Spark 6.0 is the first significant update of Spark since its original release. As such, it includes an all-new user interface based on Bootstrap 4, may be fully localized, supports per-seat pricing, supports Stripe 3.0 using Stripe Elements, and is based on the latest version of Laravel.
While the back-end changes to from Spark 5.0 to Spark 6.0 are relatively minor, the front-end changes are extensive. Unfortunately, this is primarily due to the fact that Bootstrap 4 is radically different than Bootstrap 3 and is not backwards compatible in any way.
For this reason, you may wish to reserve usage of Spark 6.0 to new Spark projects only. Otherwise, your entire application front-end will need to be converted to Bootstrap 4. Spark 5 will continue to be maintained for at least 12 months following the release of Spark 6.
Due to the extensive modifications and improvements, Spark 6.0 is the first paid update to Spark since it was originally released in 2016. As such, you must purchase an upgraded license in order to access the source code. However, if you are an existing Spark customer, you will automatically receive a 50% discount when upgrading your Spark licenses to 6.0.
After purchasing an upgraded license, you may join the Spark 6.0 repository from your account profile on the Spark website.
Since multiple versions of Spark are included in a paid upgrade, Spark uses "series" names to refer to a series of releases that include a single paid upgrade. Spark 6.0 begins this convention by using the "Aurelius" series name and the laravel/spark-aurelius repository. This repository will continue to be used for future Spark versions until the next paid upgrade. Paid upgrades are always released at least one full year apart from each other.
Laravel Spark offers a convenient installer that will create a new Laravel application and install Spark in the directory of your choice. This installer needs to be upgraded in order to create fresh Spark 6.0 applications.
Before getting started, make sure you have the laravel/installer package globally installed using Composer. You should make sure your version of the installer is >= 1.3.4:
composer global require laravel/installer
Note: The Spark installer is only recommended for those on Mac or Linux systems. If you are using Windows, please install via Composer. Before using the Spark installer, make sure you have installed the Laravel installer.
Next, clone the laravel/spark-installer repository from GitHub into any location on your machine. Once you have cloned the installer, be sure to run the composer install command within the cloned directory so the installer's dependencies will be installed.
Note: If you have previously installed the Spark installer, you should run the
git pull origin mastercommand on the repository to retrieve the latest installer changes.
Next, make sure the spark-installer directory is added to your systems $PATH variable, so that your machine will be able to locate the spark executable when you issue Spark commands.
If you installed Spark via the spark CLI tool, you may run the spark:update Artisan command:
php artisan spark:update --major
If you installed Spark via Composer, you may simply upgrade your dependency name and version in your composer.json file and run the composer update command. Of course, in order for your GitHub user to access the repository, you should first join this repository in the Spark dashboard:
"laravel/spark-aurelius": "~6.0"
Spark 6.0 allows you to choose the role that will be assigned to a user when inviting them to a team. In order to support this feature, you should run the following database migration within your Spark application. You may create the add_role_to_invitations migration manually and paste the following code into the file:
<?php
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
class AddRoleToInvitations extends Migration
{
/**
* Run the migrations.
*
* @return void
*/
public function up()
{
Schema::table('invitations', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->string('role')->nullable();
});
}
/**
* Reverse the migrations.
*
* @return void
*/
public function down()
{
Schema::table('invitations', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->dropColumn('role');
});
}
}
The handle method of the SendInvitation interaction now accepts a third argument ($role) which is used to assign an initial role to the invited user.
In your App\Providers\EventServiceProvider remove the CreateTrialEndingNotification listener from the UserRegistered and TeamCreated events.
Spark 6 is fully localizable. To get started, publish the language files to your application using the vendor:publish Artisan command. This command will create /resources/lang/en/teams.php and /resources/lang/en.json language files that you can customize according to your application's needs:
php artisan vendor:publish --tag=spark-lang
In prior releases of Spark, the Spark::referToTeamAs() method was used to change how teams are referred to in your application's views and URIs. However, in Spark 6.0, this method has been removed and replaced with the prefixTeamsAs method:
Spark::prefixTeamsAs('bands')
This method will instruct Spark to use bands in all team URLs instead of teams. To change the word used to refer to "teams" in your application's views, you should update the resources/lang/en/teams.php translation file.
In your package.json file, update your bootstrap dependency to the latest version:
"bootstrap": "^4.0",
Additionally, add the following dependencies:
"popper.js": "^1.12",
"lodash": "^4.17.4",
Finally, since Spark 6 uses Lodash, you may remove the underscorejs dependency.
Bootstrap 4 is written in SASS instead of Less. So, create a new sass directory within your resources/assets directory. Next, add an app.scss file in the new sass directory with the following content:
@import "./../../../vendor/laravel/spark-aurelius/resources/assets/sass/spark";
// Or, if you've published the Spark source to your project root...
@import "./spark/spark";
Next, you should move any Less customizations from your old app.less file to the new app.scss file.
In your webpack.mix.js file, replace the less compilation line with the following sass command:
mix.sass('resources/assets/sass/app.scss', 'public/css')
Next, you should delete the command below:
.copy('node_modules/sweetalert/dist/sweetalert.css', 'public/css/sweetalert.css')
Once you have made these changes, you can run npm install to install the new dependencies and then npm run dev to compile your assets.
For a complete guide on how to upgrade your application's views to use Bootstrap 4 check out the official migration guide.
If you have modified your vendor published Spark views or components, you can upgrade the views by applying the following preliminary changes:
- Change
.panel,.panel-heading, and.panel-bodyto.card,.card-header, and.card-body. - Replace the
.btn-defaultclass with the.btn-secondaryclass. - Remove the
.form-horizontalclass from your forms. - Add the
.rowclass to each of your.form-groupelements. - Replace the
.control-labelclass with thecol-form-labelclass. - Replace the
.help-blockclass with.invalid-feedbackclass. - For validation errors, remove the
.has-errorclass from your.form-groupelements and add the.is-invalidclass to your.form-controlelements. - Replace all grid offset classes (
col-md-offset-4, etc.) with their new class names (.offset-md-4, etc.).