Helpers

Bhitti provides small global helper functions for common framework operations.

Framework helpers are loaded by the framework package. The starter application may define additional application-specific helpers separately in:

app/Helpers/common.php

cache()

Returns access to the configured cache system.

Store a value:

cache()->put('settings.theme', 'dark', 300);

Read a value:

$theme = cache()->get('settings.theme', 'light');

Check whether a key exists:

if (cache()->has('settings.theme')) {
    // ...
}

Remove a key:

cache()->forget('settings.theme');

Clear the configured cache:

cache()->flush();

Cache a computed value:

$user = cache()->remember(
    'user:' . $id,
    300,
    fn () => db()->table('users')->find($id)
);

A TTL of 0 means no explicit expiration. A negative TTL is rejected.

db()

Returns a fresh Query Builder using the configured database service.

Basic query:

$users = db()
    ->table('users')
    ->where('status', 'active')
    ->get();

Select specific columns:

$users = db()
    ->table('users')
    ->select('id', 'name', 'email')
    ->get();

Use a named connection:

$logs = db('reporting')
    ->table('logs')
    ->get();

Run a transaction:

$userId = db()->transaction(function () use ($data) {
    return db()
        ->table('users')
        ->insert($data, true);
});

Each db() call returns a new Query Builder while reusing the configured Database service and its cached PDO connection.

session()

Returns a small proxy to the active session driver.

Store a value:

session()->set('theme', 'dark');

Read a value:

$theme = session()->get('theme', 'light');

Remove a value:

session()->forget('theme');

Clear session data:

session()->flush();

Regenerate the session identifier:

session()->regenerate();

Destroy the session:

session()->destroy();

Close the session after session work is complete:

session()->close();

Sessions are initialized for matching web routes. API requests are session-free by default.

env()

Reads an environment value.

$debug = env('APP_DEBUG', false);

A default may be provided:

$host = env('DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1');

Common scalar strings are converted automatically:

true   -> bool
false  -> bool
null   -> null
123    -> int
12.5   -> float

Application code should normally read application settings through config(). env() is most useful inside configuration files.

config()

Reads or updates loaded configuration.

Read a value:

$debug = config('app.debug', false);

Dot notation accesses nested configuration:

$driver = config('database.default');

Return all configuration:

$all = config();

Set several values at runtime:

config([
    'app.debug' => true,
    'cache.driver' => 'array',
]);

A default may be a closure because missing values are resolved through the value() helper:

$name = config('app.name', fn () => 'Bhitti');

value()

Returns a normal value unchanged, or executes a closure and returns its result.

$name = value('Bhitti');

returns:

Bhitti

A closure:

$name = value(fn () => 'Bhitti');

also returns:

Bhitti

This helper is useful for lazy default values.

request()

Returns the shared Bhitti\Http\Request instance from the service container.

Read request input:

$email = request()->input('email');

Query string:

$page = request()->query('page', 1);

POST data:

$name = request()->post('name');

JSON:

$data = request()->json();
$email = request()->json('email');

Header:

$accept = request()->header('accept');

Bearer token:

$token = request()->bearerToken();

Method and path:

if (request()->isMethod('POST')) {
    // ...
}

$path = request()->path();

Client information:

$ip = request()->ip();
$secure = request()->isSecure();

response()

Creates a Bhitti\Http\Response.

Plain response:

return response('Hello', 200);

HTML:

return response()->html('<h1>Hello</h1>');

JSON:

return response()->json([
    'status' => 'ok',
]);

Set a header:

return response('Created', 201)
    ->header('X-App-Version', '1.0');

Set multiple headers:

return response()
    ->json($data)
    ->headers([
        'Cache-Control' => 'no-store',
        'X-Request-ID' => $requestId,
    ]);

Redirect:

return response()->redirect('/login');

External redirect:

return response()
    ->redirect()
    ->away('https://example.com');

Template rendering

Template rendering is part of the response API rather than a global helper.

Native PHP template:

return response()->view('users.index', [
    'users' => $users,
]);

Twig template:

return response()->twig('users.index', [
    'users' => $users,
]);

See Native View Template and Twig View Template for full template documentation.

e()

Escapes a value for safe HTML output.

echo e($user->name);

Example:

<h1><?= e($title) ?></h1>

It converts the value to a string and escapes HTML special characters using UTF-8.

Inside native views, $this->e() calls the same helper.

csrf_token()

Returns the current session CSRF token.

$token = csrf_token();

If no token exists yet, Bhitti generates one and stores it in the session.

Manual form example:

<input
    type="hidden"
    name="_csrf"
    value="<?= e(csrf_token()) ?>"
>

In a native view, the shorter form is:

<?= $this->csrfField() ?>

In Twig:

is_ajax()

Checks whether the current request contains:

X-Requested-With: XMLHttpRequest

Example:

if (is_ajax()) {
    return response()->json([
        'status' => 'ok',
    ]);
}

is_api_request()

Returns whether the current request path belongs to the API namespace.

if (is_api_request()) {
    // API-specific behavior
}

The request is considered an API request when the normalized path is /api or starts with /api/.

pr()

Prints one or more values inside a <pre> block using print_r().

pr($user);

Several values:

pr($user, $roles, $requestData);

pr() does not stop execution.

This is a development/debugging helper and should not be left in production response paths.

dd()

Dumps one or more values with var_dump() and immediately stops execution.

dd($user);

Several values:

dd($user, $roles);

Because dd() terminates execution, it is intended only for development and debugging.

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Starter Application Helpers

The Bhitti starter application defines application-specific helpers in:

app/Helpers/common.php

These helpers are not part of the reusable framework package.

auth()

Returns the starter application’s App\Supports\Auth service.

Check authentication:

if (auth()->check()) {
    // authenticated
}

Current authenticated user ID:

$userId = auth()->id();

Current user:

$user = auth()->user();

Login:

auth()->login($userId);

Logout:

auth()->logout();

Check whether the current authentication came from remember-me:

if (auth()->viaRemember()) {
    // ...
}

role()

Checks whether the authenticated user has one role.

if (role('admin')) {
    // ...
}

It returns a boolean.

roles()

Checks whether the authenticated user has any role from the provided list.

if (roles(['admin', 'editor'])) {
    // ...
}

It returns true when at least one role matches.

flash()

Renders and consumes the current starter-application flash message.

<?= flash() ?>

It may render success, error, warning, info or validation-error output.

After rendering, the flash message is removed from the session.

Keeping these application helpers outside the framework package preserves the boundary between reusable framework behavior and project-specific application behavior.