Controllers

On this page you replace the route closures with controllers: a form request that validates the FAQ form, an admin controller that creates, edits and deletes questions, and a storefront controller that lists them. A package's controllers live in src/Http/Controllers, split into Admin and Shop folders like core's.

The Base Controllers

Base class	For	Provides
Webkul\Admin\Http\Controllers\Controller	Admin controllers	Laravel's AuthorizesRequests, DispatchesJobs and ValidatesRequests traits, and redirectToLogin()
Webkul\Shop\Http\Controllers\Controller	Storefront controllers	DispatchesJobs and ValidatesRequests

A package's admin and storefront controllers extend these two, so the package needs no base controller of its own.

Validate with a Form Request

File: packages/Webkul/Faq/src/Http/Requests/FaqRequest.php

<?php

namespace Webkul\Faq\Http\Requests;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;

class FaqRequest extends FormRequest
{
    /**
     * Determine if the user is authorized to make this request.
     */
    public function authorize(): bool
    {
        return true;
    }

    /**
     * Get the validation rules that apply to the request.
     */
    public function rules(): array
    {
        return [
            'channel_id' => ['required', 'integer', 'exists:channels,id'],
            'question' => ['required', 'string', 'max:255'],
            'answer' => ['required', 'string'],
            'sort_order' => ['required', 'integer', 'min:0'],
            'status' => ['boolean'],
        ];
    }

    /**
     * Treat an unchecked status switch as inactive.
     */
    protected function prepareForValidation(): void
    {
        $this->merge([
            'status' => $this->boolean('status'),
        ]);
    }
}

• authorize() returns true because the route's admin middleware has already checked the admin's permission against the ACL. A form request whose authorize() returns false refuses every request with a 403.
• prepareForValidation() turns the status switch into a boolean before the rules run. An unchecked switch sends nothing, and without this step the question would take the column's default and stay published.

The Admin Controller

File: packages/Webkul/Faq/src/Http/Controllers/Admin/FaqController.php

<?php

namespace Webkul\Faq\Http\Controllers\Admin;

use Illuminate\Http\JsonResponse;
use Illuminate\Http\RedirectResponse;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Event;
use Illuminate\View\View;
use Webkul\Admin\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use Webkul\Faq\Http\Requests\FaqRequest;
use Webkul\Faq\Repositories\FaqRepository;

class FaqController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * Create a new controller instance.
     */
    public function __construct(protected FaqRepository $faqRepository) {}

    /**
     * Show the FAQ listing page.
     */
    public function index(): View
    {
        return view('faq::admin.index');
    }

    /**
     * Show the form for creating a question.
     */
    public function create(): View
    {
        return view('faq::admin.create');
    }

    /**
     * Store a new question.
     */
    public function store(FaqRequest $request): RedirectResponse
    {
        Event::dispatch('faq.create.before');

        $faq = $this->faqRepository->create($request->validated());

        Event::dispatch('faq.create.after', $faq);

        session()->flash('success', trans('faq::app.admin.create-success'));

        return redirect()->route('admin.faq.index');
    }

    /**
     * Show the form for editing a question.
     */
    public function edit(int $id): View
    {
        $faq = $this->faqRepository->findOrFail($id);

        return view('faq::admin.edit', compact('faq'));
    }

    /**
     * Update a question.
     */
    public function update(FaqRequest $request, int $id): RedirectResponse
    {
        Event::dispatch('faq.update.before', $id);

        $faq = $this->faqRepository->update($request->validated(), $id);

        Event::dispatch('faq.update.after', $faq);

        session()->flash('success', trans('faq::app.admin.update-success'));

        return redirect()->route('admin.faq.index');
    }

    /**
     * Delete a question.
     */
    public function destroy(int $id): JsonResponse
    {
        $this->faqRepository->findOrFail($id);

        Event::dispatch('faq.delete.before', $id);

        $this->faqRepository->delete($id);

        Event::dispatch('faq.delete.after', $id);

        return new JsonResponse([
            'message' => trans('faq::app.admin.delete-success'),
        ]);
    }
}

Action	Returns	Why
index(), create(), edit()	A view	Views creates the templates
store(), update()	A redirect, with a success message flashed to the session	The admin layout shows success, warning, error and info messages it finds in the session
destroy()	JSON with a message	The DataGrid's delete action calls it with AJAX and shows message

A failed validation redirects back with the errors, which <x-admin::form> shows beside each field, and a missing id ends in a 404 from findOrFail() or the repository's update(). The strings passed to trans() come from the language file that Localization creates.

Events Around Every Write

Each write is wrapped in a before and an after event, as core controllers do. The before event receives the id, or nothing on create, and the after event receives the model, or the id once the row is gone. The FAQ has a single entity, so its names leave the entity out, as core's customer.create.after does. Other packages listen to these names without touching your controller: Firing Events from Your Package covers the convention, and Events, Commands and Tests adds a listener.

The Storefront Controller

File: packages/Webkul/Faq/src/Http/Controllers/Shop/FaqController.php

<?php

namespace Webkul\Faq\Http\Controllers\Shop;

use Illuminate\View\View;
use Webkul\Faq\Repositories\FaqRepository;
use Webkul\Shop\Http\Controllers\Controller;

class FaqController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * Create a new controller instance.
     */
    public function __construct(protected FaqRepository $faqRepository) {}

    /**
     * Show the active questions of the current channel.
     */
    public function index(): View
    {
        return view('faq::shop.index', [
            'faqs' => $this->faqRepository->getActiveForChannel(core()->getCurrentChannel()->id),
            'title' => trans('faq::app.shop.index.title'),
        ]);
    }
}

core()->getCurrentChannel() is the channel serving the request, so each storefront shows only its own questions.

Point the Routes at the Controllers

Replace the closures from Routes. The admin file gains the create, edit and delete routes:

File: packages/Webkul/Faq/src/Routes/admin-routes.php

<?php

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
use Webkul\Core\Http\Middleware\NoCacheMiddleware;
use Webkul\Faq\Http\Controllers\Admin\FaqController;

Route::group([
    'middleware' => ['web', 'admin', NoCacheMiddleware::class],
    'prefix' => config('app.admin_url'),
], function () {
    Route::controller(FaqController::class)->prefix('faq')->group(function () {
        Route::get('', 'index')->name('admin.faq.index');

        Route::get('create', 'create')->name('admin.faq.create');

        Route::post('create', 'store')->name('admin.faq.store');

        Route::get('edit/{id}', 'edit')->name('admin.faq.edit');

        Route::put('edit/{id}', 'update')->name('admin.faq.update');

        Route::delete('edit/{id}', 'destroy')->name('admin.faq.delete');
    });
});

File: packages/Webkul/Faq/src/Routes/shop-routes.php

<?php

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
use Webkul\Core\Http\Middleware\PreventRequestsDuringMaintenance;
use Webkul\Faq\Http\Controllers\Shop\FaqController;

Route::group([
    'middleware' => ['web', 'shop', PreventRequestsDuringMaintenance::class],
], function () {
    Route::get('faq', [FaqController::class, 'index'])->name('shop.faq.index');
});

The edit, update and delete routes share the path edit/{id} and differ by HTTP method, as core's CMS routes do. Like core, the controller takes the id and resolves it through the repository rather than using route model binding.

Test It

1. List the routes. Seven are listed, six admin and one storefront, each with its controller action:

   php artisan route:list --name=faq

2. Open /admin/faq. Until Views creates the templates, it fails with an error about the missing faq view namespace.

Things to Watch

• Keep validation in the form request. Older core controllers call $this->validate() inline; a form request keeps the rules in one class a reviewer can read, and mass actions validate too.
• Scope storefront data to its owner. The FAQ is public, but a storefront controller that shows customer data filters by auth()->guard('customer')->id() in the repository, never by an id from the request alone.
• Fire both events of a pair. A listener that needs the row before it changes, such as a cache that must forget a page before the row is deleted, can only use the before event.
• Change a core controller by binding a subclass. Laravel resolves a route's controller from the container, so binding Webkul\Shop\Http\Controllers\SearchController to your subclass in your provider's register() changes every route that names it, without editing core.

Next Step

The controllers render views that don't exist yet. Next, create them.

Continue to: Views