Acl Manager Laravel Package

Getting Started

Minimal Setup

1. Installation

   composer require dizatech/acl-manager
   

   Publish the package config and migrations:

   php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Dizatech\AclManager\AclManagerServiceProvider" --tag="migrations"
   php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Dizatech\AclManager\AclManagerServiceProvider" --tag="config"
   

   Run migrations:

   php artisan migrate
   

2. Basic Configuration Update config/acl-manager.php to define your roles, permissions, and default settings. Example:

   'roles' => [
       'admin' => ['name' => 'Administrator', 'permissions' => ['*']],
       'editor' => ['name' => 'Editor', 'permissions' => ['create', 'edit']],
   ],
   

3. First Use Case: Check User Permissions In a controller or middleware, verify if a user has a permission:

   use Dizatech\AclManager\Facades\AclManager;
   
   if (AclManager::checkPermission('create')) {
       // Allow action
   }
   

Implementation Patterns

Role-Based Workflows

1. Assign Roles to Users

   $user = User::find(1);
   AclManager::assignRole($user, 'editor');
   

2. Check Role Membership

   if (AclManager::userHasRole($user, 'admin')) {
       // Admin-specific logic
   }
   

3. Dynamic Permission Checks Use wildcards (*) for broad permissions or combine checks:

   if (AclManager::checkPermission('post.*') || AclManager::checkPermission('edit')) {
       // Allow if user can edit posts or has edit permission
   }
   

Middleware Integration

Create a middleware to enforce ACL rules globally:

namespace App\Http\Middleware;

use Closure;
use Dizatech\AclManager\Facades\AclManager;

class AclMiddleware
{
    public function handle($request, Closure $next, $permission)
    {
        if (!AclManager::checkPermission($permission)) {
            abort(403);
        }
        return $next($request);
    }
}

Register in app/Http/Kernel.php:

protected $routeMiddleware = [
    'acl' => \App\Http\Middleware\AclMiddleware::class,
];

Use in routes:

Route::get('/admin/dashboard', function () {
    // ...
})->middleware('acl:admin');

Policy Integration (Laravel 5.5+)

Extend Laravel’s built-in policies with ACL checks:

namespace App\Policies;

use App\Models\User;
use App\Models\Post;
use Dizatech\AclManager\Facades\AclManager;

class PostPolicy
{
    public function update(User $user, Post $post)
    {
        return AclManager::checkPermission('edit') || $user->id === $post->user_id;
    }
}

Gotchas and Tips

Pitfalls

1. Wildcard Overuse Avoid granting * permissions unless absolutely necessary. Wildcards bypass granular checks and can lead to security holes. Fix: Use explicit permissions (e.g., post.create, post.edit) instead of *.

2. Migration Conflicts If you modify the acl_roles or acl_permissions tables manually, run php artisan migrate:fresh to avoid schema conflicts.

3. Caching Issues ACL checks are not cached by default. For high-traffic apps, cache role-permission mappings:

   Cache::remember('user-permissions-' . $user->id, now()->addHours(1), function () use ($user) {
       return AclManager::getUserPermissions($user);
   });
   

Debugging

1. Log Permission Checks Enable debug mode in config/acl-manager.php:

   'debug' => env('APP_DEBUG', false),
   

   Logs will appear in storage/logs/laravel.log.

2. Verify Role-Permission Bindings Check the acl_role_permissions pivot table if permissions aren’t applying:

   php artisan tinker
   >>> \DB::table('acl_role_permissions')->where('role_id', 1)->get();
   

Extension Points

1. Custom Permission Logic Override the Permission model to add logic (e.g., time-based permissions):

   namespace App\Models;
   
   use Dizatech\AclManager\Models\Permission as BasePermission;
   
   class Permission extends BasePermission
   {
       public function isValidForUser($user)
       {
           if (!$this->active) return false;
           // Add custom logic (e.g., check user's subscription)
           return parent::isValidForUser($user);
       }
   }
   

2. Dynamic Role Assignment Use observers or events to auto-assign roles (e.g., on user registration):

   use Dizatech\AclManager\Facades\AclManager;
   
   User::created(function ($user) {
       if ($user->isPremium()) {
           AclManager::assignRole($user, 'premium');
       }
   });
   

3. API Rate Limiting by Role Combine with Laravel’s rate limiting:

   Route::middleware(['throttle:60,1', 'acl:admin'])->group(function () {
       // Admin-only routes with rate limiting
   });