Laravel model and controller interaction

Question

I want to know if I'm going about creating and calling two functions from my model to my controller in the simplest and cleanest way.

Model:

public function getPosts()
{
    $post = $this->paginate(4);
    return $post;
}

public function getMonth($post)
{
    $post->month = date('M', strtotime($this->created_at));
    $post->month = strtoupper($post->month);
    return $post->month;
}

public function getDay($post)
{
    $post->day = date('d', strtotime($this->created_at));
    return $post->day;
}

Controller:

public function index()
{
    $post = $this->post->getPosts();
    $post->month = $this->post->getMonth($post);
    $post->day = $this->post->getDay($post);

    return View::make('posts.index', compact('post'));
}

I am unsure about if my controller is acting in a strict MVC way, being that I thought it's only job is to direct traffic, but it's doing more by calling functions from my model. Is this the best way to go about this?

Answer 1

PHP is not my area of expertise, so just some generic notes:

1. 4 is a magic number here:

   $post = $this->paginate(4);
   

   Why is it 4? What the purpose if this number? A named constant or local variable would be readable with a descriptive name.

2. public function getMonth($post)
   {
       $post->month = date('M', strtotime($this->created_at));
       $post->month = strtoupper($post->month);
       return $post->month;
   }
   

   Using a local variable with a proper name, like lowercase_month, in the first line would be readable and more descriptive.

3. These methods violates Command Query Separation since they return some data and modify the $post too.

   Functions should either do something or answer something, but not both.

   Source: Clean Code by Robert C. Martin, Chapter 3: Functions, Command Query Separation p45

4. $post->month = date('M', strtotime($this->created_at));
   $post->month = strtoupper($post->month);
   

   I'd consider moving these calls to the Post class since it seems data envy. (Pseudocode.)

   class Post {
       ...
       public void setMonth($created_at) {
           $lowercase_month = date('M', strtotime($created_at));
           $post->month = strtoupper($lowercase_month);
       }
       ...
   }