Laravel 5.8 Features Guide

Eloquent relationships keep evolving. Laravel 5.8 adds has-one-through, simplifying complex relationships. Email verification routes become automatic, reducing boilerplate. At ZIRA Software, these features streamline application architecture.

Has-One-Through Relationship

Access distant relationships:

// Example: Supplier -> User -> Phone
// Get supplier's phone through user

// app/Models/Supplier.php
class Supplier extends Model
{
    public function user()
    {
        return $this->hasOne(User::class);
    }

    // New in 5.8: Has-one-through
    public function phone()
    {
        return $this->hasOneThrough(
            Phone::class,  // Final model
            User::class    // Intermediate model
        );
    }
}

// Usage
$supplier = Supplier::find(1);
$phone = $supplier->phone;  // Direct access!

Real-world example:

// Country -> Mechanic -> Car
// Get country's car through mechanic

class Country extends Model
{
    public function mechanics()
    {
        return $this->hasMany(Mechanic::class);
    }

    public function cars()
    {
        return $this->hasManyThrough(Car::class, Mechanic::class);
    }

    // Get first car
    public function car()
    {
        return $this->hasOneThrough(Car::class, Mechanic::class);
    }
}

Email Verification Routes

Automatic route registration:

// Before 5.8: Manual route definition
Route::get('email/verify', 'Auth\VerificationController@show')->name('verification.notice');
Route::get('email/verify/{id}', 'Auth\VerificationController@verify')->name('verification.verify');
Route::get('email/resend', 'Auth\VerificationController@resend')->name('verification.resend');

// After 5.8: Automatic
Auth::routes(['verify' => true]);

Usage:

// app/User.php
class User extends Authenticatable implements MustVerifyEmail
{
    use Notifiable;
}

// routes/web.php
Route::get('/dashboard', function () {
    // Only verified users
})->middleware(['auth', 'verified']);

Policy Auto-Discovery

Automatic policy resolution:

// Before: Manual registration in AuthServiceProvider
protected $policies = [
    Post::class => PostPolicy::class,
    Comment::class => CommentPolicy::class,
];

// After 5.8: Automatic discovery
// If app/Policies/PostPolicy.php exists, it's automatically discovered

Convention:

• Model: App\Post
• Policy: App\Policies\PostPolicy

Token Guard Token Hashing

Improved security:

// API tokens now hashed in database
// Before: plain text storage
// After: hashed like passwords

// When creating tokens
$token = $user->createToken('app-token')->plainTextToken;

// Store plain token ONLY in response
return response()->json(['token' => $token]);

Scheduler Timezone

Per-task timezone:

// app/Console/Kernel.php
protected function schedule(Schedule $schedule)
{
    // Before: All tasks use app timezone
    $schedule->command('emails:send')
        ->daily();

    // After 5.8: Per-task timezone
    $schedule->command('emails:send')
        ->daily()
        ->timezone('America/New_York');

    $schedule->command('reports:generate')
        ->daily()
        ->timezone('Europe/London');
}

Higher Order orWhere

Cleaner query constraints:

// Before
User::where('status', 'active')
    ->where(function ($query) {
        $query->where('role', 'admin')
            ->orWhere('role', 'moderator');
    })
    ->get();

// After 5.8: Higher order orWhere
User::where('status', 'active')
    ->where(function ($query) {
        $query->where('role', 'admin')
            ->orWhere->where('role', 'moderator');
    })
    ->get();

Artisan Call Improvements

Better output handling:

// Call artisan command and capture output
$exitCode = Artisan::call('migrate', [
    '--force' => true,
]);

$output = Artisan::output();

// New in 5.8: Pass output to callback
Artisan::call('migrate', ['--force' => true], function ($output) {
    // Process output in real-time
    logger()->info($output);
});

Mock Testing Improvements

Better mock assertions:

public function test_user_can_upload_avatar()
{
    Storage::fake('avatars');

    $response = $this->post('/avatar', [
        'avatar' => UploadedFile::fake()->image('avatar.jpg')
    ]);

    // New assertion methods
    Storage::disk('avatars')->assertExists('avatar.jpg');
    Storage::disk('avatars')->assertMissing('old-avatar.jpg');
}

Blade Component Tag

Custom component tags:

{{-- Before --}}
@component('alert')
    This is an alert
@endcomponent

{{-- After 5.8: Component tags --}}
<x-alert>
    This is an alert
</x-alert>

{{-- With attributes --}}
<x-alert type="error" dismissible>
    Error message
</x-alert>

// app/View/Components/Alert.php
namespace App\View\Components;

use Illuminate\View\Component;

class Alert extends Component
{
    public $type;
    public $dismissible;

    public function __construct($type = 'info', $dismissible = false)
    {
        $this->type = $type;
        $this->dismissible = $dismissible;
    }

    public function render()
    {
        return view('components.alert');
    }
}

DynamoDB Cache Driver

AWS DynamoDB support:

// .env
CACHE_DRIVER=dynamodb

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-key
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-secret

DYNAMODB_CACHE_TABLE=cache

Carbon 2.0

Updated date library:

use Illuminate\Support\Carbon;

// New methods in Carbon 2.0
$date = Carbon::parse('2018-11-15');

$date->isBirthday();
$date->isSameMonth(now());
$date->isSameQuarter(now());

Conclusion

Laravel 5.8 polishes Eloquent relationships and authentication flows. Has-one-through simplifies complex relationships, while automatic email verification routes reduce boilerplate.

Upgrading or building with Laravel? Contact ZIRA Software for Laravel development services.