Laravel 9 Features Guide

Laravel 9 represents the biggest framework update in years. PHP 8 minimum requirement enables modern language features. At ZIRA Software, we've upgraded all projects to Laravel 9 for improved performance and developer experience.

Installation

# New project
composer create-project laravel/laravel myapp

# Upgrade existing
composer require laravel/framework:^9.0

PHP 8 Minimum

Required features now available:

// Constructor property promotion
class UserService
{
    public function __construct(
        private UserRepository $users,
        private CacheManager $cache,
        private LoggerInterface $logger,
    ) {}
}

// Named arguments
User::create(
    name: 'John Doe',
    email: 'john@example.com',
    role: 'admin',
);

// Match expressions
$status = match($order->status) {
    'pending' => 'Awaiting payment',
    'processing' => 'Being prepared',
    'shipped' => 'On the way',
    'delivered' => 'Completed',
    default => 'Unknown',
};

New Query Builder Interface

// Improved query builder with IDE support
use Illuminate\Database\Query\Builder;

$users = DB::table('users')
    ->select('id', 'name', 'email')
    ->where('active', true)
    ->orderBy('created_at', 'desc')
    ->get();

// Subquery improvements
$posts = Post::addSelect([
    'last_comment_at' => Comment::select('created_at')
        ->whereColumn('post_id', 'posts.id')
        ->latest()
        ->limit(1)
])->get();

Controller Route Groups

use App\Http\Controllers\PostController;

Route::controller(PostController::class)->group(function () {
    Route::get('/posts', 'index');
    Route::post('/posts', 'store');
    Route::get('/posts/{post}', 'show');
    Route::put('/posts/{post}', 'update');
    Route::delete('/posts/{post}', 'destroy');
});

// With middleware
Route::controller(AdminController::class)
    ->middleware(['auth', 'admin'])
    ->prefix('admin')
    ->group(function () {
        Route::get('/dashboard', 'dashboard');
        Route::get('/users', 'users');
    });

Improved Accessors and Mutators

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Casts\Attribute;

class User extends Model
{
    // New unified syntax
    protected function firstName(): Attribute
    {
        return Attribute::make(
            get: fn (string $value) => ucfirst($value),
            set: fn (string $value) => strtolower($value),
        );
    }

    // With caching
    protected function fullName(): Attribute
    {
        return Attribute::make(
            get: fn () => "{$this->first_name} {$this->last_name}",
        )->shouldCache();
    }
}

Enum Casting

enum UserStatus: string
{
    case Active = 'active';
    case Inactive = 'inactive';
    case Suspended = 'suspended';
}

class User extends Model
{
    protected $casts = [
        'status' => UserStatus::class,
    ];
}

// Usage
$user->status = UserStatus::Active;
$user->save();

// Route binding
Route::get('/users/{status}', function (UserStatus $status) {
    return User::where('status', $status)->get();
});

Full-Text Search

// Migration
Schema::create('articles', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->string('title');
    $table->text('body');
    $table->fullText(['title', 'body']);
});

// Query
$articles = Article::whereFullText(
    ['title', 'body'],
    'Laravel development'
)->get();

// With relevance ordering
$articles = Article::whereFullText(
    ['title', 'body'],
    'Laravel',
    ['mode' => 'boolean']
)->orderByRaw('MATCH(title, body) AGAINST(? IN BOOLEAN MODE) DESC', ['Laravel'])
->get();

Scout Database Engine

// config/scout.php
'driver' => env('SCOUT_DRIVER', 'database'),

// Model
class Post extends Model
{
    use Searchable;

    public function toSearchableArray()
    {
        return [
            'title' => $this->title,
            'content' => $this->content,
        ];
    }
}

// Search without external service
Post::search('Laravel tutorial')->get();

Conclusion

Laravel 9 modernizes the framework with PHP 8 features, improved syntax, and better developer experience. The upgrade path is smooth for most applications.

Planning Laravel 9 upgrade? Contact ZIRA Software for migration assistance.