Using Breadcrumbs in Laravel

Before installing check the compatibility of your laravel version with breadcrumbs packages.

Step 2: Install laravel breadcrumbs package

Write the following command in the cmd to install breadcrumbs package:

composer require davejamesmiller/laravel-breadcrumbs:5.x

Step 3: Update config/app.php

In this add the following lines

'providers' => [
// ...
DaveJamesMiller\Breadcrumbs\ServiceProvider::class,
],
'aliases' => [
// ...
'Breadcrumbs' => DaveJamesMiller\Breadcrumbs\Facade::class,
],

Step 4: Create breadcrumbs.php file in route folder

route/breadcrumbs.php

This file is used to define breadcrumbs.

Step 5: Define Route name in the route/web.php

We need to give each route a name for which we have to create breadcrumbs. To create the breadcrumbs we will require the route name.

Eg:

Route::post('contact', 'Controller@send')->name('contact');

Step 6: Define the breadcrumbs

In the route/breadcrumbs.php define all the breadcrumbs.

         
Breadcrumbs::register('<name given to the route in web.php>', function($breadcrumbs)
{
	$breadcrumbs->parent('<Parent route>’');
	$breadcrumbs->push('<title of breadcrumb>', route('<page route>'));
});

     $breadcrumbs->parent('<Parent route>’');
    This line describes the parent link to that page in that path

    $breadcrumbs->push('<title of breadcrumb>', route('<page route>'));
    This defines the route method to be performed on click

Eg:

Breadcrumbs::register('contact', function($breadcrumbs)
{
	$breadcrumbs->parent('home');
	$breadcrumbs->push('Contact', route('contact'));
});

In the example the breadcrumbs are formed as:

Home/Contact

Home is the parent page of the path and Contact is the next page in the path

Step 7: Choose a design template

Run the command on the project

 php artisan vendor:publish

This will create a file breadcrumbs.php in the config folder
config/breadcrumbs.php

return [

	'view' => 'breadcrumbs::bootstrap3',
];

In the file the path to the breadcrumbs view is given. We can also define our own view .

Step 8: Output the breadcrumbs

To display the breadcrumbs on a page we have to add the following code in the blade file of that page

Call Breadcrumbs::render() with no parameters in your layout file (e.g. resources/views/app.blade.php)

{!! Breadcrumbs::render(‘') !!}

Eg:

{!! Breadcrumbs::render('home') !!}

This will automatically output breadcrumbs corresponding to the current route.

It will throw an exception if the breadcrumb doesn’t exist, to remind you to create one. To prevent this behaviour, change it to:

{!! Breadcrumbs::renderIfExists() !!}

Breadcrumbs are helpful in navigating to pages easily.