Top 10 Tricks and Tips of Laravel

As Laravel developers, we are always on the lookout for ways to enhance our skills and make the most of the powerful features offered by this exceptional PHP framework. In this article, we will explore my top 10 tricks and tips of Laravel that have significantly elevated my expertise and helped me build robust web applications efficiently.

Throughout this guide, we will cover a range of techniques and strategies that will empower you to write cleaner code, streamline your development workflow, and take advantage of Laravel's extensive feature set.

Whether you are a seasoned Laravel developer or just starting with the framework, these tips will provide valuable insights and practical examples to help you level up your Laravel game.

We will delve into various aspects of Laravel, including routing, database interactions, templating, caching, and more.

You will discover how to leverage powerful features like route model binding, eager loading relationships, and form validation to enhance the functionality and user experience of your applications.

Moreover, we will explore advanced topics such as event broadcasting, queueing jobs, and localization.

These topics will enable you to add interactivity, responsiveness, and scalability to your Laravel projects. With these tricks, you will gain the confidence and efficiency to tackle complex tasks and deliver exceptional web applications.

Each tip and trick will be accompanied by code examples and detailed explanations, ensuring that you grasp the concepts thoroughly and can easily implement them in your own projects.

Whether you are seeking performance optimizations, code organization techniques, or exploring the latest features and packages in Laravel, this article has got you covered.

So, join me on this journey as we uncover the top 10 tricks and tips of Laravel.

Let's unlock the full potential of this remarkable framework, write cleaner code, boost productivity, and build extraordinary web applications that leave a lasting impression.

Get ready to take your Laravel skills to new heights and embark on an exciting path of continuous improvement.

Model properties:
There are some properties of an Eloquent model.

<?php

namespace App;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class User extends Model
{  
   protected $table = 'users'; // users table is associated with model we can change here.

   protected $connection = 'sqlite'; // we can customize our database connection.

   protected $fillable = ['name', 'email', 'password']; // The attributes that are mass assignable.

   protected $dates = ['created_at', 'deleted_at']; // attributes that should be mutated to dates so we can change format like format('M d Y')

   protected $appends = ['field_name']; // we can add additional field to json response

   protected $primaryKey = 'uuid'; // which field will be primary key of the model

   public $incrementing = false; // disable auto-increment id for the model!

   protected $perPage = 30; // we can override default 15 pagination using $perPage variable

   const CREATED_AT = 'created';

   const UPDATED_AT = 'updated'; // we can change field name of created_at and updated_at.

   public $timestamps = false; // disable timestamp for current model.

   protected $with = []; // relations to eager load on every query.

   protected $withCount = []; // The relationship counts that should be eager loaded on every query.
}

Override updated_at when saving

By default, Laravel automatically updates the updated_at timestamp column whenever a model is updated. However, there may be scenarios where you want to have more control over this behavior and manually set the value of the updated_at field.

To achieve this, you can instruct Laravel to ignore the automatic timestamp feature and manually set the field to your desired value. This gives you the flexibility to update the updated_at column according to specific business rules or requirements.

$user = User::find(1);
$user->updated_at = '2023-06-20 15:00:00';
$user->save(['timestamps' => false]);

By overriding the default updated_at behavior, you can ensure that the timestamp accurately reflects the intended update time of your models. This is particularly useful when dealing with scenarios where updates need to be tracked differently or when you need to synchronize updates with external systems.

With Laravel's flexibility and customization options, you have the power to tailor the behavior of the updated_at column to suit your specific needs

Simple pagination

When implementing pagination in Laravel, you may come across situations where you only need "Previous/Next" links instead of displaying all the page numbers. This can be particularly useful when you have a large dataset and want to optimize performance by reducing the number of database queries.

In such cases, Laravel provides a convenient method called simplePaginate() that allows you to achieve this. By using simplePaginate() instead of paginate(), you can modify the pagination output to include only the "Previous" and "Next" links, omitting the display of individual page numbers.

Here's an example to illustrate this:

// Instead of 
$users = User::paginate(10);

// Now you can do this
$users = User::simplePaginate(10);

In the above code snippet, the simplePaginate() method is used to paginate the User model with a limit of 10 results per page. This will generate a paginated result set with just the "Previous" and "Next" links, making it more concise and reducing the number of queries executed.

By leveraging simplePaginate(), you can optimize the user experience by providing a streamlined pagination interface that is less cluttered and easier to navigate. Additionally, fewer database queries will be performed, resulting in improved performance and reduced server load.

Use Auth::once()

In Laravel, the Auth::once() method provides a convenient way to perform authentication for a single request without persisting the user's authentication state. This can be useful in situations where you need to authenticate a user for a specific action or API call without affecting their overall authenticated session.

By using Auth::once(), you can authenticate a user's credentials for the duration of a single request, allowing them to access protected resources or perform restricted actions temporarily.

This method bypasses Laravel's session-based authentication and provides a lightweight authentication mechanism for specific use cases.

Here's an example to illustrate the usage of Auth::once():

if (Auth::once(['email' => $email, 'password' => $password])) {
    // User authentication succeeded for this request
    // Perform the necessary actions or provide access to restricted resources
} else {
    // User authentication failed for this request
    // Handle the authentication failure
}

By utilizing Auth::once(), you can perform lightweight authentication for specific actions without affecting the user's persistent authentication state. This is particularly useful when you need to authorize temporary access to sensitive data or perform authentication for stateless API calls.

Eloquent where date methods

In Eloquent, you can check the date of a field using convenient functions like whereDay(), whereMonth(), whereYear(), whereDate(), and whereTime(). These functions allow you to easily filter and retrieve records based on specific date or time criteria.

By utilizing these functions, you can perform advanced queries to fetch records that match a particular day, month, year, date, or time. This provides flexibility in querying your database based on specific temporal conditions and simplifies the retrieval of relevant data.

Here's an example to illustrate the usage of these functions:

$users = User::whereDate('created_at', '2023-06-20')->get();
$users = User::whereMonth('created_at', '06')->get();
$users = User::whereDay('created_at', '20')->get();
$users = User::whereYear('created_at', date('Y'))->get();
$users = User::whereTime('created_at', '=', '15:10:20')->get();

DB transactions

When you need to perform multiple database operations together and ensure data consistency, it's crucial to handle potential errors gracefully. In Laravel, you can achieve this by utilizing database transactions.

Transactions provide a way to wrap a series of database operations into a single atomic unit, ensuring that either all the operations succeed or none of them take effect.

By using transactions, you can safeguard the integrity of your data and maintain consistency even in the face of errors or exceptions.

If any of the operations within the transaction encounter an error, Laravel automatically rolls back the entire transaction, reverting any changes made during the process.

Here's an example to illustrate the usage of database transactions in Laravel:

DB::beginTransaction();

try {
    // Perform the first database operation
    DB::table('users')->update(['active' => true]);

    // Perform the second database operation
    DB::table('orders')->insert(['user_id' => 1, 'product_id' => 1]);

    DB::commit();
} catch (\Exception $e) {
    DB::rollback();

    // Handle the exception or error appropriately
    // Log the error, notify the user, or take any necessary actions
}

In the above code snippet, DB::beginTransaction() marks the start of the transaction, and DB::commit() is called to finalize the transaction if all operations are successful. On the other hand, DB::rollback() is invoked if any error occurs within the transaction, ensuring that the first operation is rolled back.

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

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

Expressive “where” Syntax

To make your query even more expressive, Laravel provides a convenient syntax that allows you to suffix the attribute directly to the where clause. This approach simplifies the query construction and enhances its readability.

For example, consider the following query:

$users = User::whereStatus('active')->get();

In the above code snippet, the whereStatus('active') method is used to retrieve users with an active status. By suffixing the attribute name (Status) to the where clause, you can express the condition in a more concise and natural manner. This eliminates the need to explicitly specify the column name and results in cleaner, more readable code.

Laravel intelligently infers the column name based on the attribute provided, making it easy to write straightforward queries without sacrificing clarity. This suffix syntax is particularly useful for simple equality conditions, allowing you to write queries in a more intuitive way.

Avoid using Environment (.env) variables directly

When working with environment variables in Laravel, it is considered a best practice to avoid accessing them directly in your code. Instead, you should utilize the configuration files and the config() helper function to retrieve the values of environment variables.

This approach provides better maintainability and allows for easier switching between different environments.

// instead of this use below example
$apiKey = env('API_KEY');

// Add first in config file config/api.php
'key' => env('API_KEY'),

// Use the data
$apiKey = config('api.key');

By using the config() helper function, you can access the environment variable value specified in the configuration file.

So, instead of directly accessing environment variables in your code, embrace the config() helper function and configuration files to retrieve and manage the values. This promotes a cleaner, more maintainable code structure and enhances the portability of your Laravel application.

Model boot() method

The static boot() method in Laravel models is automatically executed when a model is instantiated. This makes it an ideal location to add behavior or event bindings. One practical example is setting the default value of a field during the creation of the model object.

By utilizing the boot() method, you can define default values or perform other initialization tasks when a new model instance is created. This allows you to set specific attributes or configure behavior before the model is saved or used further in your application.

Here's an example demonstrating how to set the default value of the is_admin field during the creation of a model object:

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

    static::creating(function ($model) {
        $model->is_admin = false; // Set the default value for the `is_admin` field
    });
}

In the above code snippet, the creating event is bound within the boot() method, which is triggered before the model is saved. Inside the event callback, you can modify the model instance and set the desired default value for the is_admin field.

Chunk() method for big tables

Instead of fetching all the records from a table at once using $users = User::all(); and then iterating through them, you can leverage the chunk() method in Laravel to process the data in smaller, more manageable batches.

The chunk() method allows you to retrieve a specified number of records at a time from the database and process them within a callback function. This approach helps prevent memory issues that can arise when dealing with large result sets.

// Instead of

$users = User::all();
foreach ($users as $user) {
    // ...
}

// You can do

User::chunk(100, function ($users) {
    foreach ($users as $user) {
        // ...
    }
});

In the above code snippet, the chunk() method retrieves 100 records at a time from the users table and passes them to the provided callback function. Inside the callback, you can perform your desired operations on each user within the foreach loop.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, these top 10 tips and tricks for Laravel will empower you to enhance your development workflow, optimize performance, and make the most out of the Laravel framework. By applying these techniques in your projects, you can streamline your code, improve efficiency, and deliver high-quality applications.