[Feature proposal] Fluent syntax for CRUD

I think I just had an epiphany, because all these changes seem excellent to me AND I think they’re backwards-compatible:

(1) What if we use a Facade for the CRUD, and use CRUD::addField() instead of $this->crud->addField()? Shorter is better, right?

(2) What if we also create a fluent syntax for defining fields, columns, etc, like Laravel 5.4 does with its routes (Route::name('users.index')->middleware('auth');)?

We could then use both this:

<?php namespace App\Http\Controllers\Admin;

use Backpack\CRUD\app\Http\Controllers\CrudController;

// VALIDATION: change the requests to match your own file names if you need form validation
use App\Http\Requests\ArticleRequest as StoreRequest;
use App\Http\Requests\ArticleRequest as UpdateRequest;

class ArticleCrudController extends CrudController {

	public function setup() {

        /*
		|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
		| BASIC CRUD INFORMATION
		|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
		*/
        $this->crud->setModel("App\Models\Article");
        $this->crud->setRoute("admin/article");
        $this->crud->setEntityNameStrings('article', 'articles');

        /*
		|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
		| COLUMNS AND FIELDS
		|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
		*/

        // ------ CRUD COLUMNS
        $this->crud->addColumn([
                                'name' => 'date',
                                'label' => 'Date',
                                'type' => 'date'
                            ]);
        $this->crud->addColumn([
                                'name' => 'status',
                                'label' => "Status"
                            ]);
        $this->crud->addColumn([
                                'name' => 'title',
                                'label' => "Title"
                            ]);
        $this->crud->addColumn([
                                'name' => 'featured',
                                'label' => "Featured",
                                'type' => "model_function",
                                'function_name' => 'getFeaturedColumn'
                            ]);
        $this->crud->addColumn([
                                'label' => "Category",
                                'type' => 'select',
                                'name' => 'category_id',
                                'entity' => 'category',
                                'attribute' => 'name',
                                'model' => "App\Models\Category"
                            ]);

        // ------ CRUD FIELDS
        $this->crud->addField([    // TEXT
                                'name' => 'title',
                                'label' => 'Title',
                                'type' => 'text',
                                'placeholder' => 'Your title here'
                            ]);
        $this->crud->addField([
                                'name' => 'slug',
                                'label' => "Slug (URL)",
                                'type' => 'text',
                                'hint' => 'Will be automatically generated from your title, if left empty.'
                                // 'disabled' => 'disabled'
                            ]);

        $this->crud->addField([    // TEXT
                                'name' => 'date',
                                'label' => 'Date',
                                'type' => 'date',
                                'value' => date('Y-m-d')
                            ], 'create');
        $this->crud->addField([    // TEXT
                                'name' => 'date',
                                'label' => 'Date',
                                'type' => 'date'
                            ], 'update');

        $this->crud->addField([    // WYSIWYG
                                'name' => 'content',
                                'label' => 'Content',
                                'type' => 'ckeditor',
                                'placeholder' => 'Your textarea text here'
                            ]);
        $this->crud->addField([    // Image
                                'name' => 'image',
                                'label' => 'Image',
                                'type' => 'browse'
                            ]);
        $this->crud->addField([    // SELECT
                                'label' => "Category",
                                'type' => 'select2',
                                'name' => 'category_id',
                                'entity' => 'category',
                                'attribute' => 'name',
                                'model' => "App\Models\Category"
                            ]);
        $this->crud->addField([    // Select2Multiple = n-n
                                'label' => 'Tags',
                                'type' => 'select2_multiple',
                                'name' => 'tags',
                                'entity' => 'tags',
                                'attribute' => 'name',
                                'model' => "App\Models\Tag",
                                'pivot' => true,
                            ]);
        $this->crud->addField([    // ENUM
                                'name' => 'status',
                                'label' => "Status",
                                'type' => 'enum'
                            ]);
        $this->crud->addField([    // CHECKBOX
                                'name' => 'featured',
                                'label' => "Featured item",
                                'type' => 'checkbox'
                            ]);
    }

	public function store(StoreRequest $request)
	{
		return parent::storeCrud();
	}

	public function update(UpdateRequest $request)
	{
		return parent::updateCrud();
	}
}

AND this:

<?php namespace App\Http\Controllers\Admin;

use Backpack\CRUD\app\Http\Controllers\CrudController;

// VALIDATION: change the requests to match your own file names if you need form validation
use App\Http\Requests\ArticleRequest as StoreRequest;
use App\Http\Requests\ArticleRequest as UpdateRequest;

class ArticleCrudController extends CrudController {

    public function setup() {
        /*
        |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
        | BASIC CRUD INFORMATION
        |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
        */
        CRUD::setModel("App\Models\Article");
        CRUD::setRoute("admin/article");
        CRUD::setEntityNameStrings('article', 'articles');

        /*
        |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
        | COLUMNS AND FIELDS
        |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
        */

        // ------ CRUD COLUMNS
        CRUD::addColumn('date')->label('Date')->type('date');
        CRUD::addColumn('status')->label('Status');
        CRUD::addColumn('name')->label('Title');
        CRUD::addColumn('featured')->label('Featured')->type('model_function')->function_name('getFeaturedColumn');
        CRUD::addColumn('category_id')->type('select')->label('Category')->entity('category')->attribute('name')->model('App\Models\Category');

        // ------ CRUD FIELDS
        CRUD::addField('title')->label('Title')->type('text')->placeholder('Your title here');
        CRUD::addField('slug')->label('Slug (URL)')->type('text')->hint('Will be automatically generated from your title, if left empty');
        CRUD::addField('date')->label('Date')->type('date')->value(date('Y-m-d'))->showOnCreate(); // alternatives: showOnCreate(); showOnUpdate(); showOnBoth(); hideOnCreate(); hideOnUpdate();
        CRUD::addField('date')->label('Date')->type('date')->showOnUpdate();
        CRUD::addField('content')->label('Content')->type('ckeditor')->placeholder('Your textarea text here');
        CRUD::addField('image')->label('Image')->type('browse');
        CRUD::addField('category_id')->type('select2')->label('Category')->entity('category')->attribute('name')->model('App\Models\Category');
        CRUD::addField('tags')->type('select2_multiple')->label('Tags')->entity('tags')->attribute('name')->model('App\Models\Tag')->pivot(true);
        CRUD::addField('name')->label('Status')->type('enum');
        CRUD::addField('featured')->label('Featured item')->type('checkbox');
    }

    public function store(StoreRequest $request)
    {
        return parent::storeCrud();
    }

    public function update(UpdateRequest $request)
    {
        return parent::updateCrud();
    }
}

I’m super-excited about this, because

• it looks and works more Laravely
• it would help us use the IDE’s autocomplete more
• I personally like it better, because it makes for shorter controllers

but I don’t exactly have strong technical reasons… Thoughts?

[OliverZiegler]

Started implementing this in #826 but waiting for some feedback for a while now.

[eduardoarandah]

really? then it’s perfect

does it accept a single string like this? haven’t checked

$this->crud->columns([
    'name',
    'email',
    'phone'
]);