Laravel provides two primary ways to authorize actions: gates and policies. Gates are a simple, closure-based approach to authorization, while policies group logic around a particular model or resource.
Gates
Gates are the simplest way to authorize actions in Laravel. They are simply closures that are evaluated to determine if a user has permission to perform an action. Gates are typically used to authorize actions that are not related to any specific model or resource. For example, you might have a gate that checks if a user is logged in, or a gate that checks if a user has the “admin” role.
To create a gate, you can use the Gate::define() method. This method takes two arguments: the name of the gate, and a closure that evaluates to a boolean value. For example, the following code defines a gate that checks if a user is logged in:
Gate::define('loggedIn', function () {
return Auth::check();
});
Once you have defined a gate, you can use it to authorize actions in your application. For example, you could use the loggedIn gate to protect a route that only logged-in users should be able to access.
Policies
Policies are a more sophisticated way to authorize actions in Laravel. They are classes that contain methods that check if a user has permission to perform an action on a specific model or resource. Policies are typically used to authorize actions that are related to a specific model or resource. For example, you might have a policy that checks if a user has permission to create, update, or delete a blog post.
To create a policy, you can use the Policy class. This class takes two arguments: the name of the policy, and the name of the model or resource that the policy will be used for. For example, the following code defines a policy that will be used to authorize actions on the BlogPost model:
class BlogPostPolicy extends Policy
{
protected $model = BlogPost::class;
public function create(User $user)
{
return $user->hasRole('admin');
}
public function update(User $user, BlogPost $blogPost)
{
return $user->owns($blogPost);
}
public function delete(User $user, BlogPost $blogPost)
{
return $user->owns($blogPost) || $user->hasRole('admin');
}
}
Once you have defined a policy, you can use it to authorize actions in your application. For example, you could use the BlogPostPolicy to protect a route that only users with the admin role can access.
Which one should I use?
The decision of whether to use gates or policies depends on the specific needs of your application. Gates are a good choice for simple authorization tasks, while policies are a good choice for more complex authorization tasks. In general, you should use gates for actions that are not related to any specific model or resource, and you should use policies for actions that are related to a specific model or resource.
Here is a table that summarizes the key differences between gates and policies:
| Feature | Gates | Policies |
| Complexity | Simple | Complex |
| Scope | Global | Specific model or resource |
| Usage | Authorization for simple tasks | Authorization for complex tasks |
I hope this helps!