Building New Feature : What I used to do.

• Create new branch, e.g: feature-{feature_name}
• Use task runner (gulpfile, grunt, etc) for tdd
• Create test file for the feature, e.g: PHPSpec, PHPUnit, Behat, etc
• Start coding, commit often 😜

Personally, when using Laravel 5 this is what I used to do:

• Create event that will be triggered if the new feature is executed properly
• Create artisan console to execute the new feature
• Create test file
• Start coding for new feature
  • When need to execute new feature, call artisan console Artisan::call('commandName',$argument)
  • Trigger above event inside artisan console
• When I feel that the code is mature enough, I'll move that code to the respective service provider or repository.

For example, when building user login feature, i'll:

• Create event to determine succesful user login:
  artisan make:event UserLoginSucceed
• Create the console
  php artisan make:console UserLogin --command user:login
• Create test file
  php artisan make:test UserLoginTest
  • assert that the event is triggered
    $this->expectsEvents(UserLoginSucceed::class);
  • call artisan console
• Put neccessary code for login there, including the trigger for event UserLoginSucceed
• When I want to login a user from UserController, I'll call artisan console:

// in UserController.php
Artisan::call('user:login', ['user'=>...,'pass'=>...]);

After creating artisan console, don't forget to create new entry for it in app/Console/Kernel.php

Following above steps, for each feature I develop I'll have at least an artisan console and an event. This way, I can get some advantages:

• Easier for me to test. Using Laravel, my test will look like this:

// tell the test that we want UserLoginSucceed to be triggered
$this->expectsEvents(UserLoginSucceed::class);

// call artisan console
Artisan::call('customer:deposit',
              compact('username_or_email','amount')
              );

• Reusable component: just call artisan console, via terminal or inside your code
• Hookable event: I can tell Laravel to perform other task when the event is triggered
• Can use advantage of Artisan::queue

Related article:

• Artisan console: managing exit code