Interested in adding QR codes to your Laravel 11 project? This guide will show you how! Let's walk through the steps together to easily integrate QR code generation into your Laravel 11 application.

Setting up Laravel 11

If you don't already have a Laravel application set up, you can simply create a new one by following the installation guide in the docs or simply running the following command:

composer create-project laravel/laravel example-app

Once installed, navigate into the example-app directory and start the Laravel dev server:

php artisan serve

The Laravel QR Code Package

There is a cool package by GiauPhan called Laravel QR Code that provides an easy way to generate QR codes in a Laravel application.

To get started, install the package using composer:

composer require giauphan/laravel-qr-code

This package provides a QRCode facade that we can use to create QR codes. So, let's get to work!

Prepare a Route for Testing

If you don't already have a spot where you need to create a QR code and want to play around with the package, you can create a testing route.

Let's define a route in the routes/web.php file and call it qr-code:

Route::get("/qr-code", function() {
    //
});

Inside the route handler function you can now put the code we're about to write to create QR codes.

How to Use the QR Code Package

The facade provided by the package provides multiple methods to create different types of QR codes:

• Email message

• Phone number

• SMS

• Text

• URL

• MeCard (contact)

• vCard (contact)

• WiFi network settings

For example, to create a QR code that contains some text, there is the text method:

use LaravelQRCode\Facades\QRCode;

QRCode::text("Hello World");

To directly output the QR code, use the png or svg methods:

use LaravelQRCode\Facades\QRCode;

// PNG
QRCode::text("Hello World")->png();

// SVG
QRCode::text("Hello World")->svg();

We'll dive into other QR code types like URL and MeCard in just a second, but first let's take a look what else we can do with the package.

Storing QR Codes as Images

A generated QR code can easily be saved on the filesystem using the setOutfile method. It accepts a path to save the file to which we can get using the Laravel storage facade:

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;
use LaravelQRCode\Facades\QRCode;

QRCode::text("Hello World")
    ->setOutfile(Storage::disk("public")->path("qrcode.png"))
    ->png();

With default Laravel configuration, this will save the file to <project-directory>/storage/app/public/qrcode.png. This works with the svg method too.

Customizing the Image

Changing the Size

By default, the pixel size is set to 4. You can change it to a value from 1 to 10 to make it bigger or smaller using the setSize method:

use LaravelQRCode\Facades\QRCode;

QRCode::text("Hello World")
    ->setSize(10)
    ->png();

Changing the Margin

The margin is set 3 by default, but you can change it to any size from 1 to 10 or remove it completely by setting it to 0:

use LaravelQRCode\Facades\QRCode;

QRCode::text("Hello World")
    ->setMargin(2)
    ->png();

Setting the Error Correction Level

The error correction level can be set via the setErrorCorrectionLevel method:

use LaravelQRCode\Facades\QRCode;

QRCode::text("Hello World")
    ->setErrorCorrectionLevel("Q")
    ->png();

More QR Code Types

URL

use LaravelQRCode\Facades\QRCode;

QRCode::url("https://linu.us")
    ->png();

SMS

use LaravelQRCode\Facades\QRCode;

QRCode::sms('+55 (31) 1234-5678', 'Text to send!')
    ->png();

Phone Number

use LaravelQRCode\Facades\QRCode;

QRCode::phone('+55 31 1234-5678')
    ->png();

Email Message

use LaravelQRCode\Facades\QRCode;

$to = 'john.doe@example.com';
$subject = 'QR Code Message';
$body = 'This email was created from a QR Code!';

QRCode::email($to, $body, $subject)
    ->png();

MeCard

A MeCard stores information about a single contact.

use LaravelQRCode\Facades\QRCode;

$name = 'John Doe';
$street = '1234 Main st.';
$phone = '+1 001 555-1234';
$email = 'john.doe@example.com';

QRCode::meCard($name, $street, $phone, $email)
    ->png();

vCard

use LaravelQRCode\Facades\QRCode;

// Personal Information
$firstName = 'John';
$lastName = 'Doe';
$title = 'Mr.';
$email = 'john.doe@example.com';
$company = "Acme Inc.";
$job = "Developer";
$url = "https://example.com";

// Addresses
$homeAddress = [
    'type' => 'home',
    'pref' => true,
    'street' => '123 my street st',
    'city' => 'My Beautiful Town',
    'state' => 'LV',
    'country' => 'Neverland',
    'zip' => '12345-678'
];
$wordAddress = [
    'type' => 'work',
    'pref' => false,
    'street' => '123 my work street st',
    'city' => 'My Dreadful Town',
    'state' => 'LV',
    'country' => 'Hell',
    'zip' => '12345-678'
];

$addresses = [$homeAddress, $wordAddress];

// Phones
$workPhone = [
    'type' => 'work',
    'number' => '001 555-1234',
    'cellPhone' => false
];
$homePhone = [
    'type' => 'home',
    'number' => '001 555-4321',
    'cellPhone' => false
];
$cellPhone = [
    'type' => 'work',
    'number' => '001 9999-8888',
    'cellPhone' => true
];

$phones = [$workPhone, $homePhone, $cellPhone];

QRCode::vCard($firstName, $lastName, $title, $email, $company, $job, $url, $addresses, $phones)
    ->setErrorCorrectionLevel('H')
    ->setSize(4)
    ->setMargin(2)
    ->svg();

Conclusion

Thanks to the Laravel QR Code package it's really easy to create QR codes in Laravel. For more detailed information, check out the GitHub repository and the official documentation.

Thank you for reading! 🙏

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