Smashed Egg — Laravel Console 1.2.0 Released

I’ve been working on a package called Laravel Console, which provides a bunch of enhancements on top of Laravel Console Commands.

Version 1.2.0 has now been released. 😃

Whats New?

A new Trait (Concern in Laravel’s terms) has been added called AskAndValidate. When added to your commands provides the ability to ask a question and validate input, but the best bit is that it will continuously prompt the user until the validation passes.

I stared to write this feature and then thought it might be better in Laravel. So I opened a Pull Request. Sadly it didn’t work out so I’ve finished it off and kept it in my package.

How Do I Use It

Simply add the trait SmashedEgg\LaravelConsole\Concerns\AskAndValidate to your existing commands. Adding this trait provides a new method askAndValidate.

You don't have to extend SmashedEgg\LaravelConsole\Command to use this feature.

With this trait you ask for input and validate in a loop until the value is correct. The resulting code makes commands easy to read by combining the input and checking logic.

Example code below:

<?php

namespace App\Console\Commands;

use Illuminate\Console\Command;
use SmashedEgg\LaravelConsole\Concerns\AskAndValidate;

class AgeCommand extends Command
{
    use AskAndValidate;

    protected $signature = 'ask-age';

    public function handle()
    {
        $age = $this->askAndValidate(question: 'Age ?', rules: ['integer'], messages: ['input.integer' => 'Input must be a number']);
        
        $this->info('You are ' . $age);
        
        return 0;
    }
}

The user will be prompted in a loop until the age is entered correctly.

vagrant@homestead:/var/www/vhosts/laravel$ php artisan ask-age

Age ?:
 > not an age

Invalid input:
Input must be a number

Age ?:
 > 36
 
You are 36

vagrant@homestead:/var/www/vhosts/laravel$

You can configure the rules and message the Validator should use under the hood.

Caveat. When overriding the error messages the input name must always be input. e.g

messages: ['input.integer' => 'Input must be a number']

Conclusion

This update provides a new feature that should be found useful. It should reduce the amount of code used in a command while also keeping it readable and easy to maintain.

Feedback always welcome.