>Display Comments</h4>
@include('posts.commentsDisplay', ['comments' => $post->comments, 'post_id' => $post->id])
<hr />
<h4>Add comment</h4>
<form method="post" action="{{ route('comments.store'   ) }}">
@csrf
<div class="form-group">
<textarea class="form-control" name="body"></textarea>
<input type="hidden" name="post_id" value="{{ $post->id }}" />
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<input type="submit" class="btn btn-success" value="Add Comment" />
</div>
</form>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
@endsection

resources/views/posts/create.blade.php

@extends('layouts.app')
@section('content')
<div class="container">
<div class="row justify-content-center">
<div class="col-md-8">
<div class="card">
<div class="card-header">Create Post</div>
<div class="card-body">
<form method="post" action="{{ route('posts.store') }}">
<div class="form-group">
@csrf
<label class="label">Post Title: </label>
<input type="text" name="title" class="form-control" required/>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label class="label">Post Body: </label>
<textarea name="body" rows="10" cols="30" class="form-control" required></textarea>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<input type="submit" class="btn btn-success" />
</div>
</form>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
@endsection

resources/views/posts/commentsDisplay.blade.php

@foreach($comments as $comment)
<div class="display-comment" @if($comment->parent_id != null) style="margin-left:40px;" @endif>
<strong>{{ $comment->user->name }}</strong>
<p>{{ $comment->body }}</p>
<a href="" id="reply"></a>
<form method="post" action="{{ route('comments.store') }}">
@csrf
<div class="form-group">
<input type="text" name="body" class="form-control" />
<input type="hidden" name="post_id" value="{{ $post_id }}" />
<input type="hidden" name="parent_id" value="{{ $comment->id }}" />
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<input type="submit" class="btn btn-warning" value="Reply" />
</div>
</form>
@include('posts.commentsDisplay', ['comments' => $comment->replies])
</div>
@endforeach

Now we are ready to run our comment system application example with laravel 5.7 so run the below command for a quick run:

php artisan serve

Now you can open below URL on your browser:

http://localhost:8000/posts