How to initialize a class in its constructor with session data, while being able to inject it in a controller's constructor

I usually just have a "use" statement:

use App\Helpers\ChkAuth;

But in a helper I use static methods. The one "use" statement makes all methods available.

If you need instance methods, you could setup a __callStatic(). I have done this in cakephp.

As example I can call from a scope:

    public static function chkRole($role = null)
    {
        $userrole = Auth::user()->role;
        $checkrole = explode(',', $userrole);
        if (in_array($role, $checkrole)) {
            return true;
        }
        return false;
    }

If seeing if the role is an admin the query is build to show all, if just user, the query then just shows that user's data.

Thanks for your answer @jlrdw!

When you say to use a use statement I suppose you mean to create the instance of the class by using new, right? If that is the case, I would rather not, as I am currently making this class a singleton using the service container. This is for efficiency reasons, as every time the helper is instantiated it runs multiple SQL queries (in the example I provided there would be only one query, but it would still not be ideal).

No a static method doesn't need "new", only instance methods. They are available right away.

I found this as well: https://laracasts.com/discuss/channels/code-review/singleton

I can't use static methods as the Helper class has state. In fact there are class attributes. In a static method I wouldn't be able to access those attributes.

See updated answer, it talks about singleton. I use Auth and session in helper, just needs "use" statement.

Like above:

$userrole = Auth::user()->role;

So, you're saying I should delegate the initialization of the Helper class to the methods in that class so I can use the session because they will be called in a situation that the session would already be created?

perhaps use your initialize method, but call it from middleware?

You would then only need to do it once, avoiding the need to check in each of your methods?

If you don't use middleware as suggested, Just the "use" statement is required in a class to make the static methods available.

If you need another example, let me know. But perhaps middleware would work as well. I just use other frameworks also, and stay away from framework "biased" code.

What @snapey proposes is an interesting approach, but for some reason I think it feels dirty, as it happens to work just because it is a singleton. If it weren't, then you wouldn't be able to get every single instance of the class.

Regarding what you're proposing @jlrdw, the problem I see is what I already contemplated in the main post. By delegating the logic into their own method and then hiding it under a trait, I would still have to remember every time that a public method is created to run this one to check if the class has been initialized before and, if not, do it again. I think you're forgetting that the class has state and that there's a private $settings attribute that I have to set different values depending on whether the user is logged in or not.

I did not know you were also going to use a trait. But look at how Auth is handled. A facade is used. Maybe you could search the API, and even make a facade. After all Taylor did it for authentication.

I also do similar in a custom framework, but use a __callStatic() in a method.

But deep in the jungles of the vendor folder, is how Taylor does it also. In fact I learned this and other things from Taylor in updating other things.

Also try to google:

site:laracasts.com your search term

@jlrdw No, I'm not using traits. I missunderstood you. I just don't know where you're going with your static method. Maybe if you provided some code based on the example I provided it would make it much more clearer to me what you're trying to say. But I would like to avoid static methods as they're generally considered a bad practice.

how do you want it to work?

I am not sure, actually. I liked what you proposed as it would be a way to initialize when it actually can, but what would you do if it weren't a singleton? Because this problem could arise in a situation were I wouldn't want/need a singleton and I would be back at the same problem.

You would need an array bound to the container, and then call the initialize/boot method on each

You said you want to avoid static methods, that's what __callStatic() is for.

As I said the API will show how Taylor uses it.

I don't have a good laravel example, but here is a cake php example.

Here is what a session read looks like in cakephp 4

$this->request->getSession()->read('areturn');

I, in a helper needed a static call, so I wrote a helper class:

<?php

namespace App\Helpers;

use Cake\Http\Session;

class SessionHelper
{
    public static function __callStatic($method, $params)
    {
        $instance = Session::class;
        $c = new $instance;
        return $c->$method(...array_values($params));
    }
}

So now I can use:

    public static function authId()
    {
        $authid = session::read('authid');
        return $authid;
    }

In other words, my helper is a static method which does not allow me using session as an instance method.

Just showed so you can see example.

P.S.

This part:

    public static function __callStatic($method, $params)
    {
        $instance = Session::class;
        $c = new $instance;
        return $c->$method(...array_values($params));
    }

I learned from Taylor.

After some research I found that the best way to solve this is the following.

First, the Auth related logic should not be placed in the controller, as it is considered a bad practice (because of things like this). This logic should be placed elsewhere and leave the constructor just to build the dependencies of the object.

With this said, by having a getter method (even tho it is protected) we can check if the attribute that we're trying to access has been initialized and, if not, doing it right away.

class Helper
{

    /** @var array $settings */
    protected $settings;

    protected getSettings() {
        if ($this->settings === null) {
            if (Auth::check()) {
                $this->settings = Auth::user()->settings;
            } else if (Cookie::has('settings')) { // Data from guest users is stored in a cookie
                $this->settings = Cookie::get('settings');
            } else {
                $this->settings = [];
            }
        }

        return $this->settings;
    }
    
    public function getDefinedSettings() {
        return $this->getSettings();
    }
    
    // More methods that make use of $this->getSettings()
    
}