Awesome
Laravel Process Approval
Introduction
This package enables multi-level approval workflows for Eloquent models in your Laravel application. If you have models that require review and approval from multiple approvers before execution, this package provides a flexible approval process to meet that need.
Laravel 10.0 or later
The package relies on an existing Role
management. This can be a custom role management or another package such as
Spatie's laravel permissions
.
Installation
1. Install Using composer:
composer require ringlesoft/laravel-process-approval
2. Publish Files (Optional)
This package provides publishable files that include configuration, migrations and views. You can publish these files using the following command:
php artisan vendor:publish --provider="RingleSoft\LaravelProcessApproval\LaravelProcessApprovalServiceProvider"
You can publish specific files by providing the --tag
option within the publish command. Available options
are approvals-migrations
, approvals-config
, approvals-views
, approvals-translations
. <br> For example:
php artisan vendor:publish --provider="RingleSoft\LaravelProcessApproval\LaravelProcessApprovalServiceProvider" --tag="approvals-migrations"
3. Run migration:
The package comes with four migration files. Run artisan migrate command before you start using the package.
php artisan migrate
4. Create Approval flows and Steps
The package relies on Approval flows and steps on your default database. This is to enable multiple approval flows within the system. You can implement your own way of creating and managing the flows. However, there are available command-line functions to help you get started easily.
i. Creating a new flow
To create a new flow, Run the following command on your terminal.
php artisan process-approval:flow add FundRequest
ii. Creating a step for the flow
php artisan process-approval:step add
This will show a list of available Flows. Select the flow yow want to add steps to and then select the role and approval action.
iii. Deleting a flow
php artisan process-approval:flow remove
This will show a list of available flows. Select the step you want to delete and hit enter.
iv. Deleting a step
php artisan process-approval:step remove
This will show a list of available steps. Select the step you want to delete and hit enter.
v. Listing all flows
php artisan process-approval:flow list
This will show a list of all available flows and steps
Usage
1. Implement AprovableModel
to your approvable model
class FundRequest extends Model implements ApprovableModel
{
// Your model content
}
2. Apply the Approvable
trait to the model
class FundRequest extends Model implements ApprovableModel
{
use \RingleSoft\ProcessApproval\Traits\Approvable;
// Your model content
}
3. Implement the onApprovalCompleted()
method.
This package relies on one callback method in your model to commit the last approval and mark the approval process as
completed. You should implement this method and return true
to finalize the approval or false
to roll back the last
approval. This is useful in the case of performing specific tasks when the approval procedure is completed.
class FundRequest extends Model implements ApprovableModel
{
use \RingleSoft\ProcessApproval\Traits\Approvable;
// Your model content
public function onApprovalCompleted(ProcessApproval $approval): bool
{
// Write logic to be executed when the approval process is completed
return true;
}
}
4. Place the <x-ringlesoft-approval-actions>
component on the show page of your model and provide the model instance using the model
parameter.
<x-ringlesoft-approval-actions :model="$fundRequest" />
Currently, the UI is implemented using tailwind
or bootstrap
. Support for vanilla CSS and JS will be available soon.
You can switch between the two by modifying the css_library
setting in the configuration file. Additionally, you have
the option to publish the views and customize them to meet your specific requirements.
Configuration
You can publish the configuration file of this package, process_approval.php
, and modify the variables to align with
your specific requirements. If you wish to publish the files, use the following command:
php artisan vendor:publish --provider="RingleSoft\LaravelProcessApproval\LaravelProcessApprovalServiceProvider" --tag="approvals-config"
Configurable parameters
roles_model
- Specify the full class name of the model related to roles table. (default is Spatie's laravel-permissions (Spatie\Permissions\Models\Role
))users_model
- Specify the model that represents the authenticated users. (default isApp\Models\User
).models_path
- Specify the default namespace for models in your application. (default isApp\Models
).approval_controller_middlewares
- Specify any middlewares you want to apply to the ApprovalController. (Normally it should be['auth']
).css_library
- Specify the css library for styling the UI component (bootstrap/tailwind). (default isTailwind CSS
).multi_tenancy_field
- Specify the multi-tenancy field in the users table. (default istenant_id
)
Model Submitting
By default, the model becomes ready for approval when it is marked as "submitted". This provides the opportunity for editing and other actions on the model before the approval procedure commences. This feature is particularly useful if you wish to keep newly created models hidden from approvers until the creator submits them.
If you want the model to be auto-submitted upon creation, you can add the following property to the model:
public bool $autoSubmit = true;
Otherwise, the package will show a submit button on the show page of the model to enable the creator to submit the model.
Pausing Approval process
Sometimes you may wish to interrupt the approval procedure by adding your own actions before continuing with approvals.
You can pause approvals by adding a pauseApprovals(): mixed
method to your Approvable Model.
public function pauseApprovals() {
return true;
}
If this method returns true, the approval actions UI will disappear, and you will be able to implement your other
logics.
If the method returns 'ONLY_ACTIONS'
the existing approvals will be displayed but approval actions will be hidden and
disabled.
Approval Signatures
If you want to use signatures for users, add the getSignature()
method to your User model and make it return the
signature of the user as image url.
Class User extends Model {
...
public function getSignature(){
return $this->signature_path; // Return the path to user's signature
}
}
If not specified, the package will display check
icon for approval and times
icon for rejection.
Approval Summary
If you want to display a summary of the approval process (normally when listing the models) you can use
the <x-ringlesoft-approval-status-summary>
component.
This component returns html code with icons representing every approval step: check
icon representing Approved
, times
icon representing Rejected
or Discarded
and exclamation
icon representing Pending
.
Events
The package dispatches events during different stages of the approval workflow to allow hooking into the process.
ProcessSubmittedEvent
- Dispatched when a new approvable model is submitted.ProcessApprovedEvent
- Dispatched when an approvable model is approved by an approver.ProcessRejectedEvent
- Dispatched when an approvable model is rejected by an approver.ProcessReturnedEvent
- Dispatched when an approvable model is returned back to the previous step by an approver.ProcessDiscardedEvent
- Dispatched when an approvable model is discarded by an approver.ProcessApprovalCompletedEvent
- Dispatched when the full approval workflow is completed, either approved orApprovalNotificationEvent
- Dispatches during approval actions with the notification message about what happened. discarded.
Showing Notifications
To display approval notifications, subscribe to the ApprovalNotificationEvent
event.
1. Create a Listener:
Generate a listener for the event using artisan command:
php artisan make:listener ApprovalNotificationListener --event=\\RingleSoft\\LaravelProcessApproval\\Events\\ApprovalNotificationEvent
2. Implement Listener Logic:
Inside the generated ApprovalNotificationListener class, implement the logic within the handle()
method.
This method will execute whenever the ApprovalNotificationEvent event is triggered. Customize the notification content and delivery method as per your application's requirements.
Example listener implementation:
class ApprovalNotificationListener
{
...
/**
* Handle the event.
*/
public function handle(ApprovalNotificationEvent $event): void
{
session()->flash('success', $event->message);
}
}
3. Register Listener:
Register the listener in your EventServiceProvider
class to link the ApprovalNotificationEvent
event with your ApprovalNotificationListener
:
protected $listen = [
ApprovalNotificationEvent::class => [
ApprovalNotificationListener::class,
],
];
Use your own approach to display notification from session()
Notifying Approvers
To notify approvers when a document is awaiting their approval, you can subscribe to the ProcessSubmittedEvent
and ProcessApprovedEvent
events and send notifications to them.
Here is an example of how to send notifications to the next approvers within the ProcessSubmittedListener
listener:
public function handle(ProcessSubmittedEvent $event): void
{
$nextApprovers = $event->approvable->getNextApprovers();
foreach ($nextApprovers as $nextApprover) {
$nextApprover->notify(new AwaitingApprovalNotification($event->approvable));
}
}
Helper Methods
This package adds multiple helper methods to the approvable models. These include:
Filters
-
approved()
[Static]: This returns a builder that filters the model entries that are only approved ( returnsIlluminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder
) Example:FundRequest::approved()->get();
-
rejected()
[Static]:This returns a builder that filters the model entries that are only rejected ( returnsIlluminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder
) Example:FundRequest::rejected()->get();
-
discarded()
[Static]:This returns a builder that filters the model entries that are only discarded ( returnsIlluminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder
) Example:FundRequest::discarded()->get();
-
returned()
[Static]:This returns a builder that filters the model entries that are only returned ( returnsIlluminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder
) Example:FundRequest::returned()->get();
-
submitted()
[Static]:This returns a builder that filters the model entries that are only submitted ( returnsIlluminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder
) Example:FundRequest::submitted()->get();
Actions
submit([user: Authenticatable|null = null]): bool|RedirectResponse|ProcessApproval
: Submits the modelapprove([comment = null], [user: Authenticatable|null = null]): bool|RedirectResponse|ProcessApproval
: Approves the modelreject([comment = null], [user: Authenticatable|null = null]): bool|ProcessApproval
: Rejects the modelreturn([comment = null], [user: Authenticatable|null = null]): bool|ProcessApproval
: Returns the model to the previous stepdiscard([comment = null], [user: Authenticatable|null = null]): bool|ProcessApproval
: Discards the modelreturn([comment = null], [user: Authenticatable|null = null]): bool|ProcessApproval
: Returns the model to the previous step
Misc
isApprovalCompleted(): bool
: Checks if the approval process for the model is completedisSubmitted(): bool
: Checks if the model has been submittedisRejected(): bool
: Checks if the model has been rejectedisDiscarded(): bool
: Checks if the model has been discardedisReturned(): bool
: Checks if the model has been returned back to the previous stepnextApprovalStep(): null|ProcessApprovalFlowStep
: Returns the next approval step for the modelpreviousApprovalStep(): null|ProcessApprovalFlowStep
: Returns the previous approval step for the modelcanBeApprovedBy(user: Authenticatable|null): bool|null
: Checks if the model can currently be approved by the specified user.onApprovalCompleted(approval: ProcessApproval): bool
: A callback method to be called when the approval process is completed. This method must be implemented and must return true for the last approval to be successful. Otherwise, the last approval will be rolled back.getNextApprovers(): Collection
: Returns a list of users that are capable of approving the model at its current step.
Relations
approvals(): morphMany
- Returns all approvals of the modellastApproval(): morphOne
- Returns the last approval (Models\ProcessApproval
) of the modelapprovalStatus(): morphOne
- Returns the status object (Models\ProcessApprovalStatus
) of the model
Seeding
If you want to seed your approval flows to the database, this package provides a static method makeApprovable(): bool
to create a new approval flow for a model.
This method can be used to seed the database with the necessary approval flows and steps for a model.
The method accepts two parameters:
$steps
: An array defining the roles to be used as approval steps.$name
: (optional) The name of the approval flow.
Basic usage:
When the first parameter is a flat array of integers, the method creates a new approval flow with the array items as role_id
and sets ApprovalTypeEnum::APPROVE
as the default action for each step.
FundRequest::makeApprovable([1,2,3]);
Advanced usage:
When the first parameter is an associative array of [int => ApprovalTypeEnum, ...]
, the method creates a new approval flow with the array keys (int
) as role_id
and the values (ApprovalTypeEnum
) as the corresponding action.
FundRequest::makeApprovable([
1 => ApprovalTypeEnum::APPROVE,
3 => ApprovalTypeEnum::CHECK
]);
Complex usage:
When the first parameter is an array of arrays, the method creates a new approval flow with steps that accepts [role_id => int, action => ApprovalTypeEnum]
from the sub-arrays.
FundRequest::makeApprovable([
[
'role_id' => 2,
'action' => ApprovalTypeEnum::CHECK->value
],
[
'role_id' => 1,
'action' => ApprovalTypeEnum::CHECK->value
],
[
'role_id' => 1,
'action' => ApprovalTypeEnum::APPROVE->value
]
]
);
This option enables you to create a flow with multiple steps for the same role, each step having a different action or occurrence.
Multi-Tenancy
This package supports multi-tenancy by configuring a column in the users table. You can specify the column name using the multi_tenancy_field
configuration option.
When the logged-in user is has the tenant_id
field set, the package will use that value to filter the approval steps.
With this you can have one approval flow with different steps for different tenants.
Testing
To test this package, switch to the tests
branch and run composer install
to install the dependencies and vendor/bin/testbench package:test
to run the tests.
Contributing
I'll let you know when you can contribute 😜.
License
Laravel Process Approval is open-source software released under the MIT License.
Support
Contacts
Follow me on <a href="https://x.com/ringunger">X</a>: <a href="https://x.com/ringunger">@ringunger</a><br> Email me: <a href="mailto:ringunger@gmail.com">ringunger@gmail.com</a><br> Website: https://ringlesoft.com