Schema builder (columns, types) in Laravel - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Laravel Schema Builder: Create a Users Table

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple user management system. You need to create a database table to store user information like name, email, and age.

🎯 Goal: Create a Laravel migration using the Schema builder to define a users table with specific columns and types.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a migration file with a users table

Add columns with correct data types using Laravel Schema builder

Use the up method to define the table structure

Include a primary key column id with auto-increment

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Creating database tables with migrations is a common task in Laravel projects to manage data structure safely and consistently.

💼 Career

Understanding Laravel's Schema builder is essential for backend developers working with Laravel to build and maintain databases.

1

Create the users table with an id column

Write the up method inside the migration class. Use Schema::create to create a table named users. Inside the callback, add an id column using $table->id().

Laravel

<?php

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

return new class extends Migration {
    public function up()
    {
        // Use Schema::create to make users table and add id column
        // Your code here
    }

    public function down()
    {
        Schema::dropIfExists('users');
    }
};

Need a hint?

Use Schema::create('users', function (Blueprint $table) { ... }) and inside add $table->id();

2

Add name and email columns

Inside the Schema::create callback, add a name column of type string and an email column of type string using $table->string('name') and $table->string('email').

Laravel

id();
            // Add name and email columns here
            // Your code here
        });
    }

    public function down()
    {
        Schema::dropIfExists('users');
    }
};

Need a hint?

Use $table->string('name'); and $table->string('email'); inside the callback.

3

Add an age column with integer type

Add an age column of type integer using $table->integer('age') inside the Schema::create callback.

Laravel

id();
            $table->string('name');
            $table->string('email');
            // Add age column here
            // Your code here
        });
    }

    public function down()
    {
        Schema::dropIfExists('users');
    }
};

Need a hint?

Use $table->integer('age'); inside the callback.

4

Add timestamps columns

Add Laravel's automatic timestamp columns created_at and updated_at by calling $table->timestamps() inside the Schema::create callback.

Laravel

id();
            $table->string('name');
            $table->string('email');
            $table->integer('age');
            // Add timestamps columns here
            // Your code here
        });
    }

    public function down()
    {
        Schema::dropIfExists('users');
    }
};

Need a hint?

Use $table->timestamps(); to add created_at and updated_at columns.