Setting default of <options> in Laravel with PHP Match

Question

I have a filter component that lets a user filter for events on a website. The user needs to see which category is currently selected in the filter. For this there is a URL with parameters.

e.g. /events?category=1

The code will match the category to the <option> in the <select>.

The code:

<?php
$selected = 'selected';
if (Request::is('courses')) {
 $category = '0';
 if (request()->get('category')) {
 [$selected, $category] = match (request()->get('category')) {
 '0' => [$selected, '0'],
 '1' => [$selected, '1'],
 '2' => [$selected, '2'],
 '3' => [$selected, '3'],
 '4' => [$selected, '4'],
 '5' => [$selected, '5'],
 '6' => [$selected, '6'],
 '7' => [$selected, '7'],
 '8' => [$selected, '8'],
 };
 }
}
if (Request::is('events')) {
 $category = '1';
 if (request()->get('category')) {
 [$selected, $category] = match (request()->get('category')) {
 '0' => [$selected, '0'],
 '1' => [$selected, '1'],
 '2' => [$selected, '2'],
 '3' => [$selected, '3'],
 '4' => [$selected, '4'],
 '5' => [$selected, '5'],
 '6' => [$selected, '6'],
 '7' => [$selected, '7'],
 '8' => [$selected, '8'],
 };
 }
}
?>
<form class="container">
 <div class="bg-white p-6 rounded-lg">
 <div class="grid grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2 gap-6">
 <div>
 <label class="mb-3 inline-block">Category</label>
 <select aria-label="Category" name="category" class="w-full bg-gray-200 p-3 rounded-lg">
 <option value="0" @if ($category === '0') Selected @endif>All</option>
 <option value="1" @if ($category === '1') Selected @endif>Selected Events 1</option>
 <option value="2" @if ($category === '2') Selected @endif>Selected Events 2</option>
 <option value="3" @if ($category === '3') Selected @endif>Selected Events 3</option>
 <option value="4" @if ($category === '4') Selected @endif>Selected Events 4</option>
 <option value="5" @if ($category === '5') Selected @endif>Selected Events 5</option>
 <option value="6" @if ($category === '6') Selected @endif>Selected Events 6</option>
 <option value="7" @if ($category === '7') Selected @endif>Selected Events 7</option>
 <option value="8" @if ($category === '8') Selected @endif>Selected Events 8</option>
 </select>
 </div>
 <div class="flex items-end">
 <x-button type="submit" class="w-full">Search</x-button>
 </div>
 </div>
 </div>
</form>

is there any way to simplify this code? I could only think of this way, but I am still a beginner with PHP. The Categories are not stored in a DB table, so getting it from the DB is not possible.

• Sᴀᴍ Onᴇᴌᴀ: I saw your suggested edit and addressed it in the addition added in revision 5

Answer 1

Some variable assignments are excessive

Let's look at what $selected is set to:

$selected = 'selected';

Then in both of the match statements $selected is always assigned to $selected so the return expressions from the match statements can simply return the value for $category - i.e.

 [$selected, $category] = match (request()->get('category')) {
 '0' => [$selected, '0'],
 '1' => [$selected, '1'],
 '2' => [$selected, '2'],
 '3' => [$selected, '3'],
 '4' => [$selected, '4'],
 '5' => [$selected, '5'],
 '6' => [$selected, '6'],
 '7' => [$selected, '7'],
 '8' => [$selected, '8'],
 };

can be simplified to the following:

 $category = match (request()->get('category')) {
 '0' => '0',
 '1' => '1',
 '2' => '2',
 '3' => '3',
 '4' => '4',
 '5' => '5',
 '6' => '6',
 '7' => '7',
 '8' => '8',
 };

Simplify assigning category variable

A simpler way of assigning $category would be to check if request()->get('category') has an integer value between 0 and 8. That could be achieved using intval(), in_array() and range()

$requestCategory = request()->get('category');
if (in_array(intval($requestCategory), range(0, 8))) {
 $category = $requestCategory
}

Set category default before checking request value

Removing the match statements above could lead to these first two conditions:

if (Request::is('courses')) {
 $category = '0';
} else if (Request::is('events')) {
 $category = '1';
}

Then the isset() function can be used to check if either of those conditions were true and that variable was set:

if (isset($category)) {
 $requestCategory = request()->get('category');
 if (in_array(intval($requestCategory), range(0, 8))) {
 $category = $requestCategory;
 }
}

Edit:

I saw in your suggested edit that you proposed simply checking if there is a value in request()->get('category') instead of using isset($category) - while it would technically be different functionality than the original code, that could be done instead.

In that case $requestCategory could be assigned within the conditional statement, though some argue it is less readable. I will leave it up to you to decide whether to use that or not.

if ($requestCategory = request()->get('category')) {
 if (in_array(intval($requestCategory), range(0, 8))) {
 $category = $requestCategory;
 }
}

With the assignment moved out of the conditional it could allow for the two conditionals to be combined, allowing for the indentation levels to be decreased:

$requestCategory = request()->get('category')
if ($requestCategory && in_array(intval($requestCategory), range(0, 8))) {
 $category = $requestCategory;
}

The template can have a loop instead of numerous nearly identical lines

Blade templates support loops. So these repeated lines:

<option value="0" @if ($category === '0') Selected @endif>All</option>
<option value="1" @if ($category === '1') Selected @endif>Selected Events 1</option>
<option value="2" @if ($category === '2') Selected @endif>Selected Events 2</option>
<option value="3" @if ($category === '3') Selected @endif>Selected Events 3</option>
<option value="4" @if ($category === '4') Selected @endif>Selected Events 4</option>
<option value="5" @if ($category === '5') Selected @endif>Selected Events 5</option>
<option value="6" @if ($category === '6') Selected @endif>Selected Events 6</option>
<option value="7" @if ($category === '7') Selected @endif>Selected Events 7</option>
<option value="8" @if ($category === '8') Selected @endif>Selected Events 8</option>

Could be simplified to the following. Note it uses the @selected directive mentioned in the Additional Attributes section. This allows for $selected to be eliminated.

<option value="0" @selected($category === '0')>All</option>
@for ($i = 1; $i < 9; $i++)
 <option value="{{ $i }}" @selected($category == $i)>Selected Events {{ $i }}</option>
@endfor

The range() function could also be used with a @foreach loop:

<option value="0" @selected($category === '0')>All</option>
@foreach (range(1, 8) as $i)
 <option value="{{ $i }}" @selected($category == $i)>Selected Events {{ $i }}</option>
@endfor

• anon: Thank you very much, this solves most of the issues. The only thing with the loop is that the <option> dont have the same names. So it is not always "Selected Events", but "Event Name 1", "Lorem Impsum" etc.
• Ismael Miguel: @Maximilian Instead of a range function, you can use an array with all the names. For example: $categories = ['All', 'Category 1', 'Never gonna give you up', 'Lorem ipsum dolor']; in the PHP part. Then the loop can be @foreach ($categories as $i => $name) <option value="{{ $i }}" @selected($category == $i)>{{ $name }}</option> @endfor.