1. Make your code more elegant using Eloquent query scopes

$adminUsers = User::where('active', '=', 1)->where('is_admin', '=', 1)->get();

In order to make our code more readable and not be repetitive, we can use query scopes. For our example, we would create the following functions in our User model:

public function scopeActive(Builder $query): void
{
    $query->where('active', true);
}

public function scopeAdmin(Builder $query): void
{
    $query->where('admin', true);
}

Please visit https://laravel.com/docs/10.x/eloquent#query-scopes for further information.

2. Set column value automatically on model create

There are some situations in which you want to set a certain column automatically when creating a new record. In order to achieve this, you can use the model's creating event inside the boot method of the model.

The example below shows us creating a token when a newsletter entry is created.

class Newsletter extends Model 
{
    protected static function boot()
    {
        parent::boot();

        Newsletter::creating(function(Newsletter $newsletter) {
            $newsletter->token = Str::uuid()->toString();
        });
    }
}

The above will populate the token field on the newsletter when created with a UUID.

3. Avoid errors by using the optional helper

When accessing object values, if that object is null, your code will raise an error. For example:

return $invoice->total;

Would raise an error if the invoice object was empty. A simple way of avoiding errors is to use the optional Laravel helper:

return optional($invoice)->total;

Now, if the $invoice object is null, your code will return null instead of raising an error. You may also use a closure with the optional helper. It receives the closure as it's second argument and it will be called if the first argument is not null.

return optional(Invoice::find($id), function ($invoice) {
    return $invoice->total;
});