Updated April 13, 2023
Introduction to Laravel Helpers
Laravel Helpers are an essential part of the PHP Framework – Laravel. There are some of the global functions which are available within the framework of Laravel and they are specifically purposeful in minimizing the time you invest in working on a project where you can avoid using the repetitive codes with the help of Laravel Helpers. It also makes the workflow convenient. Other than the readily available helper functions, you can also customize your Laravel helper functions according to your instant need. It helps you to save time and also assists you in managing your code framework with better facilities to make your work get complete quicker.
What are Laravel Helpers?
There are quite a good number of functionaries that are readily available in the application of Laravel itself which are used very commonly for different coding purposes. They are assembled based on the functions that they provide and are easy to use for the users who intend to make use of them for coding. To help the user perform the repetitive tasks, Laravel has made sure that these functions are easily available and at the same time there is additionally the benefit of customizing new Laravel Helpers in your projects depending upon the need. It gives you the allowance to create new Laravel Helpers, structure them as per your need and use them effectively in your projects time and again.
Some of the most popular and readily available functions in Laravel Helpers are –URLs, Strings, Paths, Arrays, and Objects. Other than this custom Laravel Helper can be designed using the following steps inside the framework of Laravel itself.
Steps to custom design a Laravel Helper
1. Inside the App Directory, you need to make sure that you create a fresh and new directory and name it as ‘Helpers’. Inside this directory additionally, create a new directory named ‘php’. Whichever helper function you are intending to create can be added inside this file.
2. To make sure that Laravel recognizes the file that we will create and sync it with the application we need to autoload it. With the help of ‘json’, auto loads the ‘helpers.php’ file. Add the following lines there.
"autoload":{
"classmap":[
"database/seeds",
"database/factories"
],
"psr-4":{
"App\\":"app/"
},
"files":[
"app/Helpers/helpers.php"
]
},3. There will be a command termed as a dump-autoload. Run this command and with that, you can easily generate the string command anywhere in the application anytime.
How do Laravel Helpers function?
To understand the functioning of the Laravel Helpers, let us look at the various functions which are provided by Laravel and analyze their purpose.
1. Array and Objects
This is a group and here Laravel provides many functions of manipulations of the array. It so happens that many times you need to complete a variety of operations on array elements that are present in your project and you are helpless about how to get it done. These helpers assist you in the manipulation of the array elements. You can easily collapse a multi-dimensional array that is present into just a single array or even end up returning the very first element available in the array. Many other similar types of manipulations can be performed under this helper function.
2. Paths
They are claimed to be the most useful of all the readily available Laravel Helpers. They perform the function of returning the completely qualified paths of the different directories present in the project. For example app, config, storage, etc. The application base path is also used as well. app_path, database_path, storage_path are some of the popular examples available in this functionary.
3. Strings
Manipulation of the string is something that is a part of most of the projects that are made and are in the making. It becomes something that is of absolute importance. It is popularly demanded by users in their day-to-day working on application development. Strings can be converted into camel case, Basenames of the class can be found out, and htmlspecialchars can be made to run. Similar types of variety of string manipulations are made possible in this Laravel Helper.
4. URLs
They are also popularly used by users throughout the application generation process. Generation of asset, route (URL used for the controller action), and also the formation of action URLs are done with the help of this function that is available as a Laravel Helper. Even the fully qualified URL can be generated for a particularly given path.
The above-mentioned Laravel Helpers and their function capabilities are certainly a necessary part of the Laravel Framework as they are important to ease the working on the application creation processes for which users use Laravel application. The satisfying functions of Laravel Helpers and the need for custom creation of additional helpers are also fulfilled by Laravel.
Examples of Laravel Helpers
The different examples that are available in the Laravel framework are already mentioned above. Let us now look into examples to activate the custom made Laravel Helpers which are popularly used by users for their Laravel Projects and with these examples understand the functioning capacity of Laravel Helpers other than the pre-registered functions.
To call the Helper functions which are customized and created in Laravel, examples are as follows:
Example #1
When you need a new digits numeric code generated, the random_code() function is used for this purpose.
$code = random_code();
print_r($code);Example #2
When you wish to remove the special character from any of the given strings which are available in your project, then you can use the remove_special_char function of the Laravel Framework to do the needful. You can easily modify this function in your Laravel project.
$str = "remove & special #character *in string@$ example."
$remove = remove_special_char($str);
print_r($remove);
//output
remove special character in string exampleConclusion
In Conclusion, we can certainly say that Laravel Helpers are of utmost need and function at the core of the Laravel framework. The benefit of making customized Laravel Helpers along with the readily available Helpers in the framework for easing the repetition problem is something that all the users look up to and believe will always remain as an important part of Laravel’s functioning.
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