Repopulate Laravel Input::old() on Form::select - php

Question

I can't manage to repopulate a Select field input after a query, using Laravel 4:
// Route
Route::get('blog', 'BlogController#getPosts');
// BlogController
public function getPosts()
{
$posts = Post::where('category_id', Input::get('category'))->paginate(25);
$categories = Category::lists('title', 'id');
return View::make('blog', compact('categories', 'posts'));
}
// Blog view
{{ Form::open('method' => 'get', 'id' => 'form-search') }}
{{ Form::select('category', $categories, Input::old('category')) }}
{{ Form::close() }}
I managed to make it work this way, but it's not the best practice
<select name="category" id="category">
<option value="1" {{ (Input::get('category') == 1) ? 'selected="selected"' : null }}>Category 1</option>
<option value="2" {{ (Input::get('category') == 2) ? 'selected="selected"' : null }}>Category 2</option>
<option value="3" {{ (Input::get('category') == 3) ? 'selected="selected"' : null }}>Category 3</option>
</select>
I think the Input::old('category') doesn't work because it is a GET request, am I right? Is there any workarounds?
Update : I finally made it work using Input::get() instead of Input::old() :
{{ Form::select('category', $categories, Input::get('category')) }}

Answer 1

It seems you're not even retrieving the old input, you will need to pass it to the view. You can do that in one of two ways, the easiest and best to understand is to just specify that you want to pass input.
return View::make('blog', compact('categories', 'posts'))->withInput();
Also, you don't need the markup in your HTML. Laravel will do this for you if you just give it the value of the old Input. It works very well.

Answer 2

Perhaps this will work
public function getPosts()
{
$category_id = Input::get('category');
$posts = Post::where('category_id', $category_id)->paginate(25);
$categories = Category::lists('title', 'id');
return View::make('blog', compact('categories', 'posts', 'category_id'));
}
// Blog view
{{ Form::open('method' => 'get', 'id' => 'form-search') }}
{{ Form::select('category', $categories, $category_id) }}
{{ Form::close() }}