Edit

Create Operation

---

About

This operation allows your admins to add new entries to a database table.

Requirements

All editable attributes should be $fillable on your Model.

How to Use

To use the Create operation, you must:

Step 0. Use the operation trait on your EntityCrudController. This should be as simple as this:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers\Admin;

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

class ProductCrudController extends CrudController
{
    use \Backpack\CRUD\app\Http\Controllers\Operations\CreateOperation;

    protected function setupCreateOperation()
    {
        // $this->crud->setValidation(StoreRequest::class);
        // $this->crud->addField($field_definition_array);
    }
}

Step 1. Specify what field types you'd like to show for each editable attribute, in your EntityCrudController's setupCreateOperation() method. You can do that using the Fields API. In short you can:

protected function setupCreateOperation()
{
    $this->crud->addField($field_definition_array);
}

Step 2. Specify validation rules, in your the EntityCrudRequest file. Then make sure that file is used for validation, by telling the CRUD to validate that request file in setupCreateOperation():

$this->crud->setValidation(StoreRequest::class);

For more on how to manipulate fields, please read the Fields documentation page. For more on validation rules, check out Laravel's validation docs.

How It Works

CrudController is a RESTful controller, so the Create operation uses two routes:

• GET to /entity-name/create - points to create() which shows the Add New Entry form (create.blade.php);
• POST to /entity-name - points to store() which does the actual storing operation;

The create() method will show all the fields you've defined for this operation using the Fields API, then upon Save the store() method will first check the validation from the FormRequest you've specified, then create the entry using the Eloquent model. Only attributes that are specified as fields, and are $fillable on the model will actually be stored in the database.

How to add custom sections(aka. Widgets)

Widgets (aka cards, aka charts, aka graphs) provide a simple way to insert blade files into admin panel pages. You can use them to insert cards, charts, notices or custom content into pages. You can use the default widget types or create your own custom widgets.

Backpack default template includes two sections where you can push widgets:

• before_content
• after_content

To use widgets on create operation, define them inside setupCreateOperation() function.

public function setupCreateOperation()
{    
    // dynamic data to render in the following widget
    $userCount = \App\Models\User::count();

    //add div row using 'div' widget and make other widgets inside it to be in a row
    Widget::add()->to('before_content')->type('div')->class('row')->content([

        //widget made using fluent syntax
        Widget::make()
            ->type('progress')
            ->class('card border-0 text-white bg-primary')
            ->progressClass('progress-bar')
            ->value($userCount)
            ->description('Registered users.')
            ->progress(100 * (int)$userCount / 1000)
            ->hint(1000 - $userCount . ' more until next milestone.'),

        //widget made using the array definition 
        Widget::make(
            [
                'type'       => 'card',
                'class'   => 'card bg-dark text-white',
                'wrapper' => ['class' => 'col-sm-3 col-md-3'],
                'content'    => [
                    'header' => 'Example Widget',
                    'body'   => 'Widget placed at "before_content" secion in same row',
                ]
            ]
        ),
    ]);

    //you can also add Script & CSS to your page using 'script' & 'style' widget
    Widget::add()->type('script')->stack('after_scripts')->content('https://code.jquery.com/ui/1.12.0/jquery-ui.min.js');
    Widget::add()->type('style')->stack('after_styles')->content('https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@shoelace-style/[email protected]/dist/themes/light.css');
}

Output:

• Using before_content:

• Using after_content

Advanced Features and Techniques

Validation

There are three ways you can define the validation rules for your fields:

(A) Validating fields using FormRequests

When you generate a CrudController, you'll notice a Laravel FormRequest has also been generated, and that FormRequest is mentioned as the source of your validation rules:

protected function setupCreateOperation()
{
    $this->crud->setValidation(StoreRequest::class);
}

This works particularly well for bigger models, because you can mention a lot of rules, messages and attributes in your FormRequest and it will not increase the size of your CrudController.

Differences between the Create and Update validations? Then create a separate request file for each operation and instruct your EntityCrudController to use those files:

use App\Http\Requests\CreateTagRequest as StoreRequest;
use App\Http\Requests\UpdateTagRequest as UpdateRequest;

// ...

public function setupCreateOperation()
{
    $this->crud->setValidation(CreateRequest::class);
}

public function setupUpdateOperation()
{
    $this->crud->setValidation(UpdateRequest::class);
}

(B) Validating fields using a rules array

For smaller models (with just a few validation rules), creating an entire FormRequest file to hold them might be overkill. If you prefer, you can pass an array of validation rules to the same setValidation() method (with an optional second parameter for the validation messages):

protected function setupCreateOperation()
{
    $this->crud->setValidation([
        'name' => 'required|min:2',
    ]);

    // or maybe

    $rules = ['name' => 'required|min:2'];
    $messages = [
        'name.required' => 'You gotta give it a name, man.',
        'name.min' => 'You came up short. Try more than 2 characters.',
    ];
    $this->crud->setValidation($rules, $messages);
}

This is more convenient for small and medium models. Plus, it's very easy to read.

(C) Validating fields using field attributes

Another good option for small & medium models is to define the validation rules directly on your fields:

protected function setupCreateOperation()
{
    $this->crud->addField([
        'name' => 'content',
        'label' => 'Content',
        'type' => 'ckeditor',
        'placeholder' => 'Your textarea text here',
        'validationRules' => 'required|min:10',
        'validationMessages' => [
            'required' => 'You gotta write smth man.',
            'min' => 'More than 10 characters, bro. Wtf... You can do this!',
        ]
    ]);

    // or using the fluent syntax

    CRUD::field('email_address')->validationRules('required|email|unique:users.email_address');
}

Callbacks

If you're coming from other CRUD systems (like GroceryCRUD) you might be looking for callbacks to run "before_insert", "before_update", "after_insert", "after_update". There are no callbacks in Backpack, because... they're not needed. There are plenty of other ways to do things before/after an entry is created.

Use Events in your setup() method

Laravel already triggers multiple events in an entry's lifecycle. Those also include:

• creating and created, which are triggered by the Create operation;
• saving and saved, which are triggered by both the Create and the Update operations;

So if you want to do something to a Product entry before it's created, you can easily do that:

public function setupCreateOperation()
{

    // ...

    Product::creating(function($entry) {
        $entry->author_id = backpack_user()->id;
    });
}

Take a closer look at Eloquent events if you're not familiar with them, they're really really powerful once you understand them. Please note that these events will only get registered when the function gets called, so if you define them in your CrudController, then:

• they will NOT run when an entry is changed outside that CrudController;
• if you want to expand the scope to cover both the Create and Update operations, you can easily do that, for example by using the saving and saved events, and moving the event-calling to your main setup() method;

Use events in your field definition

You can tell a field to do something to the entry when that field gets saved to the database. Rephrased, you can define standard Eloquent events directly on fields. For example:

// FLUENT syntax - use the convenience method "on" to define just ONE event
CRUD::field('name')->on('saving', function ($entry) {
    $entry->author_id = backpack_user()->id;
});

// FLUENT SYNTAX - you can define multiple events in one go
CRUD::field('name')->events([
    'saving' => function ($entry) {
        $entry->author_id = backpack_user()->id;
    },
    'saved' => function ($entry) {
        // TODO: upload some file
    },
]);

// using the ARRAY SYNTAX, define an array of events and closures
CRUD::addField([
    'name' => 'name',
    'events' => [
        'saving' => function ($entry) {
            $entry->author_id = backpack_user()->id;
        },
    ],
]);

An important thing to notice when using model events in the fields is that those events will only be registered in the same operations (create, update, etc) where your fields are defined. Take for example the DeleteOperation, which is ran when you delete an entry. If you define a field with a deleting event, that event will not be registered when you delete an entry, because the field is not defined in the DeleteOperation. If you want to use model events in the DeleteOperation, you can do that by using the setupDeleteOperation() method and defining the fields with the events there too, similar to how you do for create and update operations.

Override the store() method

The store code is inside a trait, so you can easily override it, if you want:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers\Admin;

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

class ProductCrudController extends CrudController
{
    use \Backpack\CRUD\app\Http\Controllers\Operations\CreateOperation { store as traitStore; }

    // ...

    public function store()
    {
        // do something before validation, before save, before everything; for example:
        // $this->crud->addField(['type' => 'hidden', 'name' => 'author_id']);
    // $this->crud->removeField('password_confirmation');

    // Note: By default Backpack ONLY saves the inputs that were added on page using Backpack fields.
    // This is done by stripping the request of all inputs that do NOT match Backpack fields for this
    // particular operation. This is an added security layer, to protect your database from malicious
    // users who could theoretically add inputs using DeveloperTools or JavaScript. If you're not properly
    // using $guarded or $fillable on your model, malicious inputs could get you into trouble.

    // However, if you know you have proper $guarded or $fillable on your model, and you want to manipulate 
    // the request directly to add or remove request parameters, you can also do that.
    // We have a config value you can set, either inside your operation in `config/backpack/crud.php` if
    // you want it to apply to all CRUDs, or inside a particular CrudController:
        // $this->crud->setOperationSetting('saveAllInputsExcept', ['_token', '_method', 'http_referrer', 'current_tab', 'save_action']);
    // The above will make Backpack store all inputs EXCEPT for the ones it uses for various features.
    // So you can manipulate the request and add any request variable you'd like.
    // $this->crud->getRequest()->request->add(['author_id'=> backpack_user()->id]);
    // $this->crud->getRequest()->request->remove('password_confirmation');

        $response = $this->traitStore();
        // do something after save
        return $response;
    }
}

But before you do that, ask yourself - is this something that should be done when an entry is added/updated/deleted from the application, too? Not just the admin panel? If so, a better place for it would be the Model. Remember your Model is a pure Eloquent Model, so the cleanest way might be to use Eloquent Event Observers or accessors and mutators.

Translatable models and multi-language CRUDs

For UX purposes, when creating multi-language entries, the Create form will only allow the admin to add an entry in one language, the default one. The admin can then edit that entry in all available languages, to translate it. Check out this same section in the Update operation for how to enable multi-language functionality.