Forem: Timothy Soladoye

Tools for Starting a Business or Testing an Idea: A Beginner's Guide

Timothy Soladoye — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 08:54:08 +0000

When starting a business or testing an idea, having the right tools can make all the difference. Here's a list of essential tools that are easy to set up and cost-effective:

Website Builder - carrd.co - free
An intuitive platform that allows you to create simple, responsive one-page websites for free, perfect for landing pages or quick MVPs.
Domain Name - Namecheap - 8 USD/year
Secure your domain name for just $8 a year, providing your business with a professional online identity.
DNS - Cloudflare - free
Manage your DNS with Cloudflare for free, benefiting from enhanced security and performance.
Mail - Zoho mail - free
A free, ad-free email hosting solution that lets you use your domain name for your business emails
Design - Canva - free
Create stunning visuals, social media posts, and marketing materials effortlessly with this user-friendly design tool.
Socials - Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok, LinkedIn, Instagram - free
Leverage these free platforms to build your brand's presence, engage with customers, and market your offerings.
App Development - Laravel
A powerful PHP framework for building robust web applications, suitable for startups aiming to develop a custom app
VPS - DigitalOcean from 4USD/Month
Get your app online with affordable and reliable VPS hosting, starting at just $4 per month.
Reporting - Metabase
A free, open-source business intelligence tool that helps you create custom reports and dashboards to track your business metrics and make data-driven decisions.
ChatGPT - Because why not!
For brainstorming, content creation, or customer support, ChatGPT can be a versatile tool in your startup toolkit.

Laravel Cookie Consent (EU Cookie Law)

Timothy Soladoye — Tue, 14 May 2024 14:17:29 +0000

Have you accessed a site and see a pop asking you to accept cookies? Do you know what it is for?
It is enforced by this EU Law (Cookies and similar technologies).

There are many ways to implement this pop up in your laravel application, but a simple one is laravel-cookie-consent from spatie (of course).

It is quite simple to use. (Also check the documentation)

Steps
Install the package
composer require spatie/laravel-cookie-consent

Use this in your blade file
@include('cookie-consent::index')

This will give you just a basic pop up with text

Your experience on this site will be improved by allowing cookies. Allow Cookies

You can customize this message and change your button. View the documentation to customize.
Note
It's always best to consult a lawyer to know what content to show on your website that obeys the EU Law

This is a basic article 😊

PHP Blade Loop Variable $loop variable

Timothy Soladoye — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 06:38:23 +0000

Below is a snippet from a project of mine. The first column of the table is for S/N. starting at 1.

Note the variable $loop

@foreach($payments as $payment)
       <tr>
          <td>{{$loop->index+1}}</td>
          <td>{{$payment->reference}}</td>
       </tr>
@endforeach

It is called the Loop variable.
During the execution of a foreach loop, you will have access to a $loop variable within the loop itself.

You can check if the current iteration is the first using
$loop->first

@foreach($payments as $payment)
       @if($loop->first)
           This is the first iteration.
       @endif($loop->first)
@endforeach

In a case of nested loop, you have access to the parent loop using
$loop->parent

@foreach ($users as $user)
    @foreach ($user->posts as $post)
        @if ($loop->parent->first)
            This is the first iteration of the parent loop.
        @endif
    @endforeach
@endforeach

Other useful variables available on the $loop variables are

Property	Description
$loop->index	The index of the current loop iteration (starts at 0).
$loop->iteration	The current loop iteration (starts at 1).
$loop->remaining	The iterations remaining in the loop.
$loop->count	The total number of items in the array being iterated.
$loop->first	Whether this is the first iteration through the loop.
$loop->last	Whether this is the last iteration through the loop.
$loop->even	Whether this is an even iteration through the loop.
$loop->odd	Whether this is an odd iteration through the loop.
$loop->depth	The nesting level of the current loop.
$loop->parent	When in a nested loop, the parent's loop variable.

List the data counted in mysql COUNT() GROUB BY GROUP_CONCAT()

Timothy Soladoye — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 10:22:25 +0000

We all know the regular group by and count

SELECT errors, COUNT(id) AS count AS ids 
FROM table GROUP BY errors;

What if you want to see the ids that made up the count you have?
GROUP_CONCAT() will do that for you!

SELECT errors, COUNT(id) AS count, GROUP_CONCAT(id) AS ids 
FROM table GROUP BY errors;

errors	count	ids
error1	4	2,3,4,5
error2	2	1,6
error3	1	8

Stop Using whereDate() Laravel

Timothy Soladoye — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 10:47:44 +0000

whereDate is a harmless eloquent method, or is it??

$users = DB::table('users')
                ->whereDate('created_at', '2016-12-31')
                ->get();

When you are querying a table with large data, whereDate is a bad option.

Reasons

The query does a full table scan
It does not allow indexed columns to work.

My Personal Experience
A snippet from my code before

$message_week=Log::where('user_id',$user->id)
         ->whereDate('created_at','>=',$week_started_date)
         ->count();

I changed it to this and I had great performance improvement

$date=$week_started_date->format('Y-m-d');
$message_week=Log::where('user_id',$user->id)
         ->where('created_at','>=',$date.' 00:00:00')
         ->count();

Take note of the space before the 00 in ' 00:00:00'
It is buiding the date to be 2022-12-31 00:00:00

Stop using whereDate for large data query

Laravel Excel Export with Dropdown Columns

Timothy Soladoye — Fri, 12 May 2023 09:04:37 +0000

You can generate an excel with column dropdown in Laravel. It will look like this

It will come with a prompt
Pick from list
Please pick a value from the drop-down list

You can modify the prompt. Continue to see how



$validation->setError('Value is not in list.');
$validation->setPromptTitle('Pick from list');
$validation->setPrompt('Please pick a value from the drop-down list.');

To do this with Laravel, you need to have this package Laravel Excel. It used to be called Maatwebsite Laravel Excel

First create a new Excel Export using
php artisan make:export UserExport

Implement the following interfaces



<?php

namespace App\Exports;

use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\FromCollection;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\WithEvents;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\WithHeadings;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Events\AfterSheet;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Cell\Coordinate;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Cell\DataValidation;

class UserExport implements FromCollection,WithHeadings,WithEvents
{

Next define the variables



protected  $selects;
protected  $row_count;
protected  $column_count;

In the Constructor



public function __construct()
    {
        $status=['active','pending','disabled'];
        $departments=['Account','Admin','Ict','Sales'];
        //$departments=ModelName::pluck('name')->toArray(); You can get values from a model or DB Facade
        $selects=[  //selects should have column_name and options
            ['columns_name'=>'D','options'=>$departments], //Column D has heading departments. See headings() method below
            ['columns_name'=>'E','options'=>$status],
        ];

        $this->selects=$selects;
        $this->row_count=50;//number of rows that will have the dropdown
        $this->column_count=5;//number of columns to be auto sized
    }

Other needed methods collection and headings



 public function collection()
    {
        return collect([]);
    }


    public function headings(): array
    {
        return [
            'name', //column A
            'email', //column B
            'phone', //column C
            'department', //column D
            'status', //column E
            'role', //column F
        ];
    }

Copy this method registerEvents and place at the end of the class (You don't need to dive deep into this though 😊)



public function registerEvents(): array
    {
        return [
            // handle by a closure.
            AfterSheet::class => function(AfterSheet $event) {
                $row_count = $this->row_count;
                $column_count = $this->column_count;
                foreach ($this->selects as $select){
                    $drop_column = $select['columns_name'];
                    $options = $select['options'];
                    // set dropdown list for first data row
                    $validation = $event->sheet->getCell("{$drop_column}2")->getDataValidation();
                    $validation->setType(DataValidation::TYPE_LIST );
                    $validation->setErrorStyle(DataValidation::STYLE_INFORMATION );
                    $validation->setAllowBlank(false);
                    $validation->setShowInputMessage(true);
                    $validation->setShowErrorMessage(true);
                    $validation->setShowDropDown(true);
                    $validation->setErrorTitle('Input error');
                    $validation->setError('Value is not in list.');
                    $validation->setPromptTitle('Pick from list');
                    $validation->setPrompt('Please pick a value from the drop-down list.');
                    $validation->setFormula1(sprintf('"%s"',implode(',',$options)));

                    // clone validation to remaining rows
                    for ($i = 3; $i <= $row_count; $i++) {
                        $event->sheet->getCell("{$drop_column}{$i}")->setDataValidation(clone $validation);
                    }
                    // set columns to autosize
                    for ($i = 1; $i <= $column_count; $i++) {
                        $column = Coordinate::stringFromColumnIndex($i);
                        $event->sheet->getColumnDimension($column)->setAutoSize(true);
                    }
                }

            },
        ];
    }

Putting all together, This is a snippet of a working class for Laravel Export with Dropdown options



<?php

namespace App\Exports;

use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\FromCollection;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\WithEvents;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Concerns\WithHeadings;
use Maatwebsite\Excel\Events\AfterSheet;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Cell\Coordinate;
use PhpOffice\PhpSpreadsheet\Cell\DataValidation;

class UserExport implements FromCollection,WithHeadings,WithEvents
{
    protected  $users;
    protected  $selects;
    protected  $row_count;
    protected  $column_count;

    public function __construct()
    {
        $status=['active','pending','disabled'];
        $departments=['Account','Admin','Ict','Sales'];
        //$departments=\ModelName::pluck('name')->toArray();
        $selects=[  //selects should have column_name and options
            ['columns_name'=>'D','options'=>$departments],
            ['columns_name'=>'E','options'=>$status],
        ];
        $this->selects=$selects;
        $this->row_count=50;//number of rows that will have the dropdown
        $this->column_count=5;//number of columns to be auto sized
    }

    public function collection()
    {
        return collect([]);
    }


    public function headings(): array
    {
        return [
            'name',
            'email',
            'phone',
            'department',
            'status',
            'role',
        ];
    }


    /**
     * @return array
     */
    public function registerEvents(): array
    {
        return [
            // handle by a closure.
            AfterSheet::class => function(AfterSheet $event) {
                $row_count = $this->row_count;
                $column_count = $this->column_count;
                foreach ($this->selects as $select){
                    $drop_column = $select['columns_name'];
                    $options = $select['options'];
                    // set dropdown list for first data row
                    $validation = $event->sheet->getCell("{$drop_column}2")->getDataValidation();
                    $validation->setType(DataValidation::TYPE_LIST );
                    $validation->setErrorStyle(DataValidation::STYLE_INFORMATION );
                    $validation->setAllowBlank(false);
                    $validation->setShowInputMessage(true);
                    $validation->setShowErrorMessage(true);
                    $validation->setShowDropDown(true);
                    $validation->setErrorTitle('Input error');
                    $validation->setError('Value is not in list.');
                    $validation->setPromptTitle('Pick from list');
                    $validation->setPrompt('Please pick a value from the drop-down list.');
                    $validation->setFormula1(sprintf('"%s"',implode(',',$options)));

                    // clone validation to remaining rows
                    for ($i = 3; $i <= $row_count; $i++) {
                        $event->sheet->getCell("{$drop_column}{$i}")->setDataValidation(clone $validation);
                    }
                    // set columns to autosize
                    for ($i = 1; $i <= $column_count; $i++) {
                        $column = Coordinate::stringFromColumnIndex($i);
                        $event->sheet->getColumnDimension($column)->setAutoSize(true);
                    }
                }

            },
        ];
    }
}

Storing Variables in a Laravel App Database

Timothy Soladoye — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 08:30:31 +0000

How I use settings table to manage variables across Laravel app database

While working on Laravel applications that requires a lot of configurations, I had a problem with storing the data in the database

Do I keep creating new tables anytime I want to store a setting?

Do I keep adding new columns on existing tables to store these variables?

I then came up with the settings table approach

It's a simple but effective approach.

I use a table settings to store all details of a variable

I can query the table to get current value of the variable

I can update the table to store updated value

php artisan make:model Setting -m
//This will create a Setting Model and settings_table migration

<?php

namespace App;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Setting extends Model
{
    protected $fillable=['name','slug','value','description'];

    protected $casts=[
        'value'=>'array'
    ];
}

The settings table has the following columns

name : to store the name of the setting item
slug : to store a unique name of the setting item for querying
value : to store the value of the setting item
description : to store details of the setting item

the value column is casted to array; this is to handle setting values that are in an array form

Querying the table

The settings table is queried either using eloquent or DB facade

//array values
$approved_users=\App\Setting::where('slug','approved_users')->first()->value ?? [];

//integer value
$percentage=\App\Setting::where('slug','percentage')->first()->value ?? 20;

//boolean value
$use_old_process=\DB::table('settings')->where('slug','use_old_process')->value('value') ?? 1;

Conclusion

This is how I handle some settings in Laravel applications with a lot of configurations. It is not a standard to be enforced. It solved my problem, it could solve yours

If you have a better way of storing variables in an application, please leave a comment.

Cheers 😊

Replace Nested If Else Statement with Array

Timothy Soladoye — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 22:09:04 +0000

Replace Nested If Else Statement with Array

The use of Early return and Array Approach will be considered

Nested if else

I am very sure we have either written or seen such nested code.

It isn't pleasant to look at.

public function checkData($var){
    if (isset($var)){
          if ($var==1){
              return 'one';
          }
          elseif($var==2){
              return 'two';
          }
          elseif($var==3){
              return 'three';
          }
          elseif($var==4){
              return 'four';
          }    
    }
    else{
     return 'null';
    }

}

We can make it better

Early Return

public function checkData($var){
    if (!isset($var)){
        return 'null';
    }
    if ($var==1){
        return 'one';
    }
    if($var==2){
        return 'two';
    }
    if($var==3){
        return 'three';
    }
    if($var==4){
        return 'four';
    }
}

Array Approach

public function checkData($var){
    $array = [
    '1'=>'one',
    '2'=>'two',
    '3'=>'three',
    '4'=>'four',
    ];
    return $array[$var] ?? 'null'; 
}

The array approach is easy to update and easier to understand as compared to the nested If Else.

The early return also works very fine!

The Array approach can also be used for methods.

Early return Method calling

public function checkData($var){
    if (!isset($var)){
        return $this->nullMethod($var);
    }
    if ($var==1){
        return $this->oneMethod($var);
    }
    if($var==2){
        return $this->twoMethod($var);
    }
    if($var==3){
        return $this->threeMethod($var);
    }
    if($var==4){
        return $this->fourMethod($var);
    }
}

Array Approach Method calling

public function checkData($var){
 $array_methods = [
    '1'=>'oneMethod',
    '2'=>'twoMethod',
    '3'=>'threeMethod',
    '4'=>'fourMethod',
    ];
    return $this->{$array_methods[$var]($var)};

    //to simplify, break it down
    $method=$array_methods[$var];
    return $this->{$method}($var);
}

Laravel : Query Comma Separated Column using Eloquent and MySQL find_in_set

Timothy Soladoye — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 15:38:17 +0000

Laravel : Query Comma Separated Column using Eloquent and MySQL find_in_set

Introduction

It is not uncommon to store comma separated values in a mysql column in a Laravel Project

colours : "red,blue,green,yellow,black,white"

users : "77,4,5,688,5454,342,32,332"

tags : "mysql,laravel,css,html"

Querying the Column

MySQL Function FIND_IN_SET() can be used to query

$search;
ModelName::whereRaw("FIND_IN_SET($search,colours)");

ModelName::whereRaw("FIND_IN_SET($search,users)");

ModelName::whereRaw("FIND_IN_SET($search,tags)");

Querying the Column - With Protection against SQL Injection

$search;
ModelName::whereRaw("FIND_IN_SET(?,colours)",[$search]);

ModelName::whereRaw("FIND_IN_SET(?,users)",[$search]);

ModelName::whereRaw("FIND_IN_SET(?,tags)",[$search]);

As Scopes in the Model

    class ModelName extends Model{


        public function scopeContainsTag($query,$tag){
            return $query->whereRaw("FIND_IN_SET(?,tags)",[$tag]);
        } 
    }

You can call the scope while querying the model from a controller

    public function index(Request $request){
        ModelName::containsTag($request->tag_name)->get();
    }

Note

There are other ways of storing data in a column other than using comma separated,
Read Laravel Documentation Array & JSON Casting

First Post - Intro

Timothy Soladoye — Sat, 09 Jul 2022 09:52:17 +0000

After being on here for about 28 months. It's time to start writing posts here.

I start with an intro

I am Tim #timoye

Tech Stacks: PHP/Laravel, Javascript/Vuejs, jQuery
Databases: MySQL, MSSQL, SQLite
Reporting: Metabase
Infrastructure: Azure, Heroku, Forge, Digital Ocean, AWS
Industry: Logistics, Procurement, Finance, HR, Health

...and growing