Laravel middleware not redirecting to custom login page

Laravel 11 middleware not redirecting to the custom login page

Absolutely, let's go through the step-by-step process of setting up a custom login page in Laravel with middleware redirection.

Prerequisites:

* Git: Git is a version control system used for tracking changes in source code during software development. Make sure Git is installed on your system. You can download Git from https://git-scm.com/ and follow the installation instructions for your operating system.

* PHP: Laravel requires PHP to be installed on your system. You need PHP version 7.3 or higher. You can check your PHP version by running php -v in your terminal.
* Composer: Composer is a dependency manager for PHP and is used to install Laravel and its dependencies. You can download Composer from https://getcomposer.org/ and follow the installation instructions for your operating system.
* Web Server: You'll need a web server to serve your Laravel application. While Laravel comes with a built-in development server, it's recommended that Apache or Nginx be used for production deployments.
* Database: If the cloned project uses a database, make sure you have the required database management system (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite) installed on your system. 

Step 1 – Create a custom Authenticate middleware:

In your terminal, run the following command to generate a new middleware class:

php artisan make:middleware CustomAuthenticate

This will create a new file at app/Http/Middleware/CustomAuthenticate.php.

Open the CustomAuthenticate.php file and replace the contents with the following:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Middleware;

use Illuminate\Auth\Middleware\Authenticate as Middleware;

class CustomAuthenticate extends Middleware
{
    protected function redirectTo($request)
    {
        if (! $request->expectsJson()) {
            return route('login');
        }
    }
}

This middleware class extends the default Authenticate middleware and overrides the redirectTo() method to redirect the user to the 'login' route if they are not authenticated.

Step 2: Register the custom middleware in the Kernel:

Open the app/Http/Kernel.php file and locate the $routeMiddleware array.

Replace the existing 'auth' middleware with the custom 'custom.auth' middleware:

protected $routeMiddleware = [
    'auth' => \App\Http\Middleware\CustomAuthenticate::class,
    // ... other middleware
];

Step 3 – Define the login route and controller:

Open the routes/web.php file and add the following route:

Route::get('/login', [AuthController::class, 'showLoginForm'])->name('login');

Create a new controller called AuthController (if you haven't already) and add the showLoginForm() method:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class AuthController extends Controller
{
    public function showLoginForm()
    {
        return view('auth.login');
    }
}

Create a new view called login.blade.php in the resources/views/auth/ directory and add your custom login form markup.

Step 4 – Protect your routes with the custom middleware:

In your routes/web.php file, group your protected routes and apply the 'custom.auth' middleware:

Route::middleware(['custom.auth'])->group(function () {
    // Your protected routes go here
});

Step 5 – Test the custom login redirection:

Visit any of the protected routes in your application. If you are not authenticated, you should be redirected to the custom login page you defined. After successfully logging in, you should be redirected back to the originally requested page.