Laravel Blade Vars Bridge

Laravel Blade Vars Bridge is a VSCode extension that provides intelligent variable completion and advanced type information for Laravel Blade templates based on variables passed from Controllers.

Features

🎯 Intelligent Variable Completion

• Auto-completion for variables passed from Controllers in Blade templates
• Type-based property and method completion with $variable-> syntax
• Support for complex method chains like $user->posts->first()->title
• Smart completion for Collection, Model, Carbon, Request, Enum, and basic PHP types

🔍 Advanced Hover Information

• Variable Hover: Display variable type, source controller, and model file links
• Method Chain Hover: Show type information at each step of method chains
• Clickable Links: Direct navigation to controller and model files
• Multiple Chain Support: Handle multiple method chains in the same line independently

⚡ Smart Type Detection

• Automatic type inference from PHP code context (Models, Collections, Carbon dates, Enums, etc.)
• Parse Model properties from $fillable, $casts, $dates, and PHPDoc annotations
• NEW: PHP Enum Support - Detect PHP 8.1+ enums and traditional enum classes with accurate method completion
• Detect Eloquent relationships (hasOne, hasMany, belongsTo, etc.)
• Support for @foreach loop variables with proper type resolution

Installation

From VS Code Marketplace

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
3. Search for "Laravel Blade Vars Bridge"
4. Click Install

Configuration

No special configuration is required. The extension works out of the box.

Usage

1. Controller Setup

Pass variables from your Laravel Controller to a view:

class UserController extends Controller
{
    public function show(User $user)
    {
        $posts = $user->posts()->with('comments')->get();
        
        return view('user.profile', [
            'user' => $user,
            'posts' => $posts,
            'lastLogin' => Carbon::now(),
            'settings' => collect(['theme' => 'dark']),
            'status' => UserStatus::ACTIVE
        ]);
    }
}

2. Blade Template Features

Variable Completion:

{{ $ }}  {{-- Shows: $user, $posts, $lastLogin, $settings, $status --}}

Method Chain Completion:

{{ $user-> }}  {{-- Shows: name, email, posts, created_at, save(), delete(), etc. --}}
{{ $posts->first()-> }}  {{-- Shows Post model properties and methods --}}
{{ $lastLogin-> }}  {{-- Shows Carbon methods: format, diffForHumans, etc. --}}
{{ $status-> }}  {{-- Shows Enum methods: name, value, label(), etc. --}}

Advanced Hover Information:

• Hover over $user → Shows: Type: User, Source: UserController.php, Model: User.php
• Hover over $status → Shows: Type: UserStatus, Source: UserController.php, Enum: UserStatus.php
• Hover over first() in $posts->first() → Shows: Chain: $posts->first(), Type: Post
• Hover over label() in $status->label() → Shows: Chain: $status->label(), Type: string

Foreach Support:

@foreach($posts as $post)
    {{ $post-> }}  {{-- Auto-detects $post as Post model with full completion --}}
@endforeach

Supported Patterns

✅ Supported Controller Patterns

// Array syntax
return view('someview', [
    'user' => $user,
    'posts' => $posts,
    'data' => $someData
]);

// Array function syntax  
return view('someview', array(
    'user' => $user,
    'posts' => $posts
));

// Compact function
return view('someview', compact('user', 'posts', 'data'));

🎯 Supported Type Detection

• Eloquent Models: User::find(), Post::where()->first()
• Collections: User::all(), $user->posts()->get(), collect()
• Carbon Dates: Carbon::now(), now(), today()
• Request Objects: $request, request()
• PHP Enums: Status::ACTIVE, UserRole::ADMIN, Priority::from('high')
• Basic Types: Arrays [], Strings "", Numbers, Booleans

❌ Currently Not Supported

• with() method calls: view('name')->with('key', $value)
• Complex variable assignments before view calls
• Dynamic property access with variables

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code ^1.98.0
• Laravel project with standard Controller structure

Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

• laravel-blade-vars-bridge.enable: Enable/disable the Laravel Blade Vars Bridge
• laravel-blade-vars-bridge.controllerPaths: Paths to search for Laravel controllers (default: ["app/Http/Controllers/**/*.php"])

Known Issues

• Complex variable passing patterns are not fully supported
• Some dynamic Eloquent relationship properties may not be inferred
• Requires standard Laravel project structure

Debugging

If you need to check the extension's operation logs:

1. Open View → Output
2. Select Laravel Blade Vars Bridge from the dropdown
3. View detailed logs of variable scanning and type inference

The extension runs quietly in the background and only shows error notifications when needed.

Release Notes

0.0.10

• ✨ NEW: PHP Enum support for both PHP 8.1+ enums and traditional enum classes
• ✨ NEW: Automatic enum type detection and inference from controller assignments
• ✨ NEW: Custom enum method parsing with accurate return type resolution
• ✨ NEW: Laravel $casts array enum type detection
• 🔧 IMPROVED: Enhanced hover information for enums vs models
• 🔧 FIXED: Model property completion bug when enum detection was added

0.0.9

• 🔧 IMPROVED: Removed auto-display of output channel on startup for cleaner experience
• 🔧 IMPROVED: Background logging without interrupting workflow
• 🔧 IMPROVED: Error notifications via popup instead of output channel display

0.0.8

• ✨ NEW: Advanced hover information with type details and clickable links
• ✨ NEW: Method chain hover support for complex chains like $user->posts->first()->title
• ✨ NEW: Multiple method chains support in the same line
• ✨ NEW: Clickable links to Model files from hover information
• 🔧 Enhanced type resolution for property chains
• 🔧 Improved foreach variable detection and typing

0.0.7

• Enhanced type-based completion system
• Added support for Collection, Carbon, Request, and Model types
• Improved property and method completion

0.0.6

• Added type inference from PHP code context
• Support for Model property parsing from $fillable, $casts, and PHPDoc
• Eloquent relationship detection

0.0.5

• Updated extension name to Laravel Vars Bridge
• Improved variable detection

0.0.1

• Initial release
• Basic variable completion for Blade templates
• Hover information for Controller links

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

TBD