To use the vagrant box, simply clone this repo to your local machine, open a terminal and navigate to the folder. Then run:

vagrant up

This will automagically download the relevant virtual machine and start you running :)

• On Mac and Linux, you can open the terminal and type sudo vim /etc/hosts.
• On Windows, you'll have to open notepad in administrator mode and then go to C:\\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

Add the following to the end:

172.22.22.26 softwareproject.dev

You'll need to create a .env file in the root directory of your application (i.e. where your Vagrantfile is). Below is an example .env file you can use.

APP_ENV=local
APP_DEBUG=true
APP_KEY={32$9;`GTky*=A"qw&v+-pe,?rGz$+/E
APP_URL=http://localhost

DB_HOST=localhost
DB_DATABASE=softwareproject
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=root

CACHE_DRIVER=file
SESSION_DRIVER=file
QUEUE_DRIVER=sync

MAIL_DRIVER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=mailtrap.io
MAIL_PORT=2525
MAIL_USERNAME=null
MAIL_PASSWORD=null
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=null

DEV_EMAIL=netsoc@uccsocieties.ie
SITE_TITLE=Netsocsoftwareproject

Gulp is a build system which just means it's sort of like a customisable compiler for anything you're doing. We're using it to 1) compile LESS files and 2) refresh the browser whenever we make a change to a view or css.

In order to use Gulp, you will have to install Node.js.

When Node is installed, simply navigate to your code's root directory (i.e. where the package.json file is) and run the following command:

npm install

Everything you'll need will be installed in the node_modules folder. So to start the project, run the following:

gulp watch

Now you can go to http://localhost:3000/public to access the project and have it reload any time you make a change to the styling or layout.