- Navigating
- Grouping Resources
- Bounded Resources
- Wildcard Resources
- Fallback Resource
- Resolving Resources
Flexi is a powerful package designed to seamlessly integrate widgets into Laravel applications. It consists of two main components: Widgets and Resources. Widgets enable dynamic content display, while Resources provide a structured way to navigate through the application.
Before installing Flexi, please ensure that you have the following requirements:
- Composer
- Laravel 10.x
To install Flexi, use the following command:
composer require zareismail/flexiBy default, Flexi resources are stored in the app/Flexi directory of your application. You can generate a new resource using the flexi:resource Artisan command:
php artisan flexi:resource PostBy default, all resources within the app/Flexi directory are automatically registered with Flexi. You can manually register resources using the resourcesIn or resources methods:
Flexi::resourcesIn(app_path('Flexi'));
Flexi::resources([
Post::class,
]);Make sure to include these code snippets in the boot method of your service provider.
Once you have registered your resources with Flexi, you can navigate through the application using their respective URLs. By default, the URL for accessing a generated resource combines the resources prefix (the default group name) with the resource's uriKey. For example, a Post resource would be available at http://localhost/resources/posts. However, you can further customize this URL.
Each registered resource's URI path is prefixed by the resources key. To remove this prefix, you can edit the group property of the resource:
/**
* The logical group associated with the resource.
*/
public static ?string $group = null;After this change, you can navigate to http://localhost/posts to access the resource.
By default, Flexi prefixes the URL path of each registered resource with its uriKey (which is the pluralized slug of the class name). To remove this prefix, modify the bounded method of the resource:
/**
* Determine if the resource is a bounded resource.
*/
public static function bounded(): bool
{
return false;
}When bounded method returns false, Flexi removes the resource's uriKey from its URI. As a result, you can access the ungrouped unbounded Post resource using the http://localhost/ URL.
By default, Flexi restricts the resource to a specific URL. However, if you want to catch any wildcard URLs for the resource, override the wildcard method of the resource:
/**
* Determine if the resource is a wildcard resource.
*/
public static function wildcard(): bool
{
return true;
}When wildcard returns true, Flexi dispatches all paths prefixed by the resource's uriKey. As a result, you can access the ungrouped wildcard Post resource using the http://localhost/posts/ANYTHING URL, where ANYTHING can be any string combined with the URL path separator.
Laravel's fallback routes allow you to handle undefined routes or 404 errors gracefully by redirecting them to a specific route or controller action. With the new feature added to the "Flexi" package, you can now specify a fallback resource, which is a Flexi resource, to handle these fallback routes within your Laravel application.
If you want to determine a resource as fallback, override the fallback method of the resource:
/**
* Determine if the resource is a fallback resource.
*/
public static function fallback(): bool
{
return true;
}This feature is handy when you want to customize the behavior of the fallback routes and provide a user-friendly experience when users encounter undefined routes or pages. pay attention that a wildcard ungrouped unbounded resource, also can work like a fallback resource.
Each resource generated by the Flexi command contains a resolve method that allows you to customize data retrieval and attach it to the resource after it is resolved by the request. For example, if you need to retrieve a model from the database for the requested resource, you can do so using the following approach:
use App\Models\Post;
/**
* Resolve the resource for the incoming request.
*/
public function resolve(FlexiRequest $request)
{
$this->post = Post::findByUri($request->segment(1));
abort_unless($this->post, 404);
}In this example, the resolve method retrieves a Post model from the database based on the URI segment of the request. It then assigns the retrieved model to the $post property of the resource. If the model is not found, it aborts the request with a 404 response.
You can customize the resolve method to suit your specific requirements, allowing you to fetch and attach relevant data to the resource based on the incoming request.
While the Flexi resource allows you to navigate through the application, Flexi's "Widgets" feature enables you to display data based on the navigated resources for incoming requests.
You can generate a widget using the flexi:widget Artisan command, which by default places newly generated widgets in the app/Flexi/Widgets directory:
php artisan flexi:widget PostDetailEach widget generated by Flexi contains two methods: resolve and render. The resolve method prepares the relevant data for the widget before calling the render method, which returns the final generated content to be displayed.
<?php
namespace App\Flexi\Widgets;
use Flexi\Widgets\Widget;
class PostDetail extends Widget
{
/**
* Resolve the widget data.
*/
public function resolve($resource)
{
$this->post = $resource->post;
}
/**
* Get the evaluated contents of the widget.
*
* @return string
*/
public function render()
{
return view('post', $this->post);
}
}Once you have defined a widget, you can attach it to a resource. Each resource generated by Flexi contains a widgets method. To attach a widget, simply add it to the array of widgets returned by this method. Widgets can be created using their static make method, typically passing the "human readable" name for the widget as an argument:
/**
* Get the widgets available on the entity.
*
* @return array
*/
public function widgets(Request $request)
{
return [
PostDetail::make('Post Detail'),
];
}Sometimes, you may want to hide certain widgets from a group of users. You can accomplish this by using the canSee method chained onto your widget definition. The canSee method accepts a closure that should return true or false. The closure receives the incoming HTTP request, allowing you to perform authorization checks:
/**
* Get the widgets available on the entity.
*
* @return array
*/
public function widgets(Request $request)
{
return [
PostDetail::make('Post Detail')->canSee(fn ($request) => $request->user()->can('viewPost', $request->resolveResource()->post)),
];
}These additional authorization checks ensure that the widget is only visible to users who meet the specified criteria.