Laravel 8 New Features

1. Laravel Jetstream

Laravel Jetstream is a new application scaffolding package that provides a starting point for modern applications with features like authentication, two-factor authentication, profile management, and API support.



# Install Laravel Jetstream using composer
composer require laravel/jetstream

# Generate the Jetstream scaffolding
php artisan jetstream:install livewire

# Run migrations to create the necessary tables
php artisan migrate

2. Laravel Breeze

Laravel Breeze is a lightweight, minimalistic authentication scaffolding package built on top of Laravel Jetstream.


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# Install Laravel Breeze using composer
composer require laravel/breeze --dev

# Generate the authentication scaffolding
php artisan breeze:install

# Run migrations to create the necessary tables
php artisan migrate

3. Laravel Fortify

Laravel Fortify is a flexible, feature-rich authentication solution that provides the foundation for Laravel Jetstream and can be used standalone.


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# Install Laravel Fortify using composer
composer require laravel/fortify

# Generate the Fortify scaffolding
php artisan fortify:install

# Run migrations to create the necessary tables
php artisan migrate

4. Improved Routing Speed

The routing system in Laravel 8 has been improved for faster routing performance.


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// Define your routes as usual
Route::get('/hello', function () {
    return 'Hello, world!';
});

5. Maintenance Mode

Laravel 8 introduces a new maintenance mode that allows you to easily put your application into maintenance mode for updates and maintenance.


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# Enable maintenance mode
php artisan down

# Disable maintenance mode
php artisan up

6. Laravel Telescope Improvements

Laravel Telescope has been improved with new features such as the ability to monitor queued jobs and schedule tasks.


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# Install Laravel Telescope using composer
composer require laravel/telescope --dev

# Publish the Telescope assets
php artisan telescope:install

# Run migrations to create the necessary tables
php artisan migrate

7. Time Testing Helpers

Laravel 8 includes new time testing helpers to make it easier to test your code that involves dates and times.


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// Use the time testing helpers in your tests
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Date;

public function testExample()
{
    // Freeze time to a specific date and time
    Date::setTestNow('2022-01-01 00:00:00');

    // Assert that the current time matches the frozen time
    $this->assertEquals('2022-01-01 00:00:00', now()->format('Y-m-d H:i:s'));
}

8. Improved Rate Limiting

Rate limiting in Laravel 8 has been improved with new features such as the ability to define rate limiters for different routes and the ability to customize the response returned when a rate limit is exceeded.


// Define rate limiters in your routes/web.php file
use Illuminate\Cache\RateLimiting\Limit;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

Route::middleware('throttle:api')->group(function () {
    Route::get('/api/users', function (Request $request) {
        //
    });
});

// Customize the response returned when a rate limit is exceeded
use Illuminate\Http\Response;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\RateLimiter;

RateLimiter::for('api', function (Request $request) {
    return Limit::perMinute(10)->response(function (){
return response()->json(['message' => 'Too many requests'], Response::HTTP_TOO_MANY_REQUESTS);});

9. Blade Component Tags


<!-- Define a component using the new x- syntax -->
<x-alert type="success">
    Your account has been created.
</x-alert>

<!-- Use the component in your Blade templates -->
<div>
    <x-alert type="success">
        Your account has been created.
    </x-alert>
</div>

10. Blade View Components

Laravel 8 also introduces Blade view components, which allow you to encapsulate complex UI logic in a reusable component.


// Define a view component in a PHP class
namespace App\View\Components;

use Illuminate\View\Component;

class Alert extends Component
{
    public $type;
    public $message;

    public function __construct($type, $message)
    {
        $this->type = $type;
        $this->message = $message;
    }

    public function render()
    {
        return view('components.alert');
    }
}

// Use the view component in your Blade templates
<div>
    <x-alert type="success" message="Your account has been created." />
</div>