Nova Qrcode Manager Laravel Package

Getting Started

devtical/nova-qrcode-manager is a Laravel Nova tool for generating and managing QR codes from inside the Nova admin panel. Because it is a Nova tool, your project must already be running a licensed Nova install (Nova is commercial and not installable via public Packagist; you will need credentials configured in auth.json).

Minimal setup:

1. Install via Composer:

   composer require devtical/nova-qrcode-manager
   

2. Register the tool in app/Providers/NovaServiceProvider.php:

   public function tools()
   {
       return [
           new \Devtical\QrcodeManager\QrcodeManager(),
       ];
   }
   

3. Publish and review the config (see Gotchas — some defaults are opinionated around storage and QR rendering):

   php artisan vendor:publish --tag=nova-qrcode-manager-config
   

4. Log into Nova and open the "QR Code Manager" entry in the sidebar.

First useful use case: generate a QR code pointing at a public URL (marketing link, deep link, Wi-Fi credentials payload) directly from the Nova UI, then copy/download the resulting image. For v1.0.2 specifically, the only change is the fix in PR #6 resolving issue #5 — a bug fix that does not change the public API, so upgrading from v1.0.1 is a safe patch bump.

Implementation Patterns

Tool registration and navigation. Register once in NovaServiceProvider::tools(). Control placement with the tool's menu()/canSee() overrides if you are wrapping or extending it, e.g. gating the tool behind a policy or role check so not every Nova user can mint QR codes.

Config-driven defaults. Most day-to-day customization lives in config/nova-qrcode-manager.php — default size, error-correction level, foreground/background colors, and the storage disk where generated assets land. Set the disk to something durable (S3 or a public local disk) rather than leaving it on local, otherwise downloaded images break when you prune storage/app.

Server-side generation. If you need QR codes outside the Nova UI (emails, PDFs, API responses), do not scrape the tool. Use the underlying QR library the package depends on directly in a small service class, and keep the manager as an admin-only convenience. This keeps logic testable and avoids coupling business rules to a UI tool.

Resource integration. A common pattern is attaching a generated QR to an Eloquent model — store the file path on the model, generate on saved via an observer or queued job, and expose it through a Nova field or HasOne/BelongsTo relationship. Avoid generating synchronously in a store/update request when the payload is large.

Bulk workflows. For campaigns (e.g. one QR per landing page), drive generation from an artisan command or queued job that iterates models and writes through the same config-driven service, so the Nova tool and CLI stay consistent.

Gotchas and Tips

• Nova is a hard dependency. You cannot use this in a plain Laravel app; it will only resolve inside a Nova-authenticated context. Plan your local/CI environments accordingly (Nova credentials in auth.json).
• Config caching. If you tweak colors/size/disk in the config, run php artisan config:cache on deploy. Stale caches are the most common cause of "my QR settings didn't apply."
• Storage and URLs. Generated files are only as reliable as the disk you point them at. Verify the disk is public or fronted by a signed/streamed route, otherwise images 404 in production while working locally.
• Version pinning. This is a young package (1.0.x line). Pin with ^1.0 and read each patch's changelog — v1.0.2 is a targeted fix (PR #6 / issue #5), but early-lifecycle packages can ship behavior tweaks in patch releases.
• Upgrade path from v1.0.1 → v1.0.2. No migrations, no config keys added or removed per the release notes; composer update devtical/nova-qrcode-manager plus a Nova asset rebuild (php artisan nova:publish) is sufficient if you have published frontend assets.
• Debugging rendering issues. If QR codes fail to scan, adjust error-correction level and quiet-zone/margin in config before blaming the package — over-stylized colors (low contrast foreground/background) are the usual culprit.
• Extension points. Prefer subclassing the tool or registering your own Nova tool that composes the package's generation logic over forking it; that keeps patch upgrades (like this one) low-risk.
• Assets. After upgrading, if the Nova UI looks unchanged or broken, clear caches and rebuild Nova's compiled assets — Nova tools occasionally ship frontend changes that need a republish.