Gates And Policies | Authorization

Introduction

In Laravel, Gates and Policies are powerful tools that help in handling authorization within your application. They provide a clean and simple way to determine if a user is authorized to perform a particular action. Gates are typically used for simple actions, while Policies are used for more complex authorization scenarios.

What are Gates?

Gates are closures that determine if a user is authorized to perform a given action. They are defined in the AuthServiceProvider and can be called anywhere in your application. Gates are typically used for simple checks that don’t require a dedicated policy class.

Defining a Gate

To define a gate, you can use the Gate::define method in your AuthServiceProvider:

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Gate;
Gate::define('update-post', function ($user, $post) {
return $user->id === $post->user_id;
});

Using a Gate

You can use the Gate::allows method to check if the user is authorized:

$user->can('update-post', $post);

What are Policies?

Policies are classes that organize authorization logic around a particular model or resource. They are ideal for complex authorization logic that requires multiple actions related to a specific model.

Defining a Policy

To create a policy, you can use the Artisan command:

php artisan make:policy PostPolicy

This will create a new policy class in the app/Policies directory. You can then define methods in this class for each action you want to authorize.

Example Policy Method

Here’s an example of a method in the PostPolicy class:

public function update(User $user, Post $post) {
return $user->id === $post->user_id;
}

Registering a Policy

Register your policy in the AuthServiceProvider:

protected $policies = [
Post::class => PostPolicy::class,
];

Using Policies

Once a policy is defined and registered, you can use it to check authorization in your controllers or views:

if (Gate::allows('update', $post)) {
// The current user can update the post
}

Conclusion

Gates and Policies in Laravel provide a robust way to handle authorization in your applications. By using gates for simple checks and policies for more complex scenarios, you can maintain clean and organized code while ensuring that your users have the appropriate permissions.