HOW TO SET UP THE PROJECT FOR PRODUCTION
# 1. Set the environment variables for your production server in a `.env` file (CHANGE THE DATABASE CREDENTIALS, DEBUG = false, APP_URL = YOUR DOMAIN URL
# 2. Upload the sql file into the CPANEL DATABASE with email: admin@ioexplorer.com and password: password.
# 3. Compress and upload Laravel zip file to CPANEL then extract when successful.
# 4. Upload public folder into public_html with the files in the root directory of public_html e.g

- public_html
    - index.php
    - .htaccess
    - css
    - img
    - js

# 5. Open index.php file,

########################################### Change this: #################################################

<?php

use Illuminate\Contracts\Http\Kernel;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

define('LARAVEL_START', microtime(true));

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Check If The Application Is Under Maintenance
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| If the application is in maintenance / demo mode via the "down" command
| we will load this file so that any pre-rendered content can be shown
| instead of starting the framework, which could cause an exception.
|
*/

if (file_exists($maintenance = __DIR__.'/../storage/framework/maintenance.php')) {
    require $maintenance;
}

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Register The Auto Loader
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Composer provides a convenient, automatically generated class loader for
| this application. We just need to utilize it! We'll simply require it
| into the script here so we don't need to manually load our classes.
|
*/

require __DIR__.'/../vendor/autoload.php';

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Run The Application
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Once we have the application, we can handle the incoming request using
| the application's HTTP kernel. Then, we will send the response back
| to this client's browser, allowing them to enjoy our application.
|
*/

$app = require_once __DIR__.'/../bootstrap/app.php';

$kernel = $app->make(Kernel::class);

$response = $kernel->handle(
    $request = Request::capture()
)->send();

$kernel->terminate($request, $response);


################################################ To this: ################################################

<?php

use Illuminate\Contracts\Http\Kernel;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

define('LARAVEL_START', microtime(true));

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Check If The Application Is Under Maintenance
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| If the application is in maintenance / demo mode via the "down" command
| we will load this file so that any pre-rendered content can be shown
| instead of starting the framework, which could cause an exception.
|
*/

if (file_exists($maintenance = __DIR__.'/../vp_ioexplorer/storage/framework/maintenance.php')) {
    require $maintenance;
}

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Register The Auto Loader
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Composer provides a convenient, automatically generated class loader for
| this application. We just need to utilize it! We'll simply require it
| into the script here so we don't need to manually load our classes.
|
*/

require __DIR__.'/../vp_ioexplorer/vendor/autoload.php';

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Run The Application
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| Once we have the application, we can handle the incoming request using
| the application's HTTP kernel. Then, we will send the response back
| to this client's browser, allowing them to enjoy our application.
|
*/

$app = require_once __DIR__.'/../vp_ioexplorer/bootstrap/app.php';

$kernel = $app->make(Kernel::class);

$response = $kernel->handle(
    $request = Request::capture()
)->send();

$kernel->terminate($request, $response);


# 5. Go to the root directory  of the file manager e.g /home/juvy/ create a new folder and name it vp_ioexplorer
# 6. Upload the content of the Laravel PROJECT except public folder
# 7. Edit your .env to the DATABASE CREDENTIALS


Application is ready to use 
