About this video

• Video Title: Laravel Email Verification - A Step-By-Step Guide by Mailtrap
• Channel: Mailtrap
• Speakers: None explicitly named, but a single narrator.
• Duration: 00:06:41

Overview

This video provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide on implementing email verification in Laravel applications. It covers setting up Mailtrap for SMTP credentials, configuring the Laravel project, installing and using the Laravel Breeze package for authentication scaffolding, enabling email verification by modifying the User model and routes, and customizing verification emails. Additionally, it demonstrates three methods for manually verifying users without sending emails.

Key takeaways

• Mailtrap Setup: To use Mailtrap for email verification, create an account, add and verify a sending domain, and then copy the API and SMTP settings.
• Laravel Configuration: Update the .env file with Mailtrap credentials and configure the database connection. Run php artisan migrate to create necessary database tables.
• Laravel Breeze Installation: Install Laravel Breeze (composer require laravel/breeze) to scaffold authentication, registration, and password reset pages. Run php artisan breeze:install, npm install, and npm run dev to set up the frontend.
• Enabling Email Verification: In the User model, implement the MustVerifyEmail contract and re-run php artisan migrate. Define verification routes in web.php: email/verify, email/verify/{id}/{hash}, and email/verification-notification. Ensure these routes have specific names: verification.notice, verification.verify, and verification.send.
• Customization: The sender name can be changed in the .env file (APP_NAME). Other elements like the subject line, body text, and button text can be customized within the AuthServiceProvider by configuring the toMailUsing method.
• Manual Verification: Three methods are shown:
  1. Using the markEmailAsVerified() method on the user.
  2. Using the forceCreate() method and manually setting the email_verified_at field.
  3. Modifying the fillable property in the User model to include the email_verified_at field and then using the create() method.

The video outlines the following step-by-step process to set up email verification in Laravel:

1. Mailtrap Setup:

   • Create a Mailtrap account.
   • Add and verify a sending domain.
   • Navigate to Sending Domains and copy the SMTP settings from the API and SMTP tab.

2. Laravel Project Configuration:

   • Open the .env file and fill in the Mailtrap credentials (SMTP host, port, username, password).
   • Configure the database connection (host, port, database name, username, password).
   • Run php artisan migrate to create necessary database tables.

3. Install Laravel Breeze:

   • Install the package:

     composer require laravel/breeze
     

   • Install the frontend scaffolding:

     php artisan breeze:install
     

   • Install frontend dependencies:

     npm install
     

   • Run the development server:

     npm run dev
     

   • After these steps, login, registration, and forgot password pages will be available.

4. Enable Email Verification Feature:

   • Open the app/Models/User.php file and add the MustVerifyEmail contract:

     use Illuminate\Contracts\Auth\MustVerifyEmail;
     
     class User extends Authenticatable implements MustVerifyEmail
     {
         // ... other class contents
     }
     

   • Re-run the migration:

     php artisan migrate
     

     (This adds the email_verified_at field to the users table).

5. Add Verification Routes:

   • Open routes/web.php and add the following routes:

     use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
     use App\Http\Controllers\Auth\VerificationController; // Assuming you have a VerificationController or use the framework's defaults
     
     // ... other routes
     
     Route::get('/email/verify', [VerificationController::class, 'show'])->middleware('auth')->name('verification.notice');
     
     Route::get('/email/verify/{id}/{hash}', [VerificationController::class, 'verify'])->middleware(['auth', 'signed'])->name('verification.verify');
     
     Route::post('/email/verification-notification', [VerificationController::class, 'resend'])->middleware(['auth', 'throttle:6,1'])->name('verification.send');
     

   • Note: The video shows the route definitions with specific names (verification.notice, verification.verify, verification.send) which are crucial for the verification process.

6. Testing Email Verification:

   • Register a new user.
   • Check the inbox for a verification email from Laravel.
   • Click the "Verify Email Address" button. The email_verified_at field in the database will be populated, and the user will be logged into the dashboard.

7. Customizing Verification Emails:

   • Sender Name: Change APP_NAME in the .env file.

   • Subject, Body, Button Text: Open app/Providers/AuthServiceProvider.php, and within the boot method, configure the toMailUsing method:

     use Illuminate\Auth\Notifications\VerifyEmail;
     use Illuminate\Support\Carbon;
     
     // ... inside the boot method of AuthServiceProvider
     
     VerifyEmail::toMailUsing(function ($notifiable) {
         $verificationUrl = URL::temporarySignedRoute(
             'verification.verify',
             Carbon::now()->addMinutes(60),
             ['id' => $notifiable->getKey(), 'hash' => sha1($notifiable->getEmailForVerification())]
         );
     
         return (new MailMessage)
             ->subject('Verify Your Email Address') // Customize subject
             ->line('Please click the link below to verify your email address.') // Customize body line 1
             ->action('Verify Email Address', $verificationUrl); // Customize button text and URL
     });
     

     Note: This code snippet demonstrates customizing the email itself. The video mentions modifying the AuthServiceProvider to achieve this.

8. Manual User Verification (Without Sending Emails):

   • Method 1: markEmailAsVerified() Create a user and then call this method:

     use App\Models\User;
     
     $user = User::create([
         'name' => 'John Doe',
         'email' => 'john.doe@example.com',
         'password' => Hash::make('password'),
     ]);
     
     $user->markEmailAsVerified();
     

   • Method 2: forceCreate() with email_verified_at When creating the user, explicitly set the email_verified_at field:

     use App\Models\User;
     use Illuminate\Support\Carbon;
     
     User::forceCreate([
         'name' => 'Jane Doe',
         'email' => 'jane.doe@example.com',
         'password' => Hash::make('password'),
         'email_verified_at' => Carbon::now(), // Set the verification timestamp
     ]);
     

   • Method 3: Modify fillable property in User Model In app/Models/User.php, add email_verified_at to the $fillable array:

     protected $fillable = [
         'name',
         'email',
         'password',
         'email_verified_at', // Add this
     ];
     

     Then use the create method and explicitly set the field:

     use App\Models\User;
     use Illuminate\Support\Carbon;
     
     User::create([
         'name' => 'Peter Doe',
         'email' => 'peter.doe@example.com',
         'password' => Hash::make('password'),
         'email_verified_at' => Carbon::now(), // Set the verification timestamp
     ]);