Laravel Service Generator

Quickly generate services for your projects!

Features
Installation
Usage
The service pattern
- When to use the service pattern
- How to use services
  - Static methods
  - Dependency Injection
More generator packages
Contributing
License

Features

This package adds the php artisan make:service {name} command. The command generates an empty service class in app\Services to get started. I made this mainly for own use because I like to be able to generate recurring files from the command line to keep my workflow consistent.

Installation

Install the package with composer.

composer require timwassenburg/laravel-service-generator

Usage

After installation the php artisan make:service {name} will be available in the list of artisan commands.

Generate Service

To generate a new service use the following artisan command.

php artisan make:service UserService

Generate a service for a model

Add a --service or -S param to generate a service for the model.

php artisan make:model Post --service

Use the -a or --all param to generate a service, migration, seeder, factory, policy, and resource controller for the model.

php artisan make:model Post --all

Generate a service for a controller

Add a --service or -S param to generate a service for the controller.

php artisan make:controller PostController --service

The service pattern

When to use the service pattern

A common question is: where do I put my business logic? You want to keep your models thin and your controller functions skinny. There are multiple ways to archive this, extracting your business logic to the service layer is a common method. By encapsulating your business logic in a service class you are able to re-use the logic for example in your controllers, commands, jobs and middelware.

How to use services

Once you have made a service it is time to add your business logic. We will discus how to use a service via static methods, dependency injection and how to use it with interfaces and repositories.

Static methods

a common way to use a service is to call it's methods statically. It is similar to helper functions. Let's say we have a PostService with a method to get a post based on a slug.

namespace App\Services;

use App\Models\Post;

class PostService
{
    // Declare the function as static
    public static function getPostBySlug(string $slug): Post
    {
        return Post::with('tags')
            ->where('slug', $slug)
            ->get();
    }
}

Next you can include the service class for example your controller and call the getPostBySlug method statically.

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

// Include the service
use App\Services\PostService;

class PostController extends Controller
{
    public function show(string $slug)
    {
        // Call the method statically from the service class
        $post = PostService::getPostBySlug($slug);
        
        return view('posts.show', compact('post'));
    }
}#

The getPostBySlug method is in this example a very simple function but as you can see it keeps you controller skinny and and your business logic seperated. Keep in mind that static classes and methods are stateless. The class won't save any data in itself.

Dependency Injection

Another popular method is to use services with dependency injection. With dependency injection you can write loosely coupled code. When done right this will improve the flexibility and maintainability of your code.

The PostService we used as example before will remain almost the same except we don't declare the functions inside the class as static anymore.

namespace App\Services;

use App\Models\Post;

class PostService
{
    public function getPostBySlug(string $slug): Post
    {
        return Post::with('tags')
            ->where('slug', $slug)
            ->get();
    }
}

Next we inject the service into the constructor of the class where we want to use it. Inside the constructor we assign the object to the $postService class property. Now the $postService property will be callable in all functions within the class with $this->postService. While typing your IDE will already typehint the functions in your PostService class, in this case only ->getPostBySlug($slug).

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

// Include the service
use App\Services\PostService;

class PostController extends Controller
{
    // Declare the property
    protected $postService;

    // Inject the service into the constructor
    public function __construct(PostService $postService)
    {
        // Assign the service instance to the class property
        $this->postService = $postService;
    }

    public function show($slug)
    {
        // Call the method you need from the service via the class property
        $post = $this->postService->getPostBySlug($slug);
        
        return view('posts.show', compact('post'));
    }
}

More generator packages

Looking for more ways to speed up your workflow? Make sure to check out these packages.

Contributing

Contributions are what make the open source community such an amazing place to learn, inspire, and create. Any contributions you make are greatly appreciated.

If you have a suggestion that would make this better, please fork the repo and create a pull request. You can also simply open an issue with the tag "enhancement". Don't forget to give the project a star! Thanks again!