2. Create a GitHub repository

If you already have a Github account, go ahead and create a github repository and deploy your code.
If you don't have a Github account, Create a GitHub account now!

Once you have created a new account, click on '+' in the top right menu.
Select 'New repository'
Give a name to your app and finish creating the repository

Once you finish creating a repository, Push your code to your repository.

If you are done with everything, you repository should look like mine. You have just pushed code to Github. It's time to deploy your code to Heroku

Heroku easily connects with Github repositories and makes deploying code a piece of cake 🍰
Go back to Heroku Dashboard. Click on 'deploy' in the menu.
Now select 'GitHub' and connect with your Github account. Select your GitHub repository in which your pushed your code.

If you have followed the above steps, Your deployment page should look like this. Congratulations! You've successfully deployed your code in Heroku. Three more steps and you are done!

3. Configure Heroku build pack

Now that you have finished deploying code to Heroku, Let us configure the build pack in Heroku.
Note: This should be done automatically most of the time by Heroku itself. But just to make sure, we'll check if the build pack is rightly configured.
Go to settings page in your Dashboard.
Scroll down, you will find add buildpack option.
Click on 'add buildpack' and select PHP. Now click on 'Save Changes'.

If you don't have a database in your PHP website your work is pretty much done. Click on 'Open App' in Overview page in Dashboard to view your application!

But most of our PHP apps are dynamic applications with a database. So if you have one, follow the following steps.

4. Configure MySQL Database

If you have a MySQL database in your local, create a MySQL add-on in Heroku. To do this, go to Resources tab in Dashboard.

Click on search bar and search for 'JawsDB MySQL'

JawsDB is not a free instance for now. So you need to verify your Heroku account.
To verify your Heroku account:

1. Go to your Account 'Settings' in the Heroku Dashboard.
2. Click the 'Billing' tab.
3. Click 'Add Credit Card'
Note that you won't be charged any money since JawsDB is a free instance. But you would need a verified account in order to use add-ons.

Once you are done with verification, go to resouces and click on 'JawsDB MySQL' add-on you just added.
You will be taken to this page where your configuration details are visible.

Now go back to GitHub and update your config.php file. Copy the Host, Username, Password, Port and Database details from JawsDB to your config.php.
Once you are done, your config.php file will look like this:

If you have any doubt what you just did, don't get lost. You just created a new MySQL database and connected it your app. But here's the problem: The database you just created is empty! Let's migrate your Local MySQL database to JawsDB using MySQL Workbench and Phpmyadmin

5. Exporting Database using Phpmyadmin and MySQL Workbench

We're almost there. This is the last step you need to follow to get your PHP app up and running with your database.

Go to XAMPP control panel and start 'Apache' and 'MySQL' modules.

Now open a browser and go to localhost/phpmyadmin web page. You will find your local database here. Click on your database and select 'Export' tab. In export tab, click on 'Go'.

An SQL file will be downloaded. Now open MySQL Workbench. We need to Import the SQL file into your JawsDB MySQL database.
To do this, click on 'Database' tab in the menu. Click on 'Connect to Database'

Now enter all the details of your JawsDB instance which you have copied and pasted in your config.php file earlier. Fill in all the details and click on 'OK' (Don't forget to enter the password in 'Store in vault' option)

Now once you are successfully connected to your database, click on 'import button' in the menu.
Now open the SQL file you just downloaded from Phpmyadmin. This will copy all your queries to your new Database.

You just need to run the queries now to migrate your database. Click on the Flash button to run all the queries.

Once you are done, verify the rows are copied into your new database. This can be easily done. Right click on your table and click on 'Select Rows - LIMIT 1000'.

If you can see all the data from your local database, Congratulations! You made it! 🎉🥳
Now go to your Heroku Dashboard and click on 'Overview' tab. In top right, there is a 'Open App' button. Click on it to check our your application up and running!