Create Laravel controller with Form Requests, Resources, and Service integration
Create RESTful API controllers following Laravel best practices.
1. Identify Resource
└─→ What model/resource is this controller for?
2. Create Files
├─→ Controller
├─→ Form Requests (Store, Update)
├─→ API Resource
└─→ Routes
3. Implement Methods
└─→ index, store, show, update, destroy
4. Add Tests
└─→ Feature tests for each endpoint
# Create controller
php artisan make:controller Api/UserController --api --model=User
# Create form requests
php artisan make:request StoreUserRequest
php artisan make:request UpdateUserRequest
# Create resource
php artisan make:resource UserResource
# Create test
php artisan make:test UserControllerTest
<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers\Api;
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use App\Http\Requests\Store{Model}Request;
use App\Http\Requests\Update{Model}Request;
use App\Http\Resources\{Model}Resource;
use App\Models\{Model};
use App\Services\{Model}Service;
use Illuminate\Http\JsonResponse;
use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\AnonymousResourceCollection;
class {Model}Controller extends Controller
{
public function __construct(
private {Model}Service ${model}Service
) {}
/**
* Display a listing of the resource.
*/
public function index(): AnonymousResourceCollection
{
${models} = {Model}::query()
->latest()
->paginate();
return {Model}Resource::collection(${models});
}
/**
* Store a newly created resource.
*/
public function store(Store{Model}Request $request): JsonResponse
{
${model} = $this->{model}Service->create($request->validated());
return (new {Model}Resource(${model}))
->response()
->setStatusCode(201);
}
/**
* Display the specified resource.
*/
public function show({Model} ${model}): {Model}Resource
{
return new {Model}Resource(${model});
}
/**
* Update the specified resource.
*/
public function update(Update{Model}Request $request, {Model} ${model}): {Model}Resource
{
${model} = $this->{model}Service->update(${model}, $request->validated());
return new {Model}Resource(${model});
}
/**
* Remove the specified resource.
*/
public function destroy({Model} ${model}): JsonResponse
{
$this->{model}Service->delete(${model});
return response()->json(null, 204);
}
}
// routes/api.php
use App\Http\Controllers\Api\UserController;
Route::apiResource('users', UserController::class);
// Or with specific methods
Route::apiResource('users', UserController::class)
->only(['index', 'show']);
// Nested resources
Route::apiResource('users.orders', UserOrderController::class);
<?php
namespace App\Http\Requests;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;
use Illuminate\Validation\Rule;
class Store{Model}Request extends FormRequest
{
public function authorize(): bool
{
return true;
}
public function rules(): array
{
return [
'name' => ['required', 'string', 'max:255'],
'email' => ['required', 'email', 'unique:users,email'],
'status' => ['required', Rule::in(['active', 'inactive'])],
];
}
}
class Update{Model}Request extends FormRequest
{
public function authorize(): bool
{
return true;
}
public function rules(): array
{
return [
'name' => ['sometimes', 'string', 'max:255'],
'email' => [
'sometimes',
'email',
Rule::unique('users')->ignore($this->user),
],
'status' => ['sometimes', Rule::in(['active', 'inactive'])],
];
}
}
<?php
namespace App\Http\Resources;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\JsonResource;
class {Model}Resource extends JsonResource
{
public function toArray(Request $request): array
{
return [
'id' => $this->id,
'name' => $this->name,
'email' => $this->email,
'status' => $this->status,
'created_at' => $this->created_at->toISOString(),
'updated_at' => $this->updated_at->toISOString(),
// Conditional fields
'orders_count' => $this->when(
$this->orders_count !== null,
$this->orders_count
),
// Relationships (only when loaded)
'orders' => OrderResource::collection(
$this->whenLoaded('orders')
),
];
}
}