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SDK Installation and Setup for Live Preview (Laravel v5.4 or later)

This guide will help you get started with Contentstack PHP SDK to build apps powered by Contentstack.

Prerequisites

To get started with PHP, you will need the following:

SDK Installation and Setup

To install the PHP SDK, choose either of the following methods:

Method 1: Using Composer

To install the PHP SDK in your project using Composer, fire up the terminal, point it to the project location, and run the following command:

composer require contentstack/contentstack

Method 2: Downloading the zip file

To download the PHP SDK, perform the following steps:

  1. Download the PHP SDK.
  2. Create the dependencies folder in your project directory and move the downloaded .zip file within the dependencies folder.
  3. Download the MabeEnum class.
  4. Create a folder named marc-mabe folder inside dependencies, and move the php-enum folder to marc-mabe.

Let's get started with the implementation.

Initializing the Stack with Live Preview

As the Live Preview Utils SDK is responsible for communication, you first need to initialize it within your stack.

Use the following command to initialize the stack:

$stack = Contentstack::Stack('API_KEY', 'DELIVERY_TOKEN', 'ENVIRONMENT', 
    array(
          'live_preview'=> array( 
'management_token' => 'MANAGEMENT_TOKEN', 
'enable' => true, 
'host' => 'api.contentstack.io', 
   )
));

Create the Contentstack Service

You need to add a stack connection within the App\Http\Controllers\controller.php file path. Use the following code to create the Contentstack service:

<!--?php
use Contentstack\Contentstack;
class Controller extends BaseController{
   use AuthorizesRequests, DispatchesJobs, ValidatesRequests;
   public function stack_connection() {
       $this--->client = Contentstack::Stack('API_KEY', 'DELIVERY_TOKEN', 'ENVIRONMENT', array( 'live_preview' => array('enable' => true, 'management_token' => 'MANAGEMENT_TOKEN')));
return $this;
   }
}

Add Custom Middleware

A middleware means that any HTTP request for that route must pass through it, making it useful for determining whether a user has the required permissions or meets a set of criteria, etc. ”A middleware means that any HTTP request for that route must pass through it, making it useful for checking if a user has permissions or meets a criteria etc”.


With artisan create the middleware with a name:


php artisan make:middleware ContentstackEventListener

This will generate:


app/Http/Middleware/ContentstackEventListener.php

You need to add a custom middleware in the ContentstackEventListener.php file.
“Open this file and enter your logic for the middleware into the handle() function”.
Use the following code to get the Live Preview hash key:


<!--?php
namespace App\Http\Middleware;
use Closure;
class ContentstackEventListener {
   protected $stack;
   public function __construct(
       Stack $stack
   ) {
       $this--->stack = $stack->client;
   }
   public function handle(RequestEvent $event)
   {
       if (!$event->isMainRequest()) {
           return;
       }
       $request = $event->getRequest();
       $this->stack->livePreviewQuery($request->query->all());
       if ($request::getTrustedProxies()) {
           $request->getClientIps();
       }
       $request->getHost();
    return $next($event);
   }
   public static function getSubscribedEvents(): array
   {
       return [
           KernelEvents::REQUEST => [
               ['handle', 256],
           ],
       ];
   }
}

“Open app/Http/Kernel.php and find the $routeMiddleware array, this is where you register your middleware with the name and the class”.

'instance' => \App\Http\Middleware\ContentstackEventListener :: class,

Finally, in your routes file assign this middleware by using the name that was used above (instance):

//Needs an instance set to view
Route::get('files', [App\Http\Controllers\FileController::class,'index'])->
middleware(['auth','instance']);
Route::get('actions',[App\Http\Controllers\ActionController::class,'index'])->
middleware(['auth', 'instance']);
//Does not need an instance set to view
Route::get('/', [App\Http\Controllers\HomeController::class, 'index'])->middleware();
Route::get('instances', [App\Http\Controllers\InstanceController::class, 'index'])->middleware(['auth']);

Since you modified your routes make sure to refresh the routes with:


$ php artisan route:cache

Run the following command to check whether ContentstackRequestListener has been added to the kernel request:


$ php artisan serve

For Server-Side Rendered Websites

To install and initialize the Live Preview Utils SDK, open base.blade.html and add the following code:

...       
   <script src="https://unpkg.com/@contentstack/live-preview-utils@1.0.0/dist/index.js"></script>
.... 
         {% block javascripts %}
            {{ encore_entry_script_tags('app') }}
            <script>
                ContentstackLivePreview.init({
                    enable: true,
                    ssr:true,
                    stackDetails: {
                        apiKey: "API_KEY",
                    },
                });
            </script>
        {% endblock %}

Query Request

Contentstack SDKs let you interact with the Content Delivery APIs and retrieve content from Contentstack. They are read-only in nature. The SDKs fetch and deliver content from the nearest server via Fastly, our powerful and robust CDN.

To get an entry, you need to specify the content type UID and the UID of the entry.

$stack->ContentType('CONTENT_TYPE_UID')->Entry('ENTRY_UID')->toJSON()->fetch();
$stack->ContentType('CONTENT_TYPE_UID')->Query()->toJSON()->find();

Additional Resources:

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