PHP (Laravel) : Enum Package

Introduction
 Many programming languages have a specific data type called enums(enumerations), that lets a variable be any of a predetermined set of constants. PHP 8.1 saw the introduction of enums, which provide you the ability to declare a group of named values that may be used as type-safe constants in your code

1. Install Laravel
       - You can use the following command to launch a Laravel project if you haven't before.

composer create-project laravel/laravel laravel_tutorial --prefer-dist

2. Create the Enum class:
       - Create a new PHP file inside the app/Enums directory, for example, StatusEnum.php. This file will contain the enum constants and their associated values:

<?php
namespace App\Enums;

enum StatusEnum: string {
    Case Pending = 'pending';
    Case Active = 'active';
    Case Inactive = 'inactive';

    public static function getValues() : array 
    {
        return array_column(self::cases(), 'value');
    }
    
    public static function getNames(): array
    {
      return array_column(self::cases(), 'name');
    }
 
    public static function toArray(): array
    {
      return array_combine(self::getNames(), self::getValues());
    }
}

3. Enum Casting in the Model:
       - Laravel provides a useful feature that allows you to cast attribute values as enums directly within the relevant model.

<?php
namespace App\Models;

use App\Enums\StatusEnum;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Auth\User as Authenticatable;
use Illuminate\Notifications\Notifiable;
use Laravel\Sanctum\HasApiTokens;

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use HasApiTokens, HasFactory, Notifiable;
    
    protected $fillable = [
        'name',
        'email',
        'password',
        'status'
    ];

    protected $hidden = [
        'password',
        'remember_token',
    ];
    
    protected $casts = [
        'email_verified_at' => 'datetime',
        'password' => 'hashed',
        'status' => StatusEnum::class,
    ];
}

4. Database Migration:
-  In your database migration files, you can define ENUM columns using the ->enum() method: 

<?php

use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;
use App\Enums\StatusEnum;

return new class extends Migration
{
    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     */
    public function up(): void
    {
        Schema::create('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
		//…
            $table->enum('status', StatusEnum::getValues() )->default(StatusEnum::Pending->value);
        });
    }
};

Run the “php artisan migrate” command to update the status columns in the user table.
 

5. Retrieve the enum values: 

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Enums\StatusEnum;

class UserController extends Controller
{
    public function index() {
        $status = StatusEnum::toArray();
        return view('user.index', compact('status'));
    }
}

6. Validate Enum Values.
      -  In this example, we will demonstrate how to validate a form field using enum values. Enums are a powerful way to define a set of named constants, which can be used to enforce specific, valid values for a given field.
 

<?php

use App\Enums\StatusEnum;
use Illuminate\Validation\Rules\Enum;

public function store(Request $request)
{
	$request->validate([
		'status' => ['required', new Enum(StatusEnum::class)],
	]);
	// Proceed with storing the data
}

Thanks for reading.