Splashcoder is where I reference my experiences as a techie. First, I'm techie, then a human.

Introduction: In Laravel, the updated_at and created_at columns are timestamp columns that automatically update whenever a model is saved or created. However, there might be scenarios where you want to selectively disable one or both of these columns for specific models. Fortunately, Laravel provides a straightforward way to achieve this by customizing your model's const UPDATED_AT and const CREATED_AT constants. In this blog post, we will explore how to selectively disable timestamp columns in Laravel models, discuss the benefits of this approach, and guide you through the necessary steps. Step 1: Create a Laravel Model and Migration To demonstrate this process, let's assume we have a model called Download that represents a downloadable file in our application. If you don't have a model already, you can create one using the php artisan make:model Download command in your terminal. To generate the migration for the downloads table, run the following command: php ar...

Most of the time, we casually install various PHP versions and server tools without checking if they were built for Win32 or Win64. A discussion for another day. I recently downgraded Laragon’s from PHP8.1-x64 to PHP7.x-x86. This had a little consequence - APACHE! Hence, I got the error below, indicating that my PHP and Apache can’t work together because they are of different architectures or builds.   The originally installed Apache was for 64-bit PHP versions, there are no Apache versions designed to run both 32-bit and 64-bit builds of PHP. In this article, I share steps and links that guide you to install multiple versions and builds of Apache on Laragon. 1. For all intent and purposes, you are advised to always download the latest version of Apache. Visit this URL https://www.apachelounge.com/download/additional/ to see the different versions available. It is easy to access the 64-bit versions from the homepage. However, to access the 32-bit versions, you need to use this UR...

 As developers, it's often the case that different versions of PHP and server tools are installed quickly without taking into account the architecture for which they were built. In this article, we will focus on solving a specific error that arises when running incompatible builds of PHP and Apache. Recently, I encountered an issue when downgrading my Laragon setup from PHP 8.1 (x64) to PHP 7.x (x86). This caused compatibility problems with Apache, and I received an error message indicating that my PHP and Apache builds were not compatible, as the Apache installed was built for x64 versions of PHP. In this article, I'll provide a step-by-step guide on how to install multiple versions of Apache on Laragon. By following these steps, you can resolve any similar issues that you may encounter. Step 1: Download the Latest Version of Apache Visit https://www.apachelounge.com/download/additional/ to download the latest version of Apache. The homepage provides quick access to 64-bit ve...

When you ideate on your next Laravel project, don't forget that feeling, where you are lost in cloud thinking most of the work has been built into the framework. One such task not built into the framework is the country selector and any other data-driven task/feature. The image below is the desired end result.   Components Below are the different components and how to create them. 1. Countries Table and Model : running the command below on a command-line tool from within a Laravel project should help achieve this. php artisan make:model Models\Country -m our Table can be created with the SQL below; CREATE TABLE `countries` ( `id` BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, `name` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL, `iso2` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL, `created_at` TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, PRIMARY KEY (`id`) ) COLLATE='utf8mb4_unicode_ci' ENGINE=InnoDB; 2. Regions table and Model:  A country might have many regions, each region is not expected to have more than...