Global middleware in Laravel - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Creating and Using Global Middleware in Laravel

📖 Scenario: You are building a Laravel web application that needs to log every incoming HTTP request's URL for monitoring purposes.To do this efficiently, you will create a global middleware that runs on every request and logs the URL.

🎯 Goal: Create a global middleware in Laravel that logs the URL of every incoming request.Register this middleware globally so it runs on all routes automatically.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a middleware class named LogRequestUrl in the app/Http/Middleware directory.

In the middleware, log the current request URL using Laravel's Log facade.

Register the LogRequestUrl middleware globally in the app/Http/Kernel.php file.

Verify the middleware runs on every request by checking the log file.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Global middleware is useful for tasks that must happen on every request, such as logging, security checks, or setting locale preferences.

💼 Career

Understanding global middleware registration and creation is essential for Laravel developers to implement cross-cutting concerns efficiently.

1

Create the LogRequestUrl middleware class

Create a middleware class named LogRequestUrl inside the app/Http/Middleware directory. The class should have a handle method that accepts $request and $next parameters and returns $next($request).

Laravel

<?php

namespace App\Http\Middleware;

use Closure;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class LogRequestUrl
{
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use the handle method with parameters Request $request and Closure $next. Return $next($request) at the end.

2

Add logging of the request URL in the middleware

Inside the handle method of LogRequestUrl, add a line to log the current request URL using \Log::info($request->url()) before returning $next($request). Make sure to import the Log facade with use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Log;.

Laravel

<?php

namespace App\Http\Middleware;

use Closure;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Log;

class LogRequestUrl
{
    public function handle(Request $request, Closure $next)
    {
        // Your code here
        return $next($request);
    }
}

Need a hint?

Import the Log facade and call Log::info() with the request URL inside the handle method.

3

Register the middleware globally in Kernel.php

Open the app/Http/Kernel.php file. Add the \App\Http\Middleware\LogRequestUrl::class entry to the $middleware array property to register it as global middleware.

Laravel

<?php

namespace App\Http;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Kernel as HttpKernel;

class Kernel extends HttpKernel
{
    protected $middleware = [
        // Your code here
    ];
}

Need a hint?

In the Kernel class, add \App\Http\Middleware\LogRequestUrl::class inside the $middleware array.

4

Verify the middleware logs URLs on every request

Make a request to any route in your Laravel app. Check the storage/logs/laravel.log file to confirm that the requested URL is logged by the LogRequestUrl middleware.

Laravel

<?php
// Make a request to any route and check the log file
// Your code here

Need a hint?

After registering the middleware globally, any request will trigger the logging. Check the log file to confirm.