Unlocking the Power of Helper Functions: Supercharge Your Laravel Development

Introduction:

In the ever-evolving world of web development, efficiency and productivity are paramount. Laravel, a popular PHP framework, is renowned for its elegance and developer-friendly features. One of its hidden gems that significantly contribute to streamlining development workflows is the ingenious concept of "helper functions." These unassuming yet powerful tools can save you time, reduce code verbosity, and enhance the readability of your Laravel projects.

In this article, we'll dive into the realm of helper functions in Laravel, exploring how they can revolutionize the way you approach coding. Whether you're a seasoned Laravel artisan or just embarking on your journey with the framework, understanding and harnessing the potential of helper functions will undoubtedly elevate your development prowess. We'll unravel the intricacies of both built-in and custom helper functions, providing you with a comprehensive guide to wield these tools effectively. So, let's embark on this enlightening journey to unlock the full power of helper functions and supercharge your Laravel development experience.

In this tutorial, we're directing our attention away from Laravel's provided built-in functions and focusing on how developers can create their own. Nevertheless, we will talk about the Laravel built-in function and usage.

Types of Helper Functions

1. Built-in function

2. Custom helper function

1. Built-in function

In Laravel, various built-in helper functions provide convenient shortcuts for common tasks. Here's an example of using the route() helper function

Example: Using the route() Helper Function

Let's say you have a named route defined in your Laravel application, which points to a specific controller method. Instead of manually constructing the URL for that route, you can use the route() helper function.

Assuming you have a route named "profile" that maps to the UserProfileController@show method:

Route::get('/user/profile', 'UserProfileController@show')->name('profile');

In your view or controller, you can generate the URL for the "profile" route like this:

$url = route('profile');

The route() function takes the route name as an argument and returns the full URL for that route. This saves you from hardcoding URLs and ensures that even if the route's URL changes, your code referencing the route remains unaffected.

By using the route() helper function, you simplify your code, reduce the risk of errors, and adhere to the DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) principle. This is just one of the many built-in helper functions Laravel offers to streamline your development process.

1. Custom helper function

Steps to Create custom helper function

1. In the app directory of your project create a folder called helpers and inside the helpers folder create a file called helpers.php. This is user-defined, you can call it anything you like.

2. Create a function in the file as demonstrated below. The following function serves as a money formatter that takes an argument and returns the formatted amount.

function formatMoney($val)
{
  return number_format($val, 2, ".", ",");
}

1. In your project directory, locate the composer.json file and make the following update: navigate to the autoload section and add the provided code right after "psr-4".

   "files": [ "app/helpers/helpers.php" ]

      "autoload": {
            "psr-4": {
                "App\\": "app/",
                "Database\\Factories\\": "database/factories/",
                "Database\\Seeders\\": "database/seeders/"
            },
            "files": [
               "app/helpers/helpers.php" //path to your helpers file
           ]
        },
   

2. Run this command in the project directory terminal

    composer dump-autoload
   

   Running the command to auto-discover the file.

3. You are ready to use the function. You can use it anywhere in your app. Eg.

    {{ formatMoney(456000) }}
   

   The result should look like this

4. 

   Congrats you have successfully create a custom helper function. Note you can create as many function as possible.