MVC (Laravel) where to add logic

Question

Let\'s say whenever I do a CRUD operation or modify a relationship in a specific way I also want to do something else. E.g., whenever someone publishes a post I also want to

Answer 1

What I use to do to create the logic between controllers and models is to create a service layer. Basically, this is my flow for any action within my app:

1. Controller get user's requested action and sent parameters and delegates everything to a service class.
2. Service class do all the logic related to the operation: input validation, event logging, database operations, etc...
3. Model holds information of fields, data transformation, and definitions of attributes validations.

This is how I do it:

This the method of a controller to create something:

public function processCreateCongregation()
{
    // Get input data.
    $congregation                 = new Congregation;
    $congregation->name           = Input::get('name');
    $congregation->address        = Input::get('address');
    $congregation->pm_day_of_week = Input::get('pm_day_of_week');
    $pmHours                      = Input::get('pm_datetime_hours');
    $pmMinutes                    = Input::get('pm_datetime_minutes');
    $congregation->pm_datetime    = Carbon::createFromTime($pmHours, $pmMinutes, 0);

    // Delegates actual operation to service.
    try
    {
        CongregationService::createCongregation($congregation);
        $this->success(trans('messages.congregationCreated'));
        return Redirect::route('congregations.list');
    }
    catch (ValidationException $e)
    {
        // Catch validation errors thrown by service operation.
        return Redirect::route('congregations.create')
            ->withInput(Input::all())
            ->withErrors($e->getValidator());
    }
    catch (Exception $e)
    {
        // Catch any unexpected exception.
        return $this->unexpected($e);
    }
}

This is the service class that does the logic related to the operation:

public static function createCongregation(Congregation $congregation)
{
    // Log the operation.
    Log::info('Create congregation.', compact('congregation'));

    // Validate data.
    $validator = $congregation->getValidator();

    if ($validator->fails())
    {
        throw new ValidationException($validator);
    }

    // Save to the database.
    $congregation->created_by = Auth::user()->id;
    $congregation->updated_by = Auth::user()->id;

    $congregation->save();
}

And this is my model:

class Congregation extends Eloquent
{
    protected $table = 'congregations';

    public function getValidator()
    {
        $data = array(
            'name' => $this->name,
            'address' => $this->address,
            'pm_day_of_week' => $this->pm_day_of_week,
            'pm_datetime' => $this->pm_datetime,
        );

        $rules = array(
            'name' => ['required', 'unique:congregations'],
            'address' => ['required'],
            'pm_day_of_week' => ['required', 'integer', 'between:0,6'],
            'pm_datetime' => ['required', 'regex:/([01]?[0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5]?[0-9]:[0-5][0-9]/'],
        );

        return Validator::make($data, $rules);
    }

    public function getDates()
    {
        return array_merge_recursive(parent::getDates(), array(
            'pm_datetime',
            'cbs_datetime',
        ));
    }
}

For more information about this way I use to organize my code for a Laravel app: https://github.com/rmariuzzo/Pitimi