Hi Artisan,

In this Article I will share something new about how actually work a comment system with laravel 8. I will create a custom comment system in laravel 8. so how to integrate custom nested comments using relationship in laravel 8.

First of all i will exaplain previous example how to create simple authentication using laravel-ui you will learn this first follow this article laravel-8-authentication-tutorial

So, in this example I will create two tables for one is posts and another is comments using the migration command.

Here,i will give you a simple and easy example how to use implement comment system in laravel 8 in laravel simply follow my all steps.

In this step, You can install laravel fresh app. So open the terminal and put the bellow command.

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

After successfully install laravel app next we configure databse setup. We will open ".env" file and change the database name, username and password in the env file.

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=Enter_Your_Database_Name
DB_USERNAME=Enter_Your_Database_Username
DB_PASSWORD=Enter_Your_Database_Password

In this third step we have to integrate two tables using create migration for "posts" and "comments" table.

<?php

use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;

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 we need to run migration be bellow command:

php artisan migrate

Now, in this step, we will create auth scaffold command to create login, register and dashboard. so run following commands:

composer require laravel/ui

After, that you can run following command and check ui commands info.

php artisan ui --help

Next, You can use the following commands for creating auth:

Using Bootstrap:

php artisan ui bootstrap --auth

npm install

npm run dev

In this step i will create a Post model using following command.

php artisan make:model Post

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;

class Post extends Model
{
    use HasFactory, SoftDeletes;

    protected $dates = ['deleted_at'];
    /**
     * The attributes that are mass assignable.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $fillable = ['title', 'body'];

    /**
     * Write Your Code..
     *
     * @return string
    */
    public function comments()
    {
        return $this->hasMany(Comment::class)->whereNull('parent_id');
    }
}

Run bellow command for Comment model:

php artisan make:model Comment

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;

class Comment extends Model
{
    use HasFactory, SoftDeletes;

    protected $dates = ['deleted_at'];

    /**
     * The attributes that are mass assignable.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $fillable = ['user_id', 'post_id', 'parent_id', 'body'];

    /**
     * Write Your Code..
     *
     * @return string
    */
    public function user()
    {
        return $this->belongsTo(User::class);
    }

    /**
     * Write Your Code..
     *
     * @return string
    */
    public function replies()
    {
        return $this->hasMany(Comment::class, 'parent_id');
    }
}

now, we require to create a route for HomeController in laravel application. so open your "routes/web.php" file and add the following route.

<?php

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
use App\Http\Controllers\PostController;
use App\Http\Controllers\CommentController;

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Web Routes
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Here is where you can register web routes for your application. These
| routes are loaded by the RouteServiceProvider within a group which
| contains the "web" middleware group. Now create something great!
|
*/

Route::resource('posts', PostController::class);
Route::post('comments', [CommentController::class, 'store'])->name('comments.store');

Here, in this step now we should create a new controller as PostController. So run the below command and create a new controller.

php artisan make:controller PostController

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Models\Post;
use App\Models\Comment;

class PostController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * Write Your Code..
     *
     * @return string
    */
    public function index()
    {
        $posts = Post::get();

        return view('post.index',compact('posts'));

    }

    /**
     * Write Your Code..
     *
     * @return string
    */
    public function create()
    {
        return view('post.create');
    }

    /**
     * Write Your Code..
     *
     * @return string
    */
    public function store(Request $request)
    {
        $input = $request->all();
        $request->validate([
            'title' => 'required',
            'body' => 'required',
        ]);

        Post::create($input);

        return redirect()->route('posts.index');
    }

    /**
     * Write Your Code..
     *
     * @return string
    */
    public function show($id)
    {
        $post = Post::find($id);

        return view('post.show',compact('post'));
    }

}

Create CommentController using bellow command:

php artisan make:controller CommentController

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

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

class CommentController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * Write Your Code..
     *
     * @return string
    */
    public function store(Request $request)
    {
        $input = $request->all();

        $request->validate([
            'body'=>'required',
        ]);

        $input['user_id'] = auth()->user()->id;

        Comment::create($input);

        return back();
    }
}

In this step we have to create a blade file. So finally you have to create the following file and put bellow code:

• index.blade.php
• create.blade.php
• show.blade.php
• commentsDisplay.blade.php

@extends('layouts.app')
   
@section('content')
<div class="container">
    <div class="row justify-content-center">
        <div class="col-md-12">
            <h4>Manage Posts</h4>
            <a href="{{ route('posts.create') }}" class="btn btn-success btn-sm mb-2" style="float: right"><i class="fas fa-plus"></i></a>
            <table class="table table-bordered table-hover">
                <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 btn-sm"><i class="fas fa-eye"></i></a>
                    </td>
                </tr>
                @endforeach
                </tbody>
   
            </table>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>
@endsection

@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">
                    <h4>Create Post</h4>
                </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="4" cols="30" class="form-control" required></textarea>
                        </div>
                        <div class="form-group text-center">
                            <input type="submit" class="btn btn-success" />
                        </div>
                    </form>
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>
@endsection

@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-primary">MyWebtuts.com</h3>
                    <hr />
                    <br/>
                    <h3>{{ $post->title }}</h3>
                    <p>
                        {{ $post->body }}
                    </p>
                    <hr />
                    <h4>Display Comments</h4>
  
                    <hr />
                    @include('post.commentsDisplay', ['comments' => $post->comments, 'post_id' => $post->id])
   
                    <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-primary" value="Add Comment" />
                        </div>
                    </form>
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>
@endsection

@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-success" value="Reply" />
            </div>
            <hr />
        </form>
        @include('post.commentsDisplay', ['comments' => $comment->replies])
    </div>
@endforeach

Now we are ready to run our example so run bellow command for quick run:

php artisan serve

http://localhost:8000/posts

Post Page

Comment Page

It will help you...