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.

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

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