Recent tricks

If you have an API, which you also use on your site..then you might want to get the data from the API by making an internal request.

Check if the request matches the url. If so, add an active class to the menu item.

Use this trick to log queries using Monolog. Add this to your routes.php and log straight into your Firebug console. Firebug needs the FirePHP add-on. - kisses Netbulae

Previously, if you wanted to output a default value of a string in Blade you would put a condition that checks if the variable is set, otherwise defaults to some value. Now you can shorten the code by using the keyword "or" to specify what should be displayed if the variable is not set.

When you're into making an API, you may wish to make the format of the responses you provide dynamic. If you're not using controllers, you would make a class, but if you use controllers, it's a pretty good idea to place it in the base controller. As well you may restructure your response data to include more fields, e.g. for testing purposes you may wish to also include some custom debug.

A Link assets based on which controller is currently requested. Any improvements to this code are welcome

Nice quick one-liner to prep your system for superquick installs using the new PHP Archive installer in Laravel 4.1. More details in the blog post: http://bit.ly/1mt4Weu

Laravel 4 have a lot of features some hidden :) for some developers, i found the option to run artisan commands from route or controller, like Artisan::call('migrate:install'); or Artisan::call('migrate', [ '--path'=>'app/database/migrations' ]); Artisan::call('db:seed'); it is usefull when you don't have access to the console in share hosting environments.

If you find out, that your blade template is empty and no error message generated: double check your comments