Sending Notifications with Laravel 11

Laravel provides a robust and easy-to-use notification system that supports sending notifications through various channels, including email, SMS, and Slack. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to send notifications in a Laravel 11 application.

Step-by-Step Guide to Sending Notifications in Laravel 11

1. Create a Notification

You can create a notification using the make:notification Artisan command. This command will generate a new notification class in the app/Notifications directory.

php artisan make:notification InvoicePaid

This will create a new notification class InvoicePaid.php with a basic structure.

2. Define Notification Channels

Open the generated InvoicePaid notification class and define the channels through which you want to send the notification. By default, the via method specifies the channels.

// app/Notifications/InvoicePaid.php

namespace App\Notifications;

use Illuminate\Bus\Queueable;
use Illuminate\Notifications\Messages\MailMessage;
use Illuminate\Notifications\Notification;

class InvoicePaid extends Notification
{
    use Queueable;

    private $invoice;

    public function __construct($invoice)
    {
        $this->invoice = $invoice;
    }

    /**
     * Get the notification's delivery channels.
     *
     * @param  mixed  $notifiable
     * @return array
     */
    public function via($notifiable)
    {
        return ['mail', 'database'];
    }

    /**
     * Get the mail representation of the notification.
     *
     * @param  mixed  $notifiable
     * @return \Illuminate\Notifications\Messages\MailMessage
     */
    public function toMail($notifiable)
    {
        return (new MailMessage)
                    ->line('Your invoice has been paid.')
                    ->action('View Invoice', url('/invoices/' . $this->invoice->id))
                    ->line('Thank you for your business!');
    }

    /**
     * Get the array representation of the notification.
     *
     * @param  mixed  $notifiable
     * @return array
     */
    public function toArray($notifiable)
    {
        return [
            'invoice_id' => $this->invoice->id,
            'amount' => $this->invoice->amount,
        ];
    }
}

• via: This method specifies the channels through which the notification will be delivered. In this example, the notification will be sent via email and stored in the database.
• toMail: This method builds the email representation of the notification.
• toArray: This method defines the data to be stored in the database if the database channel is used.

3. Sending Notifications

You can send notifications to a notifiable entity, which is typically a user. The Notifiable trait provides methods to send notifications. Add the Notifiable trait to your User model:

// app/Models/User.php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Auth\User as Authenticatable;
use Illuminate\Notifications\Notifiable;

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use HasFactory, Notifiable;

    // ...
}

To send the notification, use the notify method:

// In a controller or any other place

use App\Models\User;
use App\Notifications\InvoicePaid;

// Retrieve a user to notify
$user = User::find(1);

// Retrieve the invoice
$invoice = Invoice::find(1);

// Send the notification
$user->notify(new InvoicePaid($invoice));

4. Database Notifications

To store notifications in the database, you need to create a notifications table. Run the notifications table migration:

php artisan notifications:table
php artisan migrate

The toArray method in the notification class will store the returned array in the data column of the notifications table.

5. Configuring Mail Notifications

Ensure your mail configuration is set up in the .env file:

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.mailtrap.io
MAIL_PORT=2525
MAIL_USERNAME=null
MAIL_PASSWORD=null
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=null
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS="hello@example.com"
MAIL_FROM_NAME="${APP_NAME}"

Replace these values with your mail server details.

6. Viewing Notifications in a View

You can fetch notifications for a user and display them in a view. For example:

// In a controller

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;

public function showNotifications()
{
    $notifications = Auth::user()->notifications;

    return view('notifications', compact('notifications'));
}

blade
<!-- resources/views/notifications.blade.php -->

<ul>
    @foreach ($notifications as $notification)
        <li>{{ $notification->data['message'] }}</li>
    @endforeach
</ul>

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can easily integrate and send notifications using various channels in your Laravel 11 application. Laravel's notification system is powerful and flexible, allowing you to notify users through email, database, SMS, Slack, and other channels effortlessly.