URL Shortener Project

This project implements a URL shortening service. Users can shorten their long URLs and be redirected to the original URL when they click the shortened link. It is built using the Laravel framework.

Turkish_ReadMe: link

Screenshots

Features

• Users can shorten long URLs.
• The shortened URL is displayed to the user and redirects correctly.
• URLs are stored in a database, and a unique code is generated for each shortened URL.

Getting Started

To run this project, follow the instructions below.

Prerequisites

• PHP (Version 8.x or higher)
• Composer (Dependency manager for PHP)
• MySQL (For the database)
• Laravel (Framework)
• Git (To clone the project)

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Step 1: Clone the Repository

First, clone this repository from GitHub:

git clone https://github.com/ahmetcotul/url-shortener.git  
cd url-shortener  

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Step 2: Install Dependencies

Use Composer to install the required dependencies for the project:

composer install  

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Step 3: Configure the Database

Open the .env file and configure the database settings:

• If you are using MySQL, set up the database configuration as follows:

  DB_CONNECTION=mysql  
  DB_HOST=127.0.0.1  
  DB_PORT=3306  
  DB_DATABASE=url_shortener  
  DB_USERNAME=root  
  DB_PASSWORD=secret  

• If you prefer SQLite, change DB_CONNECTION=sqlite and set the DB_DATABASE path appropriately:

  DB_CONNECTION=sqlite  
  DB_DATABASE=/path/to/database/database.sqlite  

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Step 4: Run Database Migrations

Create the necessary database tables using the following command:

php artisan migrate  

This command will set up the required database structure.

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Step 5: Start the Application

Run the following command to start the Laravel application:

php artisan serve  

This will serve the project at http://localhost:8000.

If you encounter issues, you can also try the alternative commands below:

# Run this in one terminal:  
php -S localhost:8000 -t public/  

# In another terminal, run:  
composer run dev  

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Step 6: Test in Browser

Open http://localhost:8000 in your browser. Enter a long URL, click the Shorten button, and your shortened URL will be displayed. Test the shortened URL by clicking it to confirm redirection to the original URL.

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Contributing

To contribute to this project, follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new branch: git checkout -b new-feature.
3. Make your changes and commit them: git commit -am 'Added a new feature'.
4. Push your changes: git push origin new-feature.
5. Open a Pull Request.

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more details.

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Note: Ensure that PHP 8.x and Composer are installed on your system. Additionally, make sure the MySQL or SQLite database setup is configured correctly.

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