Laravel/laravel-tips-2020-04.pdf.txt

100 (and counting) 
Laravel Quick Tips 

Prepared by: 
Povilas Korop / LaravelDaily Team 
www.laraveldaily.com  
[email protected]  

Last updated:  
April 2020 

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History of changes 

April 20, 2020: 
April 28, 2019: 
November 8, 2018
October 9, 2018

: 10 more tips, total 50 now 

: Book release with 40 tips 

40 more tips, total 100 now (removed duplicated, updated some old ones) 
10 more tips, total 60 now 

Tip 1. Single Action Controllers 

If you want to create a controller with just one action, you can use 
even create "invokable" controller.  

__invoke()

 method and 

<?php 
namespace App\Http\Controllers; 

use App\User; 
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller; 

class ShowProfile extends Controller 
{ 
    /** 
     * Show the profile for the given user. 
     * 
     * @param  int  $id 
     * @return Response 
     */ 
    public function __invoke($id) 
    { 
        return view('user.profile', ['user' => User::findOrFail($id)]); 
    } 
} 

Routes: 

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

Artisan command to generate this controller: 

php artisan make:controller ShowProfile --invokable 

Tip 2. Unsigned Integer 

For foreign key migrations instead of 
integer()->unsigned()

, otherwise you may get SQL errors. 

integer()

 use 

unsignedInteger()

 type or 

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unsignedInteger

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

Tip 3. 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'); 
} 

Tip 4. 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
2018_07_04_070443_create_posts_table.php
). They run in alphabetical order. 
2018_07_04
​

 to 
 (changed from 

 to 
2018_08_04
​

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Tip 5. Raw DB Queries: havingRaw() 

You can use RAW DB queries in various places, including 
groupBy()

. 

havingRaw()

 function after 

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

Tip 6. $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 
More here: 

https://laravel.com/docs/master/blade#the-loop-variable  

$loop->iteration

 or 

$loop->count

. 

Tip 7. Eloquent where date methods 

In Eloquent, check the date with functions 
whereDate()

whereTime()

 and 

. 

whereDay()

, 

whereMonth()

, 

whereYear()

, 

$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(); 

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Tip 8. 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'); 
    }); 

}); 

Tip 9. Increments and decrements 

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

increment()

 function. Oh, 

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

Tip 10. 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); 

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Tip 11. No timestamp columns 

If your DB table doesn't contain timestamp fields 
specify that Eloquent model wouldn't use them, with 

created_at

 and 
$timestamps = false

updated_at

 property. 

, you can 

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

Tip 12. Migration fields with timezones 

Did you know that in migrations there's not only 
the timezone? 

timestamps()

 but also 

timestampsTz()

, for 

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()

. 

Tip 13. 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(); 

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Tip 14. 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: 

https://laravel.com/docs/master/migrations#creating-columns  

Tip 15. Artisan command help 

To check the options of artisan command, Run artisan commands with 
example, 

 flag. For 
 and see how many options you have: 

php artisan make:model --help

--help

Options: 
  -a, --all             Generate a migration, 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. 
  -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. 
  -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 

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Tip 16. Default Timestamp 

While creating migrations, you can use 
->useCurrent()

, it will set 

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

 as default value. 

->timestamp()

 column type with option 

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

Tip 17. Set logged in user with Observers 

Use 
make:observer
current logged in user. 

 and fill in 

creating()

 method to automatically set up 

user_id

 field for 

class PostObserver 
{ 
    /** 
     * Handle to the post "creating" event. 
     * 
     * @param  \App\Post  $post 
     * @return void 
     */ 
    public function creating(Post $post) 
    { 
        $post->user_id = auth()->id(); 
    } 
} 

Tip 18. Soft-deletes: multiple restore 

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

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

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Tip 19. Has Many. How many exactly? 

In Eloquent 
records. 

hasMany()

 relationships, you can filter out records that have X amount of children 

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

Tip 20. Image validation 

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

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

Tip 21. Wildcard subdomains 

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

{username}

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

.workspace.com')->group(function () { 

$username

, $id) { 

Tip 22. Exact Laravel version 

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

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Tip 23. 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
storage/logs/laravel.log

 and all the email will be saved into 

 file, instead of actually being sent. 

MAIL_DRIVER=log

 parameter 

Tip 24. 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 
403.blade.php

, or 
 etc, and it will automatically be loaded in case of that error code. 

resources/views/errors/500.blade.php

Tip 25. 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()); 
}); 

Tip 26. Artisan command parameters 

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

.  

, 

$this->confirm()

, 

// 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); 

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Tip 27. 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); 
}); 

Tip 28. Route::view() - Don't create 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'); 

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Tip 29. 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 

Tip 30. Model all: columns 

When calling Eloquent's 

Model::all()

, you can specify which columns to return. 

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

Tip 31. Localhost in .env 

Don't forget to change 
 in your 
it will be the basis for any links in your email notifications and elsewhere. 

http://localhost

APP_URL

 file from 

.env

 to real URL, cause 

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

http://localhost 

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Tip 32: What's behind the routes? 

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

Auth::routes()

?  

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

.  

public function auth(array $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... 

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    if ($options['register'] ?? true) { 
        $this->get('register', 
'Auth\RegisterController@showRegistrationForm')->name('register'); 
        $this->post('register', 'Auth\RegisterController@register'); 
    } 

    // Password Reset Routes... 
    $this->get('password/reset', 
'Auth\ForgotPasswordController@showLinkRequestForm')->name('password.request'); 
    $this->post('password/email', 
'Auth\ForgotPasswordController@sendResetLinkEmail')->name('password.email'); 
    $this->get('password/reset/{token}', 
'Auth\ResetPasswordController@showResetForm')->name('password.reset'); 
    $this->post('password/reset', 
'Auth\ResetPasswordController@reset')->name('password.update'); 

    // Email Verification Routes... 
    if ($options['verify'] ?? false) { 
        $this->emailVerification(); 
    } 
} 

public function emailVerification() 
{ 
    $this->get('email/verify', 
'Auth\VerificationController@show')->name('verification.notice'); 
    $this->get('email/verify/{id}', 
'Auth\VerificationController@verify')->name('verification.verify'); 
    $this->get('email/resend', 
'Auth\VerificationController@resend')->name('verification.resend'); 
} 

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Tip 33. To Fail or not to Fail 

In addition to 
findOrFail()
404 page if no records for query are found. 

, there's also Eloquent method 

firstOrFail()

 which will return 

$user = User::where('email', 
'[email protected]')->firstOrFail(); 

Tip 34. 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(); 

Tip 35. Logging with parameters 

You can write 
context about what happened. 

Log::info()

, or shorter 

info()

 message with additional parameters, for more 

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

Tip 36. Default Model 

You can assign a default model in 
like 
{{ $post->user->name }}

belongsTo
 if 

$post->user

 doesn't exist. 

 relationship, to avoid fatal errors when calling it 

/** 
 * Get the author of the post. 
 */ 
public function user() 
{ 
    return $this->belongsTo('App\User')->withDefault(); 
} 

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Tip 37. Use hasMany to create Many 

If you have 
from your "parent" object, all in one sentence. 

 relationship, you can use 

hasMany()

saveMany()

 to save multiple "child" entries 

$post = Post::find(1); 
$post->comments()->saveMany([ 

new Comment(['message' => 'First comment']), 
new Comment(['message' => 'Second comment']), 

]); 

Tip 38. More convenient DD 

Instead of doing 
Eloquent sentence, or any Collection. 

dd($result);

 you can put 

->dd()

 as a method directly at the end of your 

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

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

Tip 39. 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; 
}); 

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Tip 40. Custom validation error messages 

You can customize validation error messages per 
specific language file 
structure. 

 and 
resources/lang/xx/validation.php

field

rule

, 

language
 with appropriate array 

 - just create a 

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

Tip 41. When (NOT) to run “composer update” 

Not so much about Laravel, but... Never run 
"break" repository. Always run 
composer.lock

 to the repository, and run 

composer update

composer update

 on production, it's slow and will 

 locally on your computer, commit new 
 on server. 

composer install

Tip 42. 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 

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Tip 43. Route Model Binding: You can define a key 

You can do Route model binding like 
(App\User $user) { … }
field, put this in the model:  

Route::get('api/users/{user}', function 

 - but not only by ID field. If you want 

{user}

 to be a 

username 

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

Tip 44. Redirect to Specific Controller Method 

You can 
method, and even pass the parameters. Use this: 

redirect()

 not only to URL or specific route, but to a specific Controller's specific 

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

Tip 45. Did you know about Auth::once()? 

You can login with user only for ONE REQUEST, using method
cookies will be utilized, which means this method may be helpful when building a stateless API.  

 Auth::once()

. No sessions or 

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

Tip 46. 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(); 

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Tip 47. 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: 
strtotime() under the hood. 

'start_date' => 'after:now'

. It's using 

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

Tip 48. Touch parent updated_at easily 

If you are updating a record and want to update the 
(like, you add new post comment and want 
= ['post'];

 property on child model.  

updated_at
posts.updated_at

 column of parent relationship 
 to renew), just use 

$touches 

class Comment extends Model 
{ 
    /** 
     * All of the relationships to be touched. 
     * 
     * @var array 
     */ 
    protected $touches = ['post']; 

} 

Tip 49. Quickly Navigate from Routes file to Controller 

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']); 

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

Tip 50. Always Check if Relationship Exists 

Never ​ever​ do ​$model->relationship->field
object still exists.  

 without checking if relationship 

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

, or ​{{ $model->relationship->field ?? '' }}

 in 

Tip 51. 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(); 

Tip 52. 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”. 

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Tip 53. 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 

Tip 54. 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?'; 
}); 

Tip 55. 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> 

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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); ?>"; 
    }); 
} 

Tip 56. 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 

Tip 57. 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.  

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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. 

Tip 58. 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') 

Tip 59. 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';  

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Tip 60. 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() 
User::oldest()->get(); 

which would order by created_at ascending. 

Also, you can specify another column to order by. For example, if you want to use 
updated_at
$lastUpdatedUser = User::newest('updated_at')->first(); 

, you can do this: 

Tip 61. 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) 
    ]; 
}); 

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Tip 62. Eloquent: Update Parent in One Line  

If you have a ​belongsTo()
data in the same sentence: 

 relationship, you can update the Eloquent relationship 

// if Project -> belongsTo(User::class) 
$project->user->update(['email' => '[email protected]']);  

Tip 63. Eloquent: 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'); 
} 

Tip 64. 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'); 

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​
 
 
 
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Tip 65. More Events on User Registration  

Want to perform some actions after new user registration? Head to 
app/Providers/EventServiceProvider.php
and then in those classes implement ​handle() 

 and add more Listeners classes, 
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 
        ], 
    ]; 

Tip 66. 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(); 

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Tip 67. Send Notifications to Anyone  

You can send Laravel Notifications not only to a certain user with 
$user->notify()
so-called "on-demand" notifications: 

, but also to anyone you want, via ​Notification::route()

, with 

Notification::route('mail', '[email protected]') 
            ->route('nexmo', '5555555555') 
            ->route('slack', 
'https://hooks.slack.com/services/...') 
            ->notify(new InvoicePaid($invoice)); 

Tip 68. Sub-selects in Laravel Way 

From Laravel 6, you can use ​addSelect()
calculation to that added column. 

 in Eloquent statement, and do some 

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

Tip 69. 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();
app/Providers/AppServiceProvider.php

 in 

. 

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

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​
​
 
 
 
 
​
 
 
 
​
​
 
 
 
 
Tip 70. 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"​: ​https://httpstatuses.com/204   
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(); 
} 

Tip 71. Automatic Column Value When Creating Records 

If you want to generate some DB column value when creating record, add it to 
model's ​boot()
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

 method.  

), do this. 

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

        // every new record will get next available position 
number 
        Country::creating(function($model) { 
            $model->position = Country::max('position') + 1; 
        }); 
    } 
} 

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​
​
 
 
 
 
 
Tip 72. DB Raw Query Calculations Run Faster 

Use SQL raw queries like ​whereRaw()
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. 

 method, to make some DB-specific 

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

Tip 73. More than One Scope 

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

// app/User.php 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(); 

Tip 74. 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']); 

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​
 
 
 
 
 
Tip 75. 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(); 

Tip 76. Auto-Capitalize Translations 

In translation files (​resources/lang
:variable
value you pass - will be also capitalized automatically. 

, but also capitalized as ​:VARIABLE

), you can specify variables not only as 

 or ​:Variable

 - and then whatever 

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

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

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​
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Tip 77. Validation Rule with Some Conditions 

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

 class, and specify your custom 

use Illuminate\Validation\Validator; 

class StoreBlogCategoryRequest extends FormRequest { 

    // ... 

    public function withValidator(Validator $validator) { 
        if (auth()->user()->is_admin) { 
            $validator->addRules([ 
                'some_secret_password' => 'required' 
            ]); 
        } 
    } 
} 

Tip 78. 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()->... 

} 

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Tip 79. 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'); 
    } 
} 

Tip 80. 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'); 
}); 

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Tip 81. 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 () { 
        // 
    }); 
}); 

Tip 82. Add 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 

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Tip 83. Check Multiple Permissions at Once 

In addition to ​@can
at once with ​@canany

 directive? 

 Blade directive, did you know you can check multiple permissions 

@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 

Tip 84. Check Auth Quicker 

If, in Blade, you need to check if user is logged in, don't do ​@if (auth()->check()) 
- there is a shorter way: directives ​@auth - @endauth

 and ​@guest - @endguest 

@auth 
    // The user is authenticated... 
@endauth 

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

Tip 85. No Need to Convert Carbon 

If you're performing ​whereDate()
now()

 and it will automatically be transformed to date. No need to do 

 and check today's records, you can use Carbon's 

->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(); 

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​
 
 
 
 
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Tip 86. 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(); 

Tip 87. 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]; 
}) 

Tip 88. 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'; 
        } 
    } 
} 

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Tip 89. Instead of belongsTo, use hasMany 

For ​belongsTo
record, use ​hasMany

 relationship, instead of passing parent's ID when creating child 

 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'), 
]); 

Tip 90. 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', 
        ]; 
    } 
} 

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​
​
 
 
 
 
 
Tip 91. Validate Images Dimensions 

In validation, you can check uploaded images dimensions, specifying rules for 
min/max witdh/height, and even ratio. 

'avatar' => 
'dimensions:min_width=100,min_height=200,dimensions:3/2' 

Tip 92. Carbon with Only Hours/Minutes 

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(); 

Tip 93. 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'); 

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Tip 94. 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()
FormRequest

 class: 

 in 

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

Tip 95. Rename Pivot Table 

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

 in your relationship: 

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

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

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​
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​
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tip 96. Similar Relationship but With Condition 

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

// app/Post.php model 
public function comments() 
{ 
    return $this->hasMany(Comment::class); 
} 

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

Tip 97. 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; 
    } 
} 

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Tip 98. 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: 
- 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 

Tip 99. 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]); 

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Tip 100. 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', 
]); 

To be continued… 

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