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ethump's avatar
Level 1

Noob help

Hi - Trying to get my head around Filament. I've been fiddling with Laravel for a year or so and I'm comfortable-ish building CRUDdy apps but they're a bit untidy. Filament looks like it could be the ticket to take care of that stuff while I focus on the app logic.

I want to make sure I properly understand what Filament is and what it's meant for. Lots of tutorials and videos etc talk about 'admin panels'.. is that just a generic term for the forms and things users use to do CRUDdy things within an application, or is it a specific use case (ie Filament is meant as kind of very customisable back-door to manipulate database tables adjunct to the Laravel-developed application itself). Does that make sense?

I guess what I'm asking is .... can I build my application soup-to-nuts using Filament? I like what I've seen with Filament but I can't get my head beyond this admin panel thing. I've only really done intro-level Filament tutorials so far - I want to make sure I'm on the right track before investing further time with it.

I have a couple of apps that I've been working on in Laravel. Basic stuff. If you tell me that yes, I can use Filament to build app elements, can I install it into my current app? I mean I know I can do the 'composer require' and install it - I'm asking if it's possible to 'seamlessly' call a Filament developed module from within the main non-Filament part of my app. Idea would be to migrate stuff over to Filament module by module.

Cheers!

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7 replies
jlrdw's avatar

You could, but you are locked into using livewire. I suggest looking over all the posible stacks.

A side note on this, you will always have more flexibility using:

Regular JS and Axios JS for AJAX and blade or using vue or react.

I suggest you learn things like inplace editing and adding a record "on the fly" in your own html table, once learned, you don't have to fiddle with ready made packages that seem to change every 6 months.

I still think the best stack is:

  • Blade
  • Regular javascript
  • Axios js or Flex js

Them with a sprinkle of server fetched partials can handle anything.

Only my opinion and suggestions.

ethump's avatar
Level 1

@jlrdw thanks - why is being locked into Livewire any more of a problem than being locked into Filament or Laravel itself?

jlrdw's avatar

@ethump There is no such thing as being locked into Laravel, it being a php framework.

And it was only my opinion, as I tried livewire but decided no.

You are better off learning "deeply" the parent language which in the case of laravel is php. And learning javascript well.

But do as you want, but (again my opinion only), if you try to get a job at a large company and show you know Filament and Livewire, i will leave that to you to find out.

Whereas if you know the pure language (php) and a framework, javascript, react or vue, or at least regular javascript and something like axios js well, then it betters your chance of being hired.

In fact, if you are young, I'd also suggest learning either:

  • Python well or

  • Spring framework and spring boot well

Some of these new hot packages change too often. Even the original vue compared to the latest vue.

Whereas regular js, jquery, and fetch js is so much more backwards compatible. Even java is more backwards compatible.

As a test, I took some 8 year old java, servlet, bean code and all it needed to run was changing some imports from java to jakarta, like:

import jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
etc

Granted I went from an ant build to a gradle build.

So my opinion is go with languages, packages, etc that will last for some time without these breaking changes every time you turn around.

Edit:

Also see this video where Taylor Otwell is in an interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCV_357WGaM

Even he remembers memories of laughter at php. Most big enterprise is still java or c# or depending sometimes python, node js sometimes, and php sometimes. But as he also says php has come a long way.

17 + years ago it would almost be unheard of using php in big enterprise.

But if Filament sounds like it's what you want, I hope it works out. Yes it's good, yes it will do a lot, but like eloquent, some queries need regular sql.

I believe some things will probably be needed where Filament and Livewire may fall short. But no problem you still have laravel there for these cases.

Just get up and running with Filament and do a test project.

Also see https://laracasts.com/discuss/channels/general-discussion/php-jobs-in-2024

ethump's avatar
Level 1

@jlrdw Thanks for your comprehensive reply. All noted, and yes I am young (nearly 51!). I understand what you're saying but for me, I'm happy to keep things relatively simple and stay within the immediate ecosphere. This is just something I'm doing on the side, not a career direction.

ethump's avatar
Level 1

@jlrdw That's what I am doing and I'm still looking for answers to my question!

jlrdw's avatar

@ethump i answered here https://laracasts.com/discuss/channels/filament/noob-help-1?page=1&replyId=950029

Yes it's good, yes it will do a lot, but like eloquent, some queries need regular sql.

In other words it will work for what you need, but at times you made need to do something outside of filament and livewire.

If you tell me that yes, I can use Filament to build app elements

What are app elements? You can display data, add data, delete data, edit data have nav bars, etc.

Just install and start learning step by step is my suggestion.

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