Having constants for all pages in Laravel - php

Question

I want to have some constants to have IP, platform, browser to be placed in a single file and to be used in all views and controllers like so:
// inside app/config/constants.php
return [
'IP' => 'some ip'
];
// inside controller
echo Config::get('constants.IP');
But instead of 'some ip', I want to use Request::ip() at least or even better, to use parse_user_agent()['platform'] that its code link is here

Answer 1

Simply you may put something like this in your config file:
return [
'ip' => app('request')->ip()
];
I use a little customized one for my sitewise configs, for example, let's say you want to use something like this:
/**
* Get config/constants.php
*
* [
* 'person' => [
* 'name' => 'Me',
* 'age' => 1000
* ]
* ];
*/
$name = constants('person.name');
So, to achieve this you need to write a function like:
// Helpers/Common.php
function constants($key = null)
{
$constants = config('constants');
return is_null($key) ? $constants : array_get($constants, $key);
}
Now, in your composer.json file you may add the following files entry:
"psr-4": {
"App\\": "app/"
},
"files": ["Helpers/Common.php"]
Then you need to add the constants.php in config directory for example:
<?php
return [
"ip" => app('request')->ip(),
"person" => [
"name" => "Sheikh Heera",
"age" => 10000
],
];
Finally, just run composer-dump from terminal and you are done. So, if the ip key is available in the array then you may just try this:
$ip = constants('ip');
From the view (Blade), you may use following to echo out the ip:
{{ constants('ip') }}
Let's sum up the whole process:
Create a directory in your project root (or inside app if you wish) as Helpers.
Create the Common.php file in that directory and put the array (return it)
Put the constants function (given above) in the Common.php file
Add the files (given above) key in your composer.json file
Run composer-dump to update autoload files
That's it. Use the file name and helper function name that describes your domian, so instead of constants you may use for example: site or your domain name as well.

Answer 2

You can create (or use an existing) a service provider and in the register method use the following code:
view()->share('constants', config('constants', []));
Using share on the view helper function will share the variable over all views.
You can now access this variable in any view, for instance with blade:
{{ array_get($constants, 'ip') }}