# Debug middleware

Middleware is a piece of code that is run between the request and the response.
Global middleware runs for every HTTP request while route middleware runs only for HTTP requests to specific routes.
Sometimes it is also useful to write your own middleware that contains functionality you will often use in your application.
E.g: in a controller, you fetch a dataset and then send it to a view. For debugging, it is useful to only show the dataset in JSON format or just dump the data to te screen and stop the execution of the script.

# Preparation

You only have to do these actions once!
Create new middleware: php artisan make:middleware Debug
Open the file app/Http/Kernel.php and register the middleware in the middlewareGroups array under the web group

protected $middlewareGroups = [
    'web' => [
        \App\Http\Middleware\Debug::class,
        \App\Http\Middleware\EncryptCookies::class,
        ...
    ],

    'api' => [
        ...
    ],
];

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Open the file app/Http/Middleware/Debug.php and replace the code inside the handle method with the code below:

public function handle(Request $request, Closure $next)
{
    // set $onlyInDebugMode to false if this method is also allowed to work on the production server
    $onlyInDebugMode = true;
    $response = $next($request);

    // go to the view if $onlyInDebugMode = true and if APP_DEBUG = false in .env file
    if ($onlyInDebugMode && !config('app.debug')) {
        return $response;
    }

    if ($request->hasAny(['json', 'dd', 'ddd', 'dump']) && $request->getMethod() === 'GET') {
        // get the data
        $data = $response->getOriginalContent()->getData();
        // ?json: output the data as a JSON
        if ($request->exists('json') && $request->isNotFilled('json')) return response()->json($data);
        // ?dd: dump and die
        if ($request->exists('dd') && $request->isNotFilled('dd')) dd($data);
        // ?ddd dump, die and debug
        if ($request->exists('ddd') && $request->isNotFilled('ddd')) ddd($data);
        // ?dump: dump the data and proceed
        if ($request->exists('dump') && $request->isNotFilled('dump')) dump($data);
    }
    return $response;
}

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# Usage

REMARKS

You don't have to create a route or a view right now, just look at how the helper works.
Tip: download JSON Viewer Pro for Chrome (opens new window) to make JSON easy to read