Laravel is known for its beautiful, expressive syntax. One of the underrated gems in its collection of helpers is the when() method. A small but powerful helper, when() can greatly improve the readability and maintainability of your code, especially when it comes to performing conditional logic inside collections, queries, and many other complex situations.
In this blog, we will discuss how Laravel’s when() method works to perform conditional tasks with clean and concise code.
Prerequirement:
- Composer (latest Version)
- Laravel version 12
Steps to Use when() Helper in Laravel:
Step 1: Create a New Laravel Project
composer create-project laravel/laravel when-demo-project
cd when-demo-projectStep 2: Create Your Controller
php artisan make:controller DemoControllerThis will create a controller at app/Http/Controllers/DemoController.php.
Now, open the file and update the checkCondition() method like this:
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\View;
class ViewController extends Controller
{
public function checkCondition()
{
$currentUser = "farmers";
return when($currentUser === 'farmers', function () {
return view('farmerView');
}, function () {
return view('defaultView');
});
}
}Step 3: Add the Route
Route::get('/', [DemoController::class, 'checkCondition']);Step 4: Create Blade View Files
php artisan make:view farmerView
php artisan make:view defaultviewresources/views/farmerView.blade.php
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>farmers</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Welcome, farmers</h1>
</body>
</html>resources/views/defaultView.blade.php
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Guest page</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Please login</h1>
</body>
</html>Step 5: Test It
php artisan serveNow open this URL in your browser:
http://localhost:8000
Output:
If the current user is a farmer, then you will see:
“Welcome, farmers”
If the current user is not a farmer, then you will see:
“Please login”
Conclusion
With the help of Laravel’s when() function, we can expressively and readably combine decision-making and execution into a single call, thereby greatly simplifying the complexity of conditional logic.
If you have any questions, let me know in the comments.
FAQ
- What is Laravel?
With its expressive and elegant syntax, Laravel is a web application framework that offers a starting point and foundation for PHP web application development.
- Why Use Laravel?
Laravel has a rich set of features, including an expressive database abstraction layer (Eloquent), powerful templating engine (Blade), built-in authentication and authorization, routing system, queues, scheduled jobs, and a command-line interface (Artisan CLI). It offers a variety of tools to aid in development and is centered on the developer experience.
- What is the when() helper function in Laravel?
Laravel’s when() helper is a conditional tool that lets you do something only if a certain condition is met. It makes code more expressive and cleaner, particularly in pipelines, collections, and query builders.
