Let's Build A Forum with Laravel and TDD

A forum is a deceptively complex thing. Sure, it's made up of threads and replies, but what else might exist as part of a forum? What about profiles, or thread subscriptions, or filtering, or real-time notifications? As it turns out, a forum is the perfect project to stretch your programming muscles. In this series, we'll work together to build one with tests from A to Z.

• Initial Database Setup With Seeding
• Test-Driving Threads
• A Thread Can Have Replies
• A User May Respond to Threads
• The Reply Form
• A User May Publish Threads
• Let's Make Some Testing Helpers
• The Exception Handling Conundrum
• A Thread Should Be Assigned a Channel
• How to Test Validation Errors
• Users Can Filter Threads By Channel
• Validation Errors and Old Data
• Extracting to View Composers
• A User Can Filter All Threads By Username
• A Lesson in Refactoring
• Meta Details and Pagination
• A User Can Filter Threads By Popularity
• A User Can Favorite Replies
• The Favorite Button
• From 56 Queries Down to 2
• Global Scopes and Further Query Reduction
• A User Has a Profile
• A User Can Delete Their Threads
• Authorization With Policies
• How to Construct an Activity Feed with TDD
• How to Construct An Activity Feed with TDD: Part 2
• Extracting Controller Queries to the Model
• The Activity Deletion Bug
• Flash Messaging With Vue
• A User's Activity Feed Should Include Favorited Replies
• Authorized Users Can Delete Replies
• A Vue Reply Component
• Ajaxifying the Delete Button
• A Vue Favorite Component
• Squashing Bugs
• A More Data-centric Approach
• A New Reply Component
• Laravel and Vue Pagination
• A User Can Filter By Unanswered Threads
• Thread Subscriptions: Part 1
• Thread Subscriptions: Part 2
• Thread Subscriptions: Part 3
• Thread Subscriptions: Part 4
• Test Refactoring
• Thread Subscriptions: Part 5
• Refactoring for the Better or Worse?
• Notification Fakes in a Nutshell
• This Thread Has Been Updated Since You Last Read It
• Spam Detection
• Graduating Inspection Methods to Classes
• Spam Detection At All Ports
• Handling Server Exceptions with JavaScript
• Refactoring to Custom Validation
• A User May Not Reply More Than Once Per Minute
• Refactoring to Form Requests
• Mentioned Users Notifications: Part 1
• Mentioned Users Notifications: Part 2
• Don't Forget to Scan Your Files
• Wrap Usernames Within Anchor Tags
• Instant Username Autocompletion
• Instant Username Autocompletion: Part 2
• Basic View Tweaks
• Testing Avatar Uploads
• Testing Avatar Uploads: Part 2
• AJAX Image Uploads
• Trending Threads With Redis
• Isolating Knowledge
• Thread Views: Design #1 - Trait
• Thread Views: Design #2 - Extract Class
• Thread Views: Design #3 - KISS
• Users Must Confirm Their Email Address: #1 - Protection
• Users Must Confirm Their Email Address: #2 - Confirmation
• Users Must Confirm Their Email Address: #3 - Cleanup
• Email Confirmation Loose Ends
• A Thread Should Have a Unique Slug: Part 1
• A Thread Should Have a Unique Slug: Part 2
• We Need a Regression Test
• Mark the Best Reply: Part 1
• Mark the Best Reply: Part 2
• Refactoring Authorization
• Remembering a Best Reply
• Confusing Errors and Solutions
• Thread Authorization
• An Administrator May Lock Any Thread
• An Administrator May Lock Any Thread: Part 2
• An Administrator May Lock Any Thread: Part 3
• An Administrator May Lock Any Thread: Part 4
• From Laravel 5.4 to Laravel 5.5
• Recaptcha
• Recaptcha Refactoring
• A Thread Can Be Updated
• A Thread Can Be Updated: Part 2
• A Thread Can Be Updated: Part 3
• First Class Search: Scout Review
• First Class Search: Implementation
• First Class Search: Faceting and Ranking
• First Class Search: Instant Results
• First Class Search: Forum Integration
• WYSIWYG
• WYSIWYG: Part 2
• Sanitizing is a Must
• Onward