# Laravel Invitation Project

## Description

This Laravel and NodeJs based web application allows you to send beautiful online invitations for any occasion via WhatsApp.

## Requirements

To run this project locally, you need to have the following installed:

- PHP >= 8.2
- Composer >= 2.6.x
- MySQL database supported by Laravel
- Node.js >= 22.x
- NVM (for managing different Node.js versions)


## Installation

### Clone the Repository

Clone the repository to your local machine:
git clone https://github.com/your-username/your-laravel-project.git


Navigate to your project directory and run the following commands:

Install PHP dependencies using Composer:
=> composer install


### Set Up Environment File
Copy the `.env.example` file to `.env`:
=> cp .env.example .env

Configure your database and other environment variables in the `.env` file.

### Generate Application Key
Generate the application key by running:
=> php artisan key:generate


### Storage Link
Laravel stores uploaded files in the `storage` directory. To make these files accessible from the public directory, you need to create a symbolic link:
=> php artisan storage:link

This will create a symbolic link from `public/storage` to `storage/app/public`. After running this command.


### Run Migrations
You may need to run the migrations to set up the database schema:
=> php artisan migrate:fresh --seed


### Clear Cache and Optimize
Run the following command to clear the cache and optimize the application:
=> php artisan optimize:clear


### Serve the Application
Now, you can serve the application locally:
=> php artisan serve

Visit the application in your browser at `http://127.0.0.1:8000`.


Note: After the project runs successfully, update the .env file with the correct URL:
=> APP_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8000

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### Starting the Node API Server (For WhatsApp Integration)

You need running on a separate port like 3000, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the root directory of your Laravel project.

2. Install Node.js dependencies:
=> npm install

Start the Node.js server:
=> node whatsapp-server.js

After the successfully server starts, copy the URL (usually `http://127.0.0.1:3000`).

4. Add the URL to your `.env` file:
=> NODE_QR_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3000