How to implement a custom Faker Provider in Laravel

Faker PHP is a library that generates random and anonymized data for testing or to bootstrap an application. Faker already provides a lot of generator properties, so-called formatters, out of the box. You can find a list of the available formatters in the official documentation. … | Continue reading


@hofmannsven.com | 3 years ago

Getting started with Corcel

In this post, I'm using Corcel to create a simple blog as a part of a Laravel application with WordPress as the CMS. This setup makes it possible to manage your posts within the WordPress admin interface while using a Laravel application and Corcel to query and render the content … | Continue reading


@hofmannsven.com | 3 years ago

Testing Laravel Form Requests

We start with a test for the controller of a sample JSON API. Therefore, we scaffold a new integration test using the Artisan make:test CLI command. The test will be in the tests directory of the Laravel application and mirror the architecture of the main application. php artisan … | Continue reading


@hofmannsven.com | 3 years ago

GitHub Actions and Laravel Nova

Getting started with GitHub Actions GitHub rolled out GitHub Actions for everyone in November 2019. GitHub Actions are free to use (up to 2000 minutes per month) for public and private repositories and execute a workflow every time a defined event is triggered on GitHub. GitHub p … | Continue reading


@hofmannsven.com | 4 years ago

Motivation, Discipline, and Focus

When working as a freelance web developer it's important to get things done. I'm working 100% remote and I'm traveling a lot, which means that I'm constantly pulled away from work. This lifestyle is great for a healthy work-life-balance but I still need to make sure the job gets … | Continue reading


@hofmannsven.com | 4 years ago

Commit Message Driven Development

In software development, we usually start with writing the code. But what if we'd start by writing out the commit message? Follow me through the concept of commit message driven development. | Continue reading


@hofmannsven.com | 4 years ago

Hello World!

Today I'm introducing the next version of my blog. It took me a while to get it done and I ended up migrating everything from WordPress to Laravel to fit my needs. I haven't written a blog post in a few years, so let's sum things up first. Once upon a time... In 2007, I launched … | Continue reading


@hofmannsven.com | 4 years ago

Arduino Ethernet Network Module

Besides the pre-customized solutions like the Arduino Ethernet Board (retired) or the Arduino Ethernet Shield, there is a favorable alternative to connect an Arduino Board to the internet: the ENC28J60 Ethernet Network Module. As Hans Crijns pointed out, it is possible to connect … | Continue reading


@hofmannsven.com | 10 years ago

Arduino Ethernet Board

The main microcontroller is based on the ATmega328 microcontroller like the Arduino Uno Board itself. There are 14 digital input and, respectively, output pins, 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, an ICSP header, a power jack, a reset button and of course, for the Ardui … | Continue reading


@hofmannsven.com | 11 years ago