Control structures (@if, @foreach, @for) in Laravel - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Building a Simple Product List with Laravel Blade Control Structures

📖 Scenario: You are creating a simple product list page for a small online store using Laravel Blade templates. You want to show the products with their prices, highlight expensive products, and display a message if no products are available.

🎯 Goal: Build a Blade template that uses @foreach to list products, @if to highlight expensive products, and @for to show a limited number of featured products.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a $products array with exact product names and prices

Create a variable $expensiveThreshold to define the price limit for expensive products

Use @foreach to loop through $products and display each product's name and price

Use @if inside the loop to highlight products with price greater than $expensiveThreshold

Use @for to display the first 3 featured products from the $products array

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Online stores and dashboards often need to display lists of items with conditional formatting and limited featured sections.

💼 Career

Understanding Blade control structures is essential for Laravel developers to build dynamic and maintainable web pages.

1

Create the products array

Create a PHP array called $products with these exact entries: ['Laptop' => 1200, 'Smartphone' => 800, 'Tablet' => 450, 'Headphones' => 150, 'Charger' => 50].

Laravel

<?php

// Create the $products array with exact product names and prices
// Your code here

Hint

Use square brackets [] to create the array with keys as product names and values as prices.

2

Add the expensive price threshold

Create a variable called $expensiveThreshold and set it to 500.

Laravel

 1200, 'Smartphone' => 800, 'Tablet' => 450, 'Headphones' => 150, 'Charger' => 50];

// Create $expensiveThreshold variable and set it to 500
// Your code here

Hint

Just assign the number 500 to the variable $expensiveThreshold.

3

Use @foreach and @if to list and highlight products

Write a Blade template snippet that uses @foreach ($products as $product => $price) to loop through the products. Inside the loop, use @if ($price > $expensiveThreshold) to add a <strong> tag around the product name for expensive products. Display each product name and price inside a <li> element.

Laravel

 1200, 'Smartphone' => 800, 'Tablet' => 450, 'Headphones' => 150, 'Charger' => 50];

$expensiveThreshold = 500;

?>


    @foreach ($products as $product => $price)
        
        
    @endforeach

Hint

Use @foreach to loop, @if to check price, and Blade curly braces {{ }} to show variables.

4

Use @for to display first 3 featured products

Add a Blade @for loop that runs from $i = 0 to less than 3. Inside the loop, display the product name and price from array_keys($products)[$i] and array_values($products)[$i] inside a <div> with class featured.

Laravel

 1200, 'Smartphone' => 800, 'Tablet' => 450, 'Headphones' => 150, 'Charger' => 50];

$expensiveThreshold = 500;

?>


    @foreach ($products as $product => $price)
        
            @if ($price > $expensiveThreshold)
                {{ $product }}: ${{ $price }}
            @else
                {{ $product }}: ${{ $price }}
            @endif
        
    @endforeach


{{-- Add @for loop below to show first 3 featured products --}}

Hint

Use @for with $i from 0 to 2, and use array_keys($products)[$i] and array_values($products)[$i] to get product name and price.

Practice

1. What does the @if directive do in a Laravel Blade template?

easy

A. It shows content only if a condition is true.

B. It repeats content for each item in a list.

C. It repeats content a fixed number of times.

D. It defines a variable inside the template.

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the purpose of @if

   The @if directive is used to check a condition and show content only when that condition is true.

2. Step 2: Compare with other directives

   @foreach repeats content for each item, and @for repeats content a set number of times, so they do not match the description.

3. Final Answer:

   It shows content only if a condition is true. -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   @if = conditional display [OK]

Hint: @if controls conditional display of content [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing @if with @foreach or @for
• Thinking @if repeats content
• Assuming @if defines variables

2. Which of the following is the correct syntax to start a @foreach loop in Laravel Blade?

easy

A. @foreach $items as $item

B. @foreach $item in $items

C. @foreach($item in $items)

D. @foreach($items as $item)

Solution

1. Step 1: Recall correct @foreach syntax

   The correct syntax uses parentheses and the keyword as: @foreach($items as $item).

2. Step 2: Identify incorrect options

   Options A and D miss parentheses, and C uses incorrect syntax in instead of as.

3. Final Answer:

   @foreach($items as $item) -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   @foreach syntax = parentheses + 'as' [OK]

Hint: Use parentheses and 'as' keyword in @foreach [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Omitting parentheses
• Using 'in' instead of 'as'
• Missing $ on variables

3. What will be the output of this Blade snippet?

@for($i = 1; $i <= 3; $i++)
  Number: {{ $i }}
@endfor

medium

A. No output because of syntax error

B. Number: 0 Number: 1 Number: 2

C. Number: 1 Number: 2 Number: 3

D. Number: 1 Number: 2 Number: 3 Number: 4

Solution

1. Step 1: Analyze the for loop range

   The loop starts at 1 and runs while $i is less than or equal to 3, so it runs for 1, 2, and 3.

2. Step 2: Determine output for each iteration

   Each iteration prints "Number: " followed by the current $i value, so output is "Number: 1 Number: 2 Number: 3".

3. Final Answer:

   Number: 1 Number: 2 Number: 3 -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Loop 1 to 3 prints numbers 1,2,3 [OK]

Hint: Count loop from start to end inclusive [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Starting loop at 0 instead of 1
• Including extra iteration beyond 3
• Assuming syntax error

4. Identify the error in this Blade code:

@foreach($users as user)
  {{ $user->name }}
@endforeach

medium

A. Missing parentheses around $users

B. Missing $ before user in the loop declaration

C. Incorrect closing tag, should be @endfor

D. No error, code is correct

Solution

1. Step 1: Check foreach syntax

   The variable in the loop must have a $ sign: @foreach($users as $user).

2. Step 2: Verify other parts

   Parentheses are present, and closing tag is correctly @endforeach. So only missing $ is the error.

3. Final Answer:

   Missing $ before user in the loop declaration -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Variable names need $ in @foreach [OK]

Hint: Always use $ before variables in @foreach [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Omitting $ before loop variable
• Using wrong closing directive
• Missing parentheses

5. You want to display a list of products only if there are any products in the array. Which Blade code correctly does this?

hard

A. @if(count($products) > 0)
@foreach($products as $product)
{{ $product->name }}
@endforeach
@endif

B. @foreach($products as $product)
@if($products)
{{ $product->name }}
@endif
@endforeach

C. @for($i = 0; $i < count($products); $i++)
@if($products[$i])
{{ $products[$i]->name }}
@endif
@endfor

D. @if($products)
@foreach($products as $product)
{{ $product->name }}
@endforeach
@endif

Solution

1. Step 1: Check condition to display list

   @if(count($products) > 0) @foreach($products as $product) {{ $product->name }} @endforeach @endif uses @if(count($products) > 0) which correctly and explicitly checks if products exist before looping.

2. Step 2: Analyze other options

   B places the check inside the loop, which is redundant since @foreach skips empty arrays. C uses manual @for with array indexing, which is error-prone (e.g., for associative arrays) and less idiomatic than @foreach. D uses @if($products), which works via implicit boolean conversion (empty arrays are falsy) but is less explicit and readable than count > 0.

3. Final Answer:

   @if(count($products) > 0) followed by @foreach -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Check count > 0 before @foreach [OK]

Hint: Use count() > 0 to check non-empty arrays before loops [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using implicit @if($products) instead of explicit count > 0
• Placing condition inside loop unnecessarily
• Using @for with inner @if redundantly