Laravel Process Approval

Introduction

This package enables multi-level approval workflows for Eloquent models in your Laravel application. If you have models that require review and approval from multiple approvers before execution, this package provides a flexible approval process to meet that need.

The package relies on an existing Role management. This can be a custom role management or another package such as Spatie's laravel permissions.

Installation

1. Install Using composer:

composer require ringlesoft/laravel-process-approval

2. Run migration:

The package comes with four migrations. Run artisan migrate command before you start using the package.

php artisan migrate

3. Create Approval flows and Steps

The package relies on Approval flows and steps on your default database. This is to enable multiple approval flows within the system. Yuo can implement your own way of creating and managing the flows. However, there are available command-line functions to help you get started easily.

i. Creating a new flow

To create a new flow, Run the following command on your terminal.

 php artisan process-approval:flow add FundRequest

ii. Creating a step for the flow

php artisan process-approval:step add

This will show a list of available Flows. Select the flow yow want to add steps to and then select the role and approval action.

iii. Deleting a flow

php artisan process-approval:flow remove

This will show a list of available flows. Select the step you want to delete and hit enter.

iv. Deleting a step

php artisan process-approval:step remove

This will show a list of available steps. Select the step you want to delete and hit enter.

v. Listing all flows

php artisan process-approval:flow list

This will show a list of all available flows and steps

Usage

1. Implement AprovableModel to your approvable model

class FundRequest extends Model implements ApprovableModel
{

   // Your model content

}

2. Apply the Approvable trait to the model

class FundRequest extends Model implements ApprovableModel
{
    use \RingleSoft\ProcessApproval\Traits\Approvable;
   // Your model content

}

3. Implement the onApprovalCompleted() method.

This package relies on one callback method in your model to commit the last approval and mark the approval process as completed. You should implement this method and return true to finalize the approval or false to roll back the last approval. This is useful in the case of performing specific tasks when the approval procedure is completed.

class FundRequest extends Model implements ApprovableModel
{
use \RingleSoft\ProcessApproval\Traits\Approvable;
   // Your model content

    public function onApprovalCompleted(ProcessApproval $approval): bool
    {
        // Write logic to be executed when the approval process is completed
        return true;
    }
}

4. Place the <x-ringlesoft-approval-actions> component on the show page of your model and provide the model instance using the model parameter.

    <x-ringlesoft-approval-actions :model="$fundRequest" />

Currently, the UI is implemented using tailwind or bootstrap. Support for vanilla CSS and JS will be available soon. You can switch between the two by modifying the css_library setting in the configuration file. Additionally, you have the option to publish the views and customize them to meet your specific requirements.

Configuration

You can publish the configuration file of this package, process_approval.php, and modify the variables to align with your specific requirements. If you wish to publish the files, use the following command:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="Ringlesoft/LaravelProcessApproval"

Configurable parameters

• roles_model - Specify the full class name of the model related to roles table. (for Spatie's laravel-permissions use the Spatie\Permissions\Models\Role)
• users_model - Specify the model that represents the authenticated users. (default is App\Models\User).
• models_path - Specify the default namespace for models in your application. (default is App\Models).
• css_library - Specify the css library for styling the UI component (bootstrap/tailwind). (default is Tailwind CSS).

Model Submitting

By default, the model becomes ready for approval when it is marked as "submitted". This provides the opportunity for editing and other actions on the model before the approval procedure commences. This feature is particularly useful if you wish to keep newly created models hidden from approvers until the creator submits them.

If you want the model to be auto-submitted upon creation, you can add the following property to the model:

public bool autoSubmit = true;

Otherwise, the package will show a submit button on the show page of the model to enable the creator to submit the model.

Approval Signatures

If you want to use signatures for users, add the getSignature() method to your User model and make it return the signature of the user as image url.

Class User extends Model {
    ...

    public function getSignature(){
        return $this->signature_path; // Return the path to user's signature
    }
}

If not specified, the package will display check icon for approval and times icon for rejection.

Approval Summary

If you want to display a summary of the approval process (normally when listing the models) you can use the getApprovalSummaryUI() method. This method returns html code with icons representing every approval step, check icon representing Approved, times icon representing Rejected and exclamation icon representing Pending.

    $fundRequest->getApprovalSummaryUI();

Events

The package dispatches events during different stages of the approval workflow to allow hooking into the process.

• ProcessSubmittedEvent - Dispatched when a new approvable model is submitted.
• ProcessApprovedEvent - Dispatched when an approvable model is approved by an approver.
• ProcessRejectedEvent - Dispatched when an approvable model is rejected by an approver.
• ProcessDiscardedEvent - Dispatched when an approvable model is discarded by an approver.
• ProcessApprovalCompletedEvent - Dispatched when the full approval workflow is completed, either approved or discarded.

Helper Methods

This package adds multiple helper methods to the approvable models. These include:

Filters

• approved() [Static]: This returns a builder that filters the model entries that are only approved ( returns Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder) Example:

        FundRequest::approved()->get();
  

• rejected() [Static]:This returns a builder that filters the model entries that are only rejected ( returns Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder) Example:

        FundRequest::rejected()->get();
  

• discarded() [Static]:This returns a builder that filters the model entries that are only discarded ( returns Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder) Example:

        FundRequest::discarded()->get();
  

• submitted() [Static]:This returns a builder that filters the model entries that are only submitted ( returns Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder) Example:

        FundRequest::submitted()->get();
  

  Misc

• isApprovalCompleted(): bool: Checks if the approval process for the model is completed
• isSubmitted(): bool: Checks if the model has been submitted
• isRejected(): bool: Checks if the model has been rejected
• isDiscarded(): bool: Checks if the model has been discarded
• nextApprovalStep(): null|ProcessApprovalFlowStep: Returns the next approval step for the model
• previousApprovalStep(): null|ProcessApprovalFlowStep: Returns the previous approval step for the model
• submit([user: Authenticatable|null = null]): bool|RedirectResponse|ProcessApproval: Submits the model
• approve([comment = null], [user: Authenticatable|null = null]): bool|RedirectResponse|ProcessApproval: Approves the model
• reject([comment = null], [user: Authenticatable|null = null]): bool|ProcessApproval: Rejects the model
• discard([comment = null], [user: Authenticatable|null = null]): bool|ProcessApproval: Discards the model
• canBeApprovedBy(user: Authenticatable|null): bool|null: Checks if the model can currently be approved by the specified user.
• onApprovalCompleted(approval: ProcessApproval): bool: A callback method to be called when the approval process is completed. This method must be implemented and must return true for the last approval to be successful. Otherwise, the last approval will be rolled back.
• getNextApprovers(): Collection: Returns a list of users that are capable of approving the model at its current step.

Contributing

I'll let you know when you can contribute 😜.

License

Laravel Process Approval is open-source software released under the MIT License.

Contacts

Follow me on Twitter: @ringunger