Laravel 5.3 - Sharing $user variable to all views - php

Question

So after finding out that sharing views in Controller.php's constructer no longer works because it always returns null to Auth::user(), I am looking for a different way to do it.
I am simply looking for a way to pass a $user variable with the current signed in user to all my views.
Previous way which worked in 5.2 and below:
public function __construct()
{
view()->share('signed_in', Auth::check());
view()->share('user', Auth::user());
}
This no longer works. How else can I share variables?
I have tried:
public function __construct()
{
$this->middleware(function ($request, $next) {
$this->user = Auth::user();
$this->signed_in = Auth::guest();
view()->share('signed_in', $this->signed_in);
view()->share('user', $this->user);
return $next($request);
});
}
But the code above does not work. It does load the page without a "Undefined Variable $user" error but it just show the navigation bar and then nothing else. It also messes up the site CSS for some reason.
Is there any other way I can do it?
Please help. Thank you.

Answer 1

I fixed this issue quite easily.
In my \App\Http\Controllers\Controller.php
class Controller extends BaseController
{
use AuthorizesRequests, DispatchesJobs, ValidatesRequests;
private $user;
private $signed_in;
public function __construct()
{
$this->middleware(function ($request, $next) {
$this->user = Auth::user();
$this->signed_in = Auth::check();
view()->share('signed_in', $this->signed_in);
view()->share('user', $this->user);
return $next($request);
});
}
}
By putting the view()->share() in a closure of a middleware, I was able to achieve this.

Answer 2

Yes, for example, you could create a new service provider, and register it in your config/app.php, and put the share logic in there.
Let's start with creating a new service provider:
~/path/to/project$ php artisan make:provider ShareWithViewServiceProvider
You should see the message Provider created successfully.
Then you should edit your config/app.php, and add the new service provider you've just created:
/*
* Application Service Providers...
*/
App\Providers\AppServiceProvider::class,
App\Providers\AuthServiceProvider::class,
// App\Providers\BroadcastServiceProvider::class,
App\Providers\EventServiceProvider::class,
App\Providers\RouteServiceProvider::class,
App\Providers\ShareWithViewServiceProvider::class, // <-- This is the new entry
Then create your logic in the boot method of your service provider:
<?php
namespace App\Providers;
use Illuminate\Support\ServiceProvider;
class ShareWithViewServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
/**
* Bootstrap the application services.
*
* #return void
*/
public function boot()
{
view()->share([
'user' => auth()->user(),
'signedIn' => auth()->check(),
]);
}
/**
* Register the application services.
*
* #return void
*/
public function register()
{
//
}
}
Please keep in mind that auth()->user() will return null if you are not signed in.
As a shorter solution, you can just put the share logic in the app\Providers\AppServiceProvider.php, which Laravel creates by default, and has nothing in it (it's there for us to use).

Answer 3

Using the middleware callback the way you do is a correct way to go about this, but your assignment is wrong.
Use this instead:
$this->signed_in = Auth::check();