Notification channels (mail, database, SMS) in Laravel - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Notification channels (mail, database, SMS)

📖 Scenario: You are building a Laravel application that needs to notify users about important events. Notifications should be sent via email, stored in the database, and sent as SMS messages.

🎯 Goal: Create a Laravel notification class that sends notifications through mail, database, and SMS channels.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a notification class named OrderShipped

Set up the notification to use mail, database, and nexmo channels

Define the toMail method with a subject and greeting

Define the toDatabase method to store order details

Define the toNexmo method to send an SMS message

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Notifications keep users informed about important events like order shipments in e-commerce apps.

💼 Career

Understanding Laravel notifications is essential for backend developers working on user communication features.

1

Create the notification class

Create a Laravel notification class named OrderShipped that extends Notification and implements ShouldQueue. Import the necessary namespaces.

Laravel

<?php

namespace App\Notifications;

use Illuminate\Bus\Queueable;
use Illuminate\Notifications\Notification;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Queue\ShouldQueue;

class OrderShipped extends Notification implements ShouldQueue
{
    use Queueable;

    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use php artisan make:notification OrderShipped to generate the class, then add implements ShouldQueue and use Queueable;.

2

Set notification channels

Add a via method that returns an array with 'mail', 'database', and 'nexmo' as the notification channels.

Laravel

<?php

namespace App\Notifications;

use Illuminate\Bus\Queueable;
use Illuminate\Notifications\Notification;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Queue\ShouldQueue;

class OrderShipped extends Notification implements ShouldQueue
{
    use Queueable;

    public function via(object $notifiable): array
    {
        // Your code here
    }
}

Need a hint?

The via method tells Laravel which channels to use for this notification.

3

Define the mail and database notification content

Add a toMail method that returns a MailMessage with subject 'Your order has shipped' and greeting 'Hello!'. Also add a toDatabase method that returns an array with 'order_id' => 1234 and 'status' => 'shipped'.

Laravel

<?php

namespace App\Notifications;

use Illuminate\Bus\Queueable;
use Illuminate\Notifications\Notification;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Queue\ShouldQueue;
use Illuminate\Notifications\Messages\MailMessage;

class OrderShipped extends Notification implements ShouldQueue
{
    use Queueable;

    public function via(object $notifiable): array
    {
        return ['mail', 'database', 'nexmo'];
    }

    public function toMail(object $notifiable): MailMessage
    {
        // Your code here
    }

    public function toDatabase(object $notifiable): array
    {
        // Your code here
    }
}

Need a hint?

The toMail method builds the email content. The toDatabase method returns data to store in the notifications table.

4

Add the SMS notification method

Add a toNexmo method that returns a NexmoMessage with content 'Your order #1234 has been shipped.'. Import Illuminate\Notifications\Messages\NexmoMessage.

Laravel

subject('Your order has shipped')
            ->greeting('Hello!');
    }

    public function toDatabase(object $notifiable): array
    {
        return [
            'order_id' => 1234,
            'status' => 'shipped'
        ];
    }

    public function toNexmo(object $notifiable): NexmoMessage
    {
        // Your code here
    }
}

Need a hint?

The toNexmo method defines the SMS message content using the NexmoMessage class.