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Laravel Tips

Awesome Laravel tips and tricks for all artisans. PR and ideas are welcome!
An idea by PovilasKorop and MarceauKa.

Update 27 Sep 2020: Currently there are 107 tips divided into 14 sections.

Table of Contents

DB Models and Eloquent

⬆️ Go to top ➡️ Next (Models Relations)

Eloquent where date methods

In Eloquent, check the date with functions whereDay(), whereMonth(), whereYear(), whereDate() and whereTime().

$products = Product::whereDate('created_at', '2018-01-31')->get();
$products = Product::whereMonth('created_at', '12')->get();
$products = Product::whereDay('created_at', '31')->get();
$products = Product::whereYear('created_at', date('Y'))->get();
$products = Product::whereTime('created_at', '=', '14:13:58')->get();

Increments and decrements

If you want to increment some DB column in some table, just use increment() function. Oh, and you can increment not only by 1, but also by some number, like 50.

Post::find($post_id)->increment('view_count');
User::find($user_id)->increment('points', 50);

No timestamp columns

If your DB table doesn't contain timestamp fields created_at and updated_at, you can specify that Eloquent model wouldn't use them, with $timestamps = false property.

class Company extends Model
{
    public $timestamps = false;
}

Set logged in user with Observers

Use make:observer and fill in creating() method to automatically set up user_id field for current logged in user.

class PostObserver
{
    public function creating(Post $post)
    {
        $post->user_id = auth()->id();
    }
}

Soft-deletes: multiple restore

When using soft-deletes, you can restore multiple rows in one sentence.

Post::withTrashed()->where('author_id', 1)->restore();

Model all: columns

When calling Eloquent's Model::all(), you can specify which columns to return.

$users = User::all(['id', 'name', 'email']);

To Fail or not to Fail

In addition to findOrFail(), there's also Eloquent method firstOrFail() which will return 404 page if no records for query are found.

$user = User::where('email', 'povilas@laraveldaily.com')->firstOrFail();

Column name change

In Eloquent Query Builder, you can specify "as" to return any column with a different name, just like in plain SQL query.

$users = DB::table('users')->select('name', 'email as user_email')->get();

Map query results

After Eloquent query you can modify rows by using map() function in Collections.

$users = User::where('role_id', 1)->get()->map(function (User $user) {
    $user->some_column = some_function($user);
    return $user;
});

Change Default Timestamp Fields

What if you’re working with non-Laravel database and your timestamp columns are named differently? Maybe, you have create_time and update_time. Luckily, you can specify them in the model, too:

class Role extends Model
{
    const CREATED_AT = 'create_time';
    const UPDATED_AT = 'update_time';
}

Quick Order by created_at

Instead of:

User::orderBy('created_at', 'desc')->get();

You can do it quicker:

User::latest()->get();

By default, latest() will order by created_at.

There is an opposite method oldest() which would order by created_at ascending:

User::oldest()->get();

Also, you can specify another column to order by. For example, if you want to use updated_at, you can do this:

$lastUpdatedUser = User::latest('updated_at')->first();

Automatic Column Value When Creating Records

If you want to generate some DB column value when creating record, add it to model's boot() method. For example, if you have a field "position" and want to assign the next available position to the new record (like Country::max('position') + 1), do this:

class Country extends Model {
    protected static function boot()
    {
        parent::boot();

        Country::creating(function($model) {
            $model->position = Country::max('position') + 1;
        });
    }
}

DB Raw Query Calculations Run Faster

Use SQL raw queries like whereRaw() method, to make some DB-specific calculations directly in query, and not in Laravel, usually the result will be faster. Like, if you want to get users that were active 30+ days after their registration, here's the code:

User::where('active', 1)
    ->whereRaw('TIMESTAMPDIFF(DAY, created_at, updated_at) > ?', 30)
    ->get();

More than One Scope

You can combine and chain Query Scopes in Eloquent, using more than one scope in a query.

Model:

public function scopeActive($query) {
    return $query->where('active', 1);
}

public function scopeRegisteredWithinDays($query, $days) {
    return $query->where('created_at', '>=', now()->subDays($days));
}

Some Controller:

$users = User::registeredWithinDays(30)->active()->get();

No Need to Convert Carbon

If you're performing whereDate() and check today's records, you can use Carbon's now() and it will automatically be transformed to date. No need to do ->toDateString().

// Instead of
$todayUsers = User::whereDate('created_at', now()->toDateString())->get();
// No need to convert, just use now()
$todayUsers = User::whereDate('created_at', now())->get();

Grouping by First Letter

You can group Eloquent results by any custom condition, here's how to group by first letter of user's name:

$users = User::all()->groupBy(function($item) {
    return $item->name[0];
});

Never Update the Column

If you have DB column which you want to be set only once and never updated again, you can set that restriction on Eloquent Model, with a mutator:

class User extends Model
{
    public function setEmailAttribute($value)
    {
        if ($this->email) {
            return;
        }

        $this->attributes['email'] = $value;
    }
}

Find Many

Eloquent method find() may accept multiple parameters, and then it returns a Collection of all records found, not just one Model:

// Will return Eloquent Model
$user = User::find(1);
// Will return Eloquent Collection
$users = User::find([1,2,3]);

Use UUID instead of auto-increment

You don't want to use auto incrementing ID in your model?

Migration:

Schema::create('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
    // $table->increments('id');
    $table->uuid('id')->unique();
});

Model:

class User extends Model
{
    public $incrementing = false;
    protected $keyType = 'string';

    protected static function boot()
    {
        parent::boot();

        User::creating(function ($model) {
            $model->setId();
        });
    }

    public function setId()
    {
        $this->attributes['id'] = Str::uuid();
    }
}

Sub-selects in Laravel Way

From Laravel 6, you can use addSelect() in Eloquent statement, and do some calculation to that added column.

return Destination::addSelect(['last_flight' => Flight::select('name')
    ->whereColumn('destination_id', 'destinations.id')
    ->orderBy('arrived_at', 'desc')
    ->limit(1)
])->get();

Hide Some Columns

When doing Eloquent query, if you want to hide specific field from being returned, one of the quickest ways is to add ->makeHidden() on Collection result.

$users = User::all()->makeHidden(['email_verified_at', 'deleted_at']);

Exact DB Error

If you want to catch Eloquent Query exceptions, use specific QueryException instead default Exception class, and you will be able to get the exact SQL code of the error.

try {
    // Some Eloquent/SQL statement
} catch (\Illuminate\Database\QueryException $e) {
    if ($e->getCode() === '23000') { // integrity constraint violation
        return back()->withError('Invalid data');
    }
}

Soft-Deletes with Query Builder

Don't forget that soft-deletes will exclude entries when you use Eloquent, but won't work if you use Query Builder.

// Will exclude soft-deleted entries
$users = User::all();

// Will NOT exclude soft-deleted entries
$users = DB::table('users')->get();

Good Old SQL Query

If you need to execute a simple SQL query, without getting any results - like changing something in DB schema, you can just do DB::statement().

DB::statement('DROP TABLE users');
DB::statement('ALTER TABLE projects AUTO_INCREMENT=123');

Use DB Transactions

If you have two DB operations performed, and second may get an error, then you should rollback the first one, right?

For that, I suggest to use DB Transactions, it's really easy in Laravel:

DB::transaction(function () {
    DB::table('users')->update(['votes' => 1]);

    DB::table('posts')->delete();
});

Update or Create

If you need to check if the record exists, and then update it, or create a new record otherwise, you can do it in one sentence - use Eloquent method updateOrCreate():

// Instead of this
$flight = Flight::where('departure', 'Oakland')
    ->where('destination', 'San Diego')
    ->first();
if ($flight) {
    $flight->update(['price' => 99, 'discounted' => 1]);
} else {
	$flight = Flight::create([
	    'departure' => 'Oakland',
	    'destination' => 'San Diego',
	    'price' => 99,
	    'discounted' => 1
	]);
}
// Do it in ONE sentence
$flight = Flight::updateOrCreate(
    ['departure' => 'Oakland', 'destination' => 'San Diego'],
    ['price' => 99, 'discounted' => 1]
);

Models Relations

⬆️ Go to top ⬅️ Previous (DB Models and Eloquent) ➡️ Next (Migrations)

OrderBy on Eloquent relationships

You can specify orderBy() directly on your Eloquent relationships.

public function products()
{
    return $this->hasMany(Product::class);
}

public function productsByName()
{
    return $this->hasMany(Product::class)->orderBy('name');
}

Conditional relationships

If you notice that you use same relationship often with additional "where" condition, you can create a separate relationship method.

Model:

public function comments()
{
    return $this->hasMany(Comment::class);
}

public function approved_comments()
{
    return $this->hasMany(Comment::class)->where('approved', 1);
}

Raw DB Queries: havingRaw()

You can use RAW DB queries in various places, including havingRaw() function after groupBy().

Product::groupBy('category_id')->havingRaw('COUNT(*) > 1')->get();

Eloquent has() deeper

You can use Eloquent has() function to query relationships even two layers deep!

// Author -> hasMany(Book::class);
// Book -> hasMany(Rating::class);
$authors = Author::has('books.ratings')->get();

Has Many. How many exactly?

In Eloquent hasMany() relationships, you can filter out records that have X amount of children records.

// Author -> hasMany(Book::class)
$authors = Author::has('books', '>', 5)->get();

Default model

You can assign a default model in belongsTo relationship, to avoid fatal errors when calling it like {{ $post->user->name }} if $post->user doesn't exist.

public function user()
{
    return $this->belongsTo('App\User')->withDefault();
}

Use hasMany to create Many

If you have hasMany() relationship, you can use saveMany() to save multiple "child" entries from your "parent" object, all in one sentence.

$post = Post::find(1);
$post->comments()->saveMany([
    new Comment(['message' => 'First comment']),
    new Comment(['message' => 'Second comment']),
]);

Eager Loading with Exact Columns

You can do Laravel Eager Loading and specify the exact columns you want to get from the relationship.

$users = App\Book::with('author:id,name')->get();

You can do that even in deeper, second level relationships:

$users = App\Book::with('author.country:id,name')->get();

Touch parent updated_at easily

If you are updating a record and want to update the updated_at column of parent relationship (like, you add new post comment and want posts.updated_at to renew), just use $touches = ['post']; property on child model.

class Comment extends Model
{
    protected $touches = ['post'];
}

Always Check if Relationship Exists

Never ever do $model->relationship->field without checking if relationship object still exists.

It may be deleted for whatever reason, outside your code, by someone else's queued job etc. Do if-else, or {{ $model->relationship->field ?? '' }} in Blade, or {{ optional($model->relationship)->field }}.

Use withCount() to Calculate Child Relationships Records

If you have hasMany() relationship, and you want to calculate “children” entries, don’t write a special query. For example, if you have posts and comments on your User model, write this withCount():

public function index()
{
    $users = User::withCount(['posts', 'comments'])->get();
    return view('users', compact('users'));
}

And then, in your Blade file, you will access those number with {relationship}_count properties:

@foreach ($users as $user)
<tr>
    <td>{{ $user->name }}</td>
    <td class="text-center">{{ $user->posts_count }}</td>
    <td class="text-center">{{ $user->comments_count }}</td>
</tr>
@endforeach

You may also order by that field:

User::withCount('comments')->orderBy('comments_count', 'desc')->get();

Extra Filter Query on Relationships

If you want to load relationship data, you can specify some limitations or ordering in a closure function. For example, if you want to get Countries with only three of their biggest cities, here's the code.

$countries = Country::with(['cities' => function($query) {
    $query->orderBy('population', 'desc');
    $query->take(3);
}])->get();

Load Relationships Always, but Dynamically

You can not only specify what relationships to ALWAYS load with the model, but you can do it dynamically, in the constructor method:

class ProductTag extends Model
{
    protected $with = ['product'];

    public function __construct() {
        parent::__construct();
        $this->with = ['product'];
        
        if (auth()->check()) {
            $this->with[] = 'user';
        }
    }
}

Instead of belongsTo, use hasMany

For belongsTo relationship, instead of passing parent's ID when creating child record, use hasMany relationship to make a shorter sentence.

// if Post -> belongsTo(User), and User -> hasMany(Post)...
// Then instead of passing user_id...
Post::create([
    'user_id' => auth()->id(),
    'title' => request()->input('title'),
    'post_text' => request()->input('post_text'),
]);

// Do this
auth()->user()->posts()->create([
    'title' => request()->input('title'),
    'post_text' => request()->input('post_text'),
]);

Rename Pivot Table

If you want to rename "pivot" word and call your relationship something else, you just use ->as('name') in your relationship.

Model:

public function podcasts() {
    return $this->belongsToMany('App\Podcast')
        ->as('subscription')
        ->withTimestamps();
}

Controller:

$podcasts = $user->podcasts();
foreach ($podcasts as $podcast) {
    // instead of $podcast->pivot->created_at ...
    echo $podcast->subscription->created_at;
}

Update Parent in One Line

If you have a belongsTo() relationship, you can update the Eloquent relationship data in the same sentence:

// if Project -> belongsTo(User::class)
$project->user->update(['email' => 'some@gmail.com']);

Laravel 7+ Foreign Keys

From Laravel 7, in migrations you don't need to write two lines for relationship field - one for the field and one for foreign key. Use method foreignId().

// Before Laravel 7
Schema::table('posts', function (Blueprint $table)) {
    $table->unsignedBigInteger('user_id');
    $table->foreign('user_id')->references('id')->on('users');
}

// From Laravel 7
Schema::table('posts', function (Blueprint $table)) {
    $table->foreignId('user_id')->constrained();
}

// Or, if your field is different from the table reference
Schema::table('posts', function (Blueprint $table)) {
    $table->foreignId('created_by_id')->references('id')->on('users');
}

Combine Two "whereHas"

In Eloquent, you can combine whereHas() and orDoesntHave() in one sentence.

User::whereHas('roles', function($query) {
    $query->where('id', 1);
})
->orDoesntHave('roles')
->get();

Check if Relationship Method Exists

If your Eloquent relationship names are dynamic and you need to check if relationship with such name exists on the object, use PHP function method_exists($object, $methodName)

$user = User::first();
if (method_exists($user, 'roles')) {
	// Do something with $user->roles()->...
}

Pivot Table with Extra Relations

In many-to-many relationship, your pivot table may contain extra fields, and even extra relationships to other Model.

Then generate a separate Pivot Model:

php artisan make:model RoleUser --pivot

Next, specify it in belongsToMany() with ->using() method. Then you could do magic, like in the example.

// in app/Models/User.php
public function roles()
{
	return $this->belongsToMany(Role::class)
	    ->using(RoleUser::class)
	    ->withPivot(['team_id']);
}

// app/Models/RoleUser.php: notice extends Pivot, not Model
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\Pivot;

class RoleUser extends Pivot
{
	public function team()
	{
	    return $this->belongsTo(Team::class);
	}
}

// Then, in Controller, you can do:
$firstTeam = auth()->user()->roles()->first()->pivot->team->name;

Migrations

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Unsigned Integer

For foreign key migrations instead of integer() use unsignedInteger() type or integer()->unsigned(), otherwise you may get SQL errors.

Schema::create('employees', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->unsignedInteger('company_id');
    $table->foreign('company_id')->references('id')->on('companies');
    // ...
});

You can also use unsignedBigInteger() if that other column is bigInteger() type.

Schema::create('employees', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->unsignedBigInteger('company_id');
});

Order of Migrations

If you want to change the order of DB migrations, just rename the file's timestamp, like from 2018_08_04_070443_create_posts_table.php to2018_07_04_070443_create_posts_table.php (changed from 2018_08_04 to 2018_07_04).

They run in alphabetical order.

Migration fields with timezones

Did you know that in migrations there's not only timestamps() but also timestampsTz(), for the timezone?

Schema::create('employees', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->increments('id');
    $table->string('name');
    $table->string('email');
    $table->timestampsTz();
});

Also, there are columns dateTimeTz(), timeTz(), timestampTz(), softDeletesTz().

Database migrations column types

There are interesting column types for migrations, here are a few examples.

$table->geometry('positions');
$table->ipAddress('visitor');
$table->macAddress('device');
$table->point('position');
$table->uuid('id');

See all column types on the official documentation.

Default Timestamp

While creating migrations, you can use timestamp() column type with option useCurrent(), it will set CURRENT_TIMESTAMP as default value.

$table->timestamp('created_at')->useCurrent();
$table->timestamp('updated_at')->useCurrent();

Views

⬆️ Go to top ⬅️ Previous (Migrations) ➡️ Next (Routing)

$loop variable in foreach

Inside of foreach loop, check if current entry is first/last by just using $loop variable.

@foreach ($users as $user)
     @if ($loop->first)
        This is the first iteration.
     @endif

     @if ($loop->last)
        This is the last iteration.
     @endif

     <p>This is user {{ $user->id }}</p>
@endforeach

There are also other properties like $loop->iteration or $loop->count. Learn more on the official documentation.

Does view file exist?

You can check if View file exists before actually loading it.

if (view()->exists('custom.page')) {
 // Load the view
}

You can even load an array of views and only the first existing will be actually loaded.

return view()->first(['custom.dashboard', 'dashboard'], $data);

Error code Blade pages

If you want to create a specific error page for some HTTP code, like 500 - just create a blade file with this code as filename, in resources/views/errors/500.blade.php, or 403.blade.php etc, and it will automatically be loaded in case of that error code.

View without controllers

If you want route to just show a certain view, don't create a Controller method, just use Route::view() function.

// Instead of this
Route::get('about', 'TextsController@about');
// And this
class TextsController extends Controller
{
    public function about()
    {
        return view('texts.about');
    }
}
// Do this
Route::view('about', 'texts.about');

Blade @auth

Instead of if-statement to check logged in user, use @auth directive.

Typical way:

@if(auth()->user())
    // The user is authenticated.
@endif

Shorter:

@auth
    // The user is authenticated.
@endauth

The opposite is @guest directive:

@guest
    // The user is not authenticated.
@endguest

Two-level $loop variable in Blade

In Blade's foreach you can use $loop variable even in two-level loop to reach parent variable.

@foreach ($users as $user)
    @foreach ($user->posts as $post)
        @if ($loop->parent->first)
            This is first iteration of the parent loop.
        @endif
    @endforeach
@endforeach

Create Your Own Blade Directive

It’s very easy - just add your own method in app/Providers/AppServiceProvider.php. For example, if you want to have this for replace <br> tags with new lines:

<textarea>@br2nl($post->post_text)</textarea>

Add this directive to AppServiceProvider’s boot() method:

public function boot()
{
    Blade::directive('br2nl', function ($string) {
        return "<?php echo preg_replace('/\<br(\s*)?\/?\>/i', \"\n\", $string); ?>";
    });
}

Blade Directives: IncludeIf, IncludeWhen, IncludeFirst

If you are not sure whether your Blade partial file actually would exist, you may use these condition commands:

This will load header only if Blade file exists

@includeIf('partials.header')

This will load header only for user with role_id 1

@includeWhen(auth()->user()->role_id == 1, 'partials.header')

This will try to load adminlte.header, if missing - will load default.header

@includeFirst('adminlte.header', 'default.header')

Routing

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Route group within a group

In Routes, you can create a group within a group, assigning a certain middleware only to some URLs in the "parent" group.

Route::group(['prefix' => 'account', 'as' => 'account.'], function() {
    Route::get('login', 'AccountController@login');
    Route::get('register', 'AccountController@register');
    
    Route::group(['middleware' => 'auth'], function() {
        Route::get('edit', 'AccountController@edit');
    });
});

Wildcard subdomains

You can create route group by dynamic subdomain name, and pass its value to every route.

Route::domain('{username}.workspace.com')->group(function () {
    Route::get('user/{id}', function ($username, $id) {
        //
    });
});

What's behind the routes?

Want to know what routes are actually behind Auth::routes()? From Laravel 7, it’s in a separate package, so check the file /vendor/laravel/ui/src/AuthRouteMethods.php.

public function auth()
{
    return function ($options = []) {
        // Authentication Routes...
        $this->get('login', 'Auth\LoginController@showLoginForm')->name('login');
        $this->post('login', 'Auth\LoginController@login');
        $this->post('logout', 'Auth\LoginController@logout')->name('logout');
        // Registration Routes...
        if ($options['register'] ?? true) {
            $this->get('register', 'Auth\RegisterController@showRegistrationForm')->name('register');
            $this->post('register', 'Auth\RegisterController@register');
        }
        // Password Reset Routes...
        if ($options['reset'] ?? true) {
            $this->resetPassword();
        }
        // Password Confirmation Routes...
        if ($options['confirm'] ?? class_exists($this->prependGroupNamespace('Auth\ConfirmPasswordController'))) {
            $this->confirmPassword();
        }
        // Email Verification Routes...
        if ($options['verify'] ?? false) {
            $this->emailVerification();
        }
    };
}

Before Laravel 7, check the file /vendor/laravel/framework/src/illuminate/Routing/Router.php.

Route Model Binding: You can define a key

You can do Route model binding like Route::get('api/users/{user}', function (App\User $user) { … } - but not only by ID field. If you want {user} to be a username field, put this in the model:

public function getRouteKeyName() {
    return 'username';
}

Quickly Navigate from Routes file to Controller

This thing was optional before Laravel 8, and became a standart main syntax of routing in Laravel 8.

Instead of routing like this:

Route::get('page', 'PageController@action');

You can specify the Controller as a class:

Route::get('page', [\App\Http\Controllers\PageController::class, 'action']);

Then you will be able to click on PageController in PhpStorm, and navigate directly to Controller, instead of searching for it manually.

Or, to make it shorter, add this to top of Routes file:

use App\Http\Controllers\PageController;

// Then:
Route::get('page', [PageController::class, 'action']);

Route Fallback: When no Other Route is Matched

If you want to specify additional logic for not-found routes, instead of just throwing default 404 page, you may create a special Route for that, at the very end of your Routes file.

Route::group(['middleware' => ['auth'], 'prefix' => 'admin', 'as' => 'admin.'], function () {
    Route::get('/home', 'HomeController@index');
    Route::resource('tasks', 'Admin\TasksController');
});

// Some more routes....
Route::fallback(function() {
    return 'Hm, why did you land here somehow?';
});

Route Parameters Validation with RegExp

We can validate parameters directly in the route, with “where” parameter. A pretty typical case is to prefix your routes by language locale, like fr/blog and en/article/333. How do we ensure that those two first letters are not used for some other than language?

routes/web.php:

Route::group([
    'prefix' => '{locale}',
    'where' => ['locale' => '[a-zA-Z]{2}']
], function () {
    Route::get('/', 'HomeController@index');
    Route::get('article/{id}', 'ArticleController@show');
});

Rate Limiting: Global and for Guests/Users

You can limit some URL to be called a maximum of 60 times per minute, with throttle:60,1:

Route::middleware('auth:api', 'throttle:60,1')->group(function () {
    Route::get('/user', function () {
        //
    });
});

But also, you can do it separately for public and for logged-in users:

// maximum of 10 requests for guests, 60 for authenticated users
Route::middleware('throttle:10|60,1')->group(function () {
    //
});

Also, you can have a DB field users.rate_limit and limit the amount for specific user:

Route::middleware('auth:api', 'throttle:rate_limit,1')->group(function () {
    Route::get('/user', function () {
        //
    });
});

Query string parameters to Routes

If you pass additional parameters to the route, in the array, those key / value pairs will automatically be added to the generated URL's query string.

Route::get('user/{id}/profile', function ($id) {
    //
})->name('profile');

$url = route('profile', ['id' => 1, 'photos' => 'yes']); // Result: /user/1/profile?photos=yes

Validation

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Image validation

While validating uploaded images, you can specify the dimensions you require.

['photo' => 'dimensions:max_width=4096,max_height=4096']

Custom validation error messages

You can customize validation error messages per field, rule and language - just create a specific language file resources/lang/xx/validation.php with appropriate array structure.

'custom' => [
     'email' => [
        'required' => 'We need to know your e-mail address!',
     ],
],

Validate dates with "now" or "yesterday" words

You can validate dates by rules before/after and passing various strings as a parameter, like: tomorrow, now, yesterday. Example: 'start_date' => 'after:now'. It's using strtotime() under the hood.

$rules = [
    'start_date' => 'after:tomorrow',
    'end_date' => 'after:start_date'
];

Validation Rule with Some Conditions

If your validation rules depend on some condition, you can modify the rules by adding withValidator() to your FormRequest class, and specify your custom logic there. Like, if you want to add validation rule only for some user role.

use Illuminate\Validation\Validator;
class StoreBlogCategoryRequest extends FormRequest {
    public function withValidator(Validator $validator) {
        if (auth()->user()->is_admin) {
            $validator->addRules(['some_secret_password' => 'required']);
        }
    }
}

Change Default Validation Messages

If you want to change default validation error message for specific field and specific validation rule, just add a messages() method into your FormRequest class.

class StoreUserRequest extends FormRequest
{
    public function rules()
    {
        return ['name' => 'required'];
    }
    
    public function messages()
    {
        return ['name.required' => 'User name should be real name'];
    }
}

Prepare for Validation

If you want to modify some field before default Laravel validation, or, in other words, "prepare" that field, guess what - there's a method prepareForValidation() in FormRequest class:

protected function prepareForValidation()
{
    $this->merge([
        'slug' => Illuminate\Support\Str::slug($this->slug),
    ]);
}

Stop on First Validation Error

By default, Laravel validation errors will be returned in a list, checking all validation rules. But if you want the process to stop after the first error, use validation rule called bail:

$request->validate([
    'title' => 'bail|required|unique:posts|max:255',
    'body' => 'required',
]);

Collections

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Don’t Filter by NULL in Collections

You can filter by NULL in Eloquent, but if you're filtering the collection further - filter by empty string, there's no "null" in that field anymore.

// This works
$messages = Message::where('read_at is null')->get();

// Won’t work - will return 0 messages
$messages = Message::all();
$unread_messages = $messages->where('read_at is null')->count();

// Will work
$unread_messages = $messages->where('read_at', '')->count();

Use groupBy on Collections with Custom Callback Function

If you want to group result by some condition whith isn’t a direct column in your database, you can do that by providing a closure function.

For example, if you want to group users by day of registration, here’s the code:

$users = User::all()->groupBy(function($item) {
    return $item->created_at->format('Y-m-d');
});

⚠️ Notice: it is done on a Collection class, so performed AFTER the results are fetched from the database.

Multiple Collection Methods in a Row

If you query all results with ->all() or ->get(), you may then perform various Collection operations on the same result, it won’t query database every time.

$users = User::all();
echo 'Max ID: ' . $users->max('id');
echo 'Average age: ' . $users->avg('age');
echo 'Total budget: ' . $users->sum('budget');

Auth

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Check Multiple Permissions at Once

In addition to @can Blade directive, did you know you can check multiple permissions at once with @canany directive?

@canany(['update', 'view', 'delete'], $post)
    // The current user can update, view, or delete the post
@elsecanany(['create'], \App\Post::class)
    // The current user can create a post
@endcanany

More Events on User Registration

Want to perform some actions after new user registration? Head to app/Providers/EventServiceProvider.php and add more Listeners classes, and then in those classes implement handle() method with $event->user object

class EventServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
    protected $listen = [
        Registered::class => [
            SendEmailVerificationNotification::class,

            // You can add any Listener class here
            // With handle() method inside of that class
        ],
    ];

Did you know about Auth::once()?

You can login with user only for ONE REQUEST, using method Auth::once().
No sessions or cookies will be utilized, which means this method may be helpful when building a stateless API.

if (Auth::once($credentials)) {
    //
}

Change API Token on users password update

It's convenient to change the user's API Token when its password changes.

Model:

public function setPasswordAttribute($value)
{
    $this->attributes['password'] = $value;
    $this->attributes['api_token'] = Str::random(100);
}

Override Permissions for Super Admin

If you've defined your Gates but want to override all permissions for SUPER ADMIN user, to give that superadmin ALL permissions, you can intercept gates with Gate::before() statement, in AuthServiceProvider.php file.

// Intercept any Gate and check if it's super admin
Gate::before(function($user, $ability) {
    if ($user->is_super_admin == 1) {
        return true;
    }
});

// Or if you use some permissions package...
Gate::before(function($user, $ability) {
    if ($user->hasPermission('root')) {
        return true;
    }
});

Mail

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Testing email into laravel.log

If you want to test email contents in your app but unable or unwilling to set up something like Mailgun, use .env parameter MAIL_DRIVER=log and all the email will be saved into storage/logs/laravel.log file, instead of actually being sent.

Preview Mailables

If you use Mailables to send email, you can preview the result without sending, directly in your browser. Just return a Mailable as route result:

Route::get('/mailable', function () {
    $invoice = App\Invoice::find(1);
    return new App\Mail\InvoicePaid($invoice);
});

Default Email Subject in Laravel Notifications

If you send Laravel Notification and don't specify subject in toMail(), default subject is your notification class name, CamelCased into Spaces.

So, if you have:

class UserRegistrationEmail extends Notification {
    //
}

Then you will receive an email with subject User Registration Email.

Send Notifications to Anyone

You can send Laravel Notifications not only to a certain user with $user->notify(), but also to anyone you want, via Notification::route(), with so-called "on-demand" notifications:

Notification::route('mail', 'taylor@example.com')
        ->route('nexmo', '5555555555')
        ->route('slack', 'https://hooks.slack.com/services/...')
        ->notify(new InvoicePaid($invoice));

Artisan

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Artisan command parameters

When creating Artisan command, you can ask the input in variety of ways: $this->confirm(), $this->anticipate(), $this->choice().

// Yes or no?
if ($this->confirm('Do you wish to continue?')) {
    //
}

// Open question with auto-complete options
$name = $this->anticipate('What is your name?', ['Taylor', 'Dayle']);

// One of the listed options with default index
$name = $this->choice('What is your name?', ['Taylor', 'Dayle'], $defaultIndex);

Maintenance Mode

If you want to enable maintenance mode on your page, execute the down Artisan command:

php artisan down

Then people would see default 503 status page.

You may also provide flags, in Laravel 8:

  • the path the user should be redirected to
  • the view that should be prerendered
  • secret phrase to bypass maintenance mode
  • status code during maintenance mode
  • retry page reload every X seconds
php artisan down --redirect="/" --render="errors::503" --secret="1630542a-246b-4b66-afa1-dd72a4c43515" --status=200 --retry=60

Before Laravel 8:

  • message that would be shown
  • retry page reload every X seconds
  • still allow the access to some IP address
php artisan down --message="Upgrading Database" --retry=60 --allow=127.0.0.1

When you've done the maintenance work, just run:

php artisan up

Artisan command help

To check the options of artisan command, Run artisan commands with --help flag. For example, php artisan make:model --help and see how many options you have:

Options:
  -a, --all             Generate a migration, seeder, factory, and resource controller for the model
  -c, --controller      Create a new controller for the model
  -f, --factory         Create a new factory for the model
      --force           Create the class even if the model already exists
  -m, --migration       Create a new migration file for the model
  -s, --seed            Create a new seeder file for the model
  -p, --pivot           Indicates if the generated model should be a custom intermediate table model
  -r, --resource        Indicates if the generated controller should be a resource controller
      --api             Indicates if the generated controller should be an API controller
  -h, --help            Display this help message
  -q, --quiet           Do not output any message
  -V, --version         Display this application version
      --ansi            Force ANSI output
      --no-ansi         Disable ANSI output
  -n, --no-interaction  Do not ask any interactive question
      --env[=ENV]       The environment the command should run under
  -v|vv|vvv, --verbose  Increase the verbosity of messages: 1 for normal output, 2 for more verbose output and 3 for debug

Exact Laravel version

Find out exactly what Laravel version you have in your app, by running command php artisan --version

Factories

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Factory callbacks

While using factories for seeding data, you can provide Factory Callback functions to perform some action after record is inserted.

$factory->afterCreating(App\User::class, function ($user, $faker) {
    $user->accounts()->save(factory(App\Account::class)->make());
});

Generate Images with Seeds/Factories

Did you know that Faker can generate not only text values but also IMAGES? See avatar field here - it will generate 50x50 image:

$factory->define(User::class, function (Faker $faker) {
    return [
        'name' => $faker->name,
        'email' => $faker->unique()->safeEmail,
        'email_verified_at' => now(),
        'password' => bcrypt('password'),
        'remember_token' => Str::random(10),
        'avatar' => $faker->image(storage_path('images'), 50, 50)
    ];
});

Log and debug

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Logging with parameters

You can write Log::info(), or shorter info() message with additional parameters, for more context about what happened.

Log::info('User failed to login.', ['id' => $user->id]);

More convenient DD

Instead of doing dd($result) you can put ->dd() as a method directly at the end of your Eloquent sentence, or any Collection.

// Instead of
$users = User::where('name', 'Taylor')->get();
dd($users);
// Do this
$users = User::where('name', 'Taylor')->get()->dd();

API

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API Resources: With or Without "data"?

If you use Eloquent API Resources to return data, they will be automatically wrapped in 'data'. If you want to remove it, add JsonResource::withoutWrapping(); in app/Providers/AppServiceProvider.php.

class AppServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
    public function boot()
    {
        JsonResource::withoutWrapping();
    }
}

API Return "Everything went ok"

If you have API endpoint which performs some operations but has no response, so you wanna return just "everything went ok", you may return 204 status code "No content". In Laravel, it's easy: return response()->noContent();.

public function reorder(Request $request)
{
    foreach ($request->input('rows', []) as $row) {
        Country::find($row['id'])->update(['position' => $row['position']]);
    }

    return response()->noContent();
}

Other

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Localhost in .env

Don't forget to change APP_URL in your .env file from http://localhost to the real URL, cause it will be the basis for any links in your email notifications and elsewhere.

APP_NAME=Laravel
APP_ENV=local
APP_KEY=base64:9PHz3TL5C4YrdV6Gg/Xkkmx9btaE93j7rQTUZWm2MqU=
APP_DEBUG=true
APP_URL=http://localhost

When (NOT) to run "composer update"

Not so much about Laravel, but... Never run composer update on production live server, it's slow and will "break" repository. Always run composer update locally on your computer, commit new composer.lock to the repository, and run composer install on the live server.

Composer: Check for Newer Versions

If you want to find out which of your composer.json packages have released newer versions, just run composer outdated. You will get a full list with all information, like this below.

phpdocumentor/type-resolver 0.4.0 0.7.1
phpunit/php-code-coverage   6.1.4 7.0.3 Library that provides collection, processing, and rende...
phpunit/phpunit             7.5.9 8.1.3 The PHP Unit Testing framework.
ralouphie/getallheaders     2.0.5 3.0.3 A polyfill for getallheaders.
sebastian/global-state      2.0.0 3.0.0 Snapshotting of global state

Auto-Capitalize Translations

In translation files (resources/lang), you can specify variables not only as :variable, but also capitalized as :VARIABLE or :Variable - and then whatever value you pass - will be also capitalized automatically.

// resources/lang/en/messages.php
'welcome' => 'Welcome, :Name'

// Result: "Welcome, Taylor"
echo __('messages.welcome', ['name' => 'taylor']);

Carbon with Only Hours

If you want to have a current date without seconds and/or minutes, use Carbon's methods like setSeconds(0) or setMinutes(0).

// 2020-04-20 08:12:34
echo now();

// 2020-04-20 08:12:00
echo now()->setSeconds(0);

// 2020-04-20 08:00:00
echo now()->setSeconds(0)->setMinutes(0);

// Another way - even shorter
echo now()->startOfHour();

Single Action Controllers

If you want to create a controller with just one action, you can use __invoke() method and even create "invokable" controller.

Route:

Route::get('user/{id}', 'ShowProfile');

Artisan:

php artisan make:controller ShowProfile --invokable

Controller:

class ShowProfile extends Controller
{
    public function __invoke($id)
    {
        return view('user.profile', [
            'user' => User::findOrFail($id)
        ]);
    }
}

Redirect to Specific Controller Method

You can redirect() not only to URL or specific route, but to a specific Controller's specific method, and even pass the parameters. Use this:

return redirect()->action('SomeController@method', ['param' => $value]);

Use Older Laravel Version

If you want to use OLDER version instead of the newest Laravel, use this command:

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel project "7.*"

Change 7.* to whichever version you want.

Add Parameters to Pagination Links

In default Pagination links, you can pass additional parameters, preserve the original query string, or even point to a specific #xxxxx anchor.

{{ $users->appends(['sort' => 'votes'])->links() }}

{{ $users->withQueryString()->links() }}

{{ $users->fragment('foo')->links() }}

Repeatable Callback Functions

If you have a callback function that you need to re-use multiple times, you can assign it to a variable, and then re-use.

$userCondition = function ($query) {
    $query->where('user_id', auth()->id());
};

// Get articles that have comments from this user
// And return only those comments from this user
$articles = Article::with(['comments' => $userCondition])
    ->whereHas('comments', $userCondition)
    ->get();

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