Laravel PHP: Use Dropdown box for displaying results

Question

I have a Laravel PHP application up and running fine where all of my results are created, edited and stored just fine. Now I want to add a feature where there is a dropdown box on the homepage that allows the user to select a category and the homepage will display results depending on what the user selects from the dropdown box.

I have tried finding some documentation on how to accomplish this task but the only possible solution I found was by using AJAX with jQuery to update the results. I'm wondering if there is an easier, more elegant way of doing this.

View:

@section('content')

/* New section I recently added for including the dropdown box below */

<div class="row">
    <div class="panel panel-default">
        <div class="panel-heading clearfix">
            <b>{{'Select a category' }}</b>
        </div>
        <div class="panel-body">    
            <dl class="dl-horizontal">
                <div class="table-responsive">
                    <table class="table">
                        <tr>
                            <td>
                            {{Form::open(array('route' => 'select_vids_pics', 'files' => true)) }}    

                                <div class="form-group">
                    /* Form Code goes here, 'label' and 'select options' */

                    <div class="form-group">
    {{ Form::submit('Select Category', array('class' => 'btn btn-primary')) }}
</div>

{{ Form::close() }}

</div>

                            </td>
                        </tr>    


                    </table>
                </div>            
            </dl>    


        </div>    

    </div>
</div>    


/* Blocks of code below for currently display all results */

<div class="row">
    <div class="panel panel-default">
        <div class="panel-heading clearfix">
            <b>{{'Overview of Videos' }}</b>
        </div>
        <div class="panel-body">
            @if ($allvids->count())
                <dl class="dl-horizontal">
                    <!-- Add this div class to make the table responsive -->
                    <div class = "table-responsive">
                        <table class="table">
                            <tr>
                                <th>ID</th>
                                <th>Name</th>
                                <th>Description</th>
                                <th>Edge</th>
                                <th>Stone</th>
                                <th>Category</th>
                                <th>Project</th>
                                <th>Update Video</th>
                            </tr>        
                    @foreach($allvids as $video)
                    <tr>
                         <td>{{ $video->video_id }}</b></td>
                         <td>{{ $video->video_name }}</td>
                         <td>{{ $video->video_description }}</td>
                         <td>{{ $video->video_edges }} </td>
                         <td>{{ $video->video_stones }}</td>
                         <td>{{ $video->category }}</td>
                         <td>{{ $video->video_project }}</td>

                         <td><b>{{ link_to_route("show_video", 'Edit', array($video->video_id)) }}</b></td>
                    </tr>     
                    @endforeach
                    {{ $allvids-> links()}}
                        </table>
                    </div>    


                </dl>
            @else
                <b>{{ 'All Pics Vids' }}</b>
            @endif
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

<div class="row">
    <div class="panel panel-default">
        <div class="panel-heading clearfix">
            <b>{{'Overview of Pictures' }}</b>
        </div>
        <div class="panel-body">
            @if ($allpics->count())
                <dl class="dl-horizontal">
                    <!-- Add this div class to make the table responsive -->
                    <div class = "table-responsive">
                        <table class="table">
                            <tr>
                                <th>ID</th>
                                <th>Name</th>
                                <th>Description</th>
                                <th>Edge</th>
                                <th>Stone</th>
                                <th>Category</th>
                                <th>Project</th>
                                <th>Update Picture</th>
                            </tr>        
                    @foreach($allpics as $picture)
                    <tr>
                         <td>{{ $picture->picture_id }}</b></td>
                         <td>{{ $picture->picture_name }}</td>
                         <td>{{ $picture->picture_description }}</td>
                         <td>{{ $picture->picture_edges }} </td>
                         <td>{{ $picture->picture_stones }}</td>
                         <td>{{ $picture->category }}</td>
                         <td>{{ $picture->picture_project }}</td>

                         <td><b>{{ link_to_route("show_picture", 'Edit', array($picture->picture_id)) }}</b></td>
                    </tr>     
                    @endforeach
                    {{ $allpics-> links()}}
                        </table>
                    </div>    


                </dl>
            @else
                <b>{{ 'All Pics Vids' }}</b>
            @endif
        </div>
    </div>
</div>



@stop

Controller:

/* This is the only function that is being used in the view above */

public function index()
{
    $allvids = Video::paginate(10);
    $allpics = Picture::paginate(10);
    $this->layout->content = \View::make('home.pics_vids_overview', array('allvids' => $allvids, 'allpics' => $allpics));
}

Do I have to add another function/method to my controller for:

1) Accepting input from the dropdown box that the user selects 2) Passing that input to the newly defined function and then displaying the results based on that match?

If I have to use the approach above, would my function look something like this?

 public function pics_vids_categories()
{
    $input = \Input::all();

    $videos = DB::table('videos')->where('category', '=', $input)->get();
    $pictures = DB::table('pictures')->where('category', '=', $input)->get();

    var_dump($videos);
    var_dump($pictures);

}

Like I said, I'm hoping there's a prettier way of doing this.

Answer 1

You may change your index method to something like this:

public function index()
{
    $vdo = Video::query();
    $pic = Picture::query();
    if($category = Input::get('category')) {
        $vdo->where('category', $category);
        $pic->where('category', $category);
    }
    $allvids = $vdo->paginate(10);
    $allpics = $oic->paginate(10);
    $data = compact('allvids','allpics');
    $this->layout->content = \View::make('home.pics_vids_overview', $data);
}

Now if the user selects a category and submits the form then where('category', $category) will filter the result; otherwise all records/models will be returned.