https://tim.macdonald.au/feed.xml 2026-06-03T09:27:21+10:00 Developing engaging and performant web applications with Laravel and PHP. Love building for the web. Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/assets/profile.png?v=3ed6e2221ca546cc https://tim.macdonald.au/assets/fallback.png?v=d316b611d14274fa https://tim.macdonald.au/sticky-database-connections-across-requests-with-laravel 2025-09-03T04:20:57+00:00 2025-09-03T04:20:57+00:00

Support Laravel's `sticky` option for read write database replicas across different requests

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/fake-expectations 2025-04-05T02:41:00+00:00 2025-04-05T02:41:00+00:00

A testing fake with named assertions or Pest PHP's expectation API: ¿Por Qué No Los Dos?

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/mark-all-files-unviewed-github 2025-03-31T21:52:16+00:00 2025-03-31T21:52:16+00:00

Use the "viewed" feature on GitHub PRs? Me too, and I wanted to ability to mark *all* files as un-viewed.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/single-use-tests 2023-10-07T22:31:34+00:00 2023-10-07T22:31:34+00:00

Tests I write are usually written in Pest or Jest. I also usually commit them to a code repository - but not all automated tests should be committed. I wrote, what I consider to be an automated test, that was a single-use test. It served it's purpose and it'll forever be in my heart, but not in my repository.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/fast-database-queries-are-not-always-better 2023-08-24T00:12:59+00:00 2023-08-24T00:12:59+00:00

You probably think fast database queries are good. You also probably think slow database queries are bad. On top of all of these "thinks" you have about database queries - there is a certain Laravel method that, if you’ve seen it, you probably think you understand…but there is a chance you don’t.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/unique-jobs-and-reserving-resources-on-the-queue 2022-11-20T22:38:49+00:00 2022-11-20T22:38:49+00:00

This post covers some interesting features of Laravel's queueing system. Forcing unique jobs and reserving resources across different job types.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/introducing-lazy-loading-prevention-into-an-existing-laravel-application 2021-09-18T11:06:52+00:00 2021-09-18T11:06:52+00:00

Laravel's new lazy loading prevention is fantastic, but depending on the size of your system might be hard to introduce. Here is an approach you might like to try out.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/git-rebase-a-love-story 2021-07-29T05:03:05+00:00 2021-07-29T05:03:05+00:00

A (not so lightning) talk about git rebase and the things it enables.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/would-you-like-a-fry-with-that-using-a-has-one-over-a-has-many-relationship-in-laravel 2021-03-14T03:12:42+00:00 2021-03-14T03:12:42+00:00

When you are working with a one-to-many relationship, it is sometimes the case that a particular instance on the "many" side of the relationship is flagged as unique and important to your system in some way.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/follow-the-eloquent-road-laracon-talk 2021-02-21T22:49:20+00:00 2021-02-21T22:49:20+00:00

Conference talk given at the 2020 LaraconUS / Online conference. Come for a journey as I show you down the path I've taken along the Eloquent road.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/using-laravels-policies-route-model-binding-without-eloquent 2020-10-15T22:24:48+00:00 2020-10-15T22:24:48+00:00

I always thought Laravel's Policies and Route Model Binding were only able to be used with Eloquent models. Turns out I was wrong

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/gracefully-deprecating-foreign-keys-in-eloquent 2020-10-10T06:29:52+00:00 2020-10-10T06:29:52+00:00

A "note to self" on how to best handle moving from a classic foreign key constrained relationship, to a polymorphic relationship in Eloquent, without impacting the end user.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/avoid-false-positives-by-utiliting-magic-values-in-your-tests 2020-06-08T02:00:00+00:00 2020-06-08T02:00:00+00:00

It can be very hard to spot a false positive within a test. So how do you avoid them?

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/sharing-php-cs-fixer-rules-across-projects-and-teams 2020-04-28T15:00:00+00:00 2020-04-28T15:00:00+00:00

This tutorial will show you how you can setup a repo that contains all your rules, and easily share them with others.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/rethinking-laravels-middleware-argument-api 2020-04-16T00:00:00+00:00 2020-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

String concatenation is the current way we can pass arguments to Laravel middleware - but what if there was another way

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/query-scopes-meet-action-scopes 2019-10-11T23:00:00+00:00 2019-10-11T23:00:00+00:00

Action scopes are...well...just query scopes really, but instead of filtering they take an action. It's just a random name I've given them to differentiate them from regular filtering based query scopes in my projects.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/the-case-laravel-testcase 2019-06-28T04:00:00+00:00 2019-06-28T04:00:00+00:00

Deep diving the Laravel TestCase and pushing it to the limit, and yea...that's the title I went with 🕵️‍♂️

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/dedicated-eloquent-model-query-builders 2019-04-27T01:11:00+00:00 2019-04-27T01:11:00+00:00

As my current project grew, so did my models. In a hunt for thinner models, I realised it was possible to extract model scopes to a dedicated query builder class. I'll show you how to do this, and a few things to keep in mind if you implement this refactor.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/performance-monitoring-laravel-forge-deployed-application 2019-02-10T22:00:00+00:00 2019-02-10T22:00:00+00:00

Monitoring your web application's performance is key to ensuring you provide a good experience for your users. Here is a tip to help you see where your app is slow on a Laravel Forge deployed server.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/php-be-all-like-that-nonexistent-class-be-cool 2019-01-23T09:00:00+00:00 2019-01-23T09:00:00+00:00

There are certain scenarios where PHP does not check or error if a class you reference does not exist. These are their stories. *dun-dun*

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/tips-speed-up-your-phpunit-tests 2019-01-08T14:00:00+00:00 2019-01-08T14:00:00+00:00

Having a fast test suite can be just as important as having a fast application. Here are some ways to make your test suite run faster.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/global-application-settings 2018-11-27T14:00:00+00:00 2018-11-27T14:00:00+00:00

In applications it is often useful to have a way to store some global settings. This post outlines my approach using a Spatie package to manage the values instead of Eloquent.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/giving-collections-a-voice 2018-11-26T04:04:53+00:00 2018-11-26T04:04:53+00:00

Laravel collections have become an essential part of my codebases and I couldn't imagine working without them. I have found giving collections the voice of the problem domain makes for a much nicer API when compared to the generic collection methods.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/my-feature-test-suite-setup 2018-11-11T01:00:00+00:00 2018-11-11T01:00:00+00:00

I do love a good feature test suite. I especially like them to be fast and, most importantly, trustworthy! As my approach has matured, and become stable, I thought I'd share how I go about setting things up.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/overring-laravel-mix-during-testing-in-5-8 2018-11-04T01:00:00+00:00 2018-11-04T01:00:00+00:00

Laravel's global mix helper function can be replaced during testing in Laravel 5.8. Here is why, and how, you might want to do this.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/loading-eloquent-relationship-counts 2018-11-01T12:00:00+11:00 2018-11-01T12:00:00+11:00

There are several ways to load relationship counts on eloquent models. I'm going to explore the options and introduce you to a new one.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/versatile-response-objects-laravel 2018-05-11T02:00:00+00:00 2018-05-11T02:00:00+00:00

I've found that introducing dedicated response objects that can handle multiple response formats is a really nice pattern to cleanup my controllers

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/laravel-cashier-helping-hand 2018-05-04T02:00:00+00:00 2018-05-04T02:00:00+00:00

If you are creating a Laravel app with subscriptions via Stripe - Laravel Cashier might just be the helping hand you were looking for.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/backup-multiple-sites-frameworks-laravel-backup 2017-10-31T01:00:00+00:00 2017-10-31T01:00:00+00:00

Using Spatie's Laravel Backup package you can backup several sites on a server from a single app install, including Laravel apps and WordPress sites.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/foreign-key-validation-rule 2017-04-30T03:27:00+00:00 2017-04-30T03:27:00+00:00

A foreign key validation rule for the Laravel Validator that helps wrap up the 'exists' rule with a bit of syntactic sugar. Probably not fantastic to work with in the traditional fashion, but using the rule builder package...it looks gooooood!

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/enforcing-valid-data-access-from-form-request-object 2017-04-10T02:00:00+00:00 2017-04-10T02:00:00+00:00

A little trick I have been implementing recently to ensure that data accessed from a Laravel request object has first been validated.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/writing-a-zero-downtime-deployment-script 2017-03-28T01:00:00+00:00 2017-03-28T01:00:00+00:00

Having never written a shell script before, I thought I'd try and level up my dev skills by writing a simple deployment script for my website and my clients websites. The outcome: FlipIt™

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/fluent-validation-rules-for-laravel 2016-12-31T12:58:00+00:00 2016-12-31T12:58:00+00:00

Laravel validation rules are great, but wouldn't it be awesome if there was a fluent interface for all the rules.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87 https://tim.macdonald.au/being-a-developer-in-regional-australia 2016-12-30T03:49:00+00:00 2016-12-30T03:49:00+00:00

If you're in the Riverina and wanna meet up to discuss all things software - join our local developer Meetup.

the full article.]]> Tim MacDonald https://x.com/timacdonald87