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Let's build a super simple referral system with Laravel

Simi Oluwatomi on August 06, 2019

Sometime ago, I was asked to build a referral system as part of the feature set of a Laravel web application. Referral systems were not new to me b...
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Cyprian •

So for those who would be using Laravel 8 with jetstream, this stack uses Fortify for authentication and i quote from laravel documentation 'Fortify does not provide its own user interface, it is meant to be paired with your own user interface which makes requests to the routes it registers'. if that is hard to understand then follow the laravel.com/docs/8.x/fortify#intro... for clarity or drop a comment below.

So let's get to the chase. The most important thing in this system is the session that Mr Simi set to cache a session variable named 'referrer' if the register route contains a ref query parameter. now go to App\Providers\FortiftyServiceProvider in the boot() method and paste the code below

Fortify::registerView(function(Request $request) {
if ($request->has('ref')) {
session(['referrer' => $request->query('ref')]);
}
return view('auth.register');
});
Now the code is doing the same as that in the registerController.

Secondly, after caching the ref=user and getting the user's id, you would need to pass in this data in the create() method. You will find this file in the App\Actions\Foritfy\CreateNewUser class. Like what i did, i replaced the codes in this file with that of the RegisterController and then pass in the 

    $referrer = User::whereUsername(session()->pull('referrer'))->first();
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This is the code that pulls the referrer's credentials and parses it in to create a new user. Every other thing stays the same from the User class and from the migration class file too.

It worked for me because i was using laravel 8 for a referral system project. Like i said, drop a comment if you have any challanges below...Cheers

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ReubenDickson •

Thanks for this guys. I'm new to Laravel. The project I'm working on includes referrals system and I'm using Jetstream. Would you like to share what you've done please. Thanks

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Simi Oluwatomi •

Thanks! I should update this tutorial to reflect the changes in Laravel since it was written but I'm currently swamped with work.

Thanks once again

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Cyprian •

Okay boss.

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Sarjid Islam Habil • • Edited

Thanks it's work fine in laravel 8..ihave make refferel system just 40 minutes.. Thanks for Your Help..

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dotcorps •

where to write Notification code

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Simi Oluwatomi •

You have to create a notification. Kindly refer to the notification section of the Laravel docs to get started with that

laravel.com/docs/8.x/notifications

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Willy •

How can I get in touch with you? a means of contact

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Simi Oluwatomi •

You can send me a tweet on X (formerly Twitter)

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Willy •

unable to send message by x

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Simi Oluwatomi •

Send me a mail at deifilius1@gmail.com

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Clement •

Very nice and very useful. Thank you.
I use it with a small change.

I moved the code to write the referrer into the session

    if ($request->has('ref')) {
        session(['referrer' => $request->query('ref')]);
    }
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from app/Http/Controllers/Auth/RegisterController.php to a custom made middleware app/Http/Middleware/CheckReferrer.php

That way, the ?ref=referrer can be used on any link on the website and not only on register?ref=referrer

P.S. The custom middleware can be created using the artisan command:
php artisan make:middleware CheckAge
then it has to be registered within app/Http/Kernel.php

    protected $middlewareGroups = [
        'web' => [
...........
            \App\Http\Middleware\CheckReferrer::class,
        ],
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Juan Ramos •

Nice suggestion Clement. Although I think the session won't last much and it can be replaced if the user visits a page with a new ref parameter.
I need to keep the referrer value for at least 7 days and set the value only if it's not already there. For this particular case I think I will be using Cookies.

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Simi Oluwatomi •

This is great. I really didn't think about this use case as mine was only focused on registration

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Ernest Obot • • Edited

Observation One

$referrer = User::whereUsername(session()->pull('referrer'))->first(); //Giving issues

should be
$session_data = session()->pull('referrer');
$referrer = User::whereUsername($session_data )->first(); //Fixed

I observed that laravel was having difficulty retrieving the referrerfrom the session and querying the database at the same time which was giving error when getting the id. The solution was to first get the referrer value from the session and pass it to the eloquent.

Observation 2
'referrer_id' => $referrer ? $referrer->id : null,

This is because $referrer does not return a boolean value instead a user object. So using it this way will return an error and of course logical error.

What I did in my case, was to check that referrer value from session was not null.

Should be
'referrer_id' => $session != null ? $referrer->id : null,

or
'referrer_id' => !is_null($session) ? $referrer->id : null,

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Fagbenro Damilare Samuel •

You just saved me today. I almost wasted the whole day looking for solutions online. The logic is so simple and readable. It worked perfectly.

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Simi Oluwatomi •

I used to overthink things like this and think of very complex solutions that cover a lot of edge cases. But then I realized that if the solution to something is becoming too complex, maybe, just maybe I'm overthinking it. That has really helped me a lot

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Christopher C. Okonkwo •

You really made it simple. Of all its clean without external packages. Kudos Bro

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Simi Oluwatomi •

thank you. that was the aim from the get go

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Opiaaustin •

works fine for me just have an issue with, after using a referral link to register i get the error cant find call referralbonus, and i have imported the class, any ideas?

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SirG •

Thanks for this!

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Hendi Santika •

Very good article. Simple & good explanation. You just saved me today. The logic is so simple and readable. It worked perfectly.

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Tobi •

Everyone seems to understand the whereUsername() method on the User model. I can't find the explanation anywhere so I'm guessing it's a custom method?

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Cyprian •

the session may not be set properly

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Mahr Mudasser •

Everything in this article is nicely and briefly described. I am bit confused about how to invite new user. I mean where and how to send invitation link to new user. ?

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Tribe NG •

you haven't updated this tutorial

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Emanuel Quimper •

Nice job. Really clean and well explain. Thank you :)

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Simi Oluwatomi •

Thank you! Glad that you found it super helpful

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ebuka john •

This is really easy to comprehend. the best referral tutorial i have seen online. please i would appreciate if you can make a tutorial on multi-level referral system thank you

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Simi Oluwatomi •

At this point, I must ask what a multi-level referral system is. Maybe, just maybe I might be able to come up with something

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bhola9 •

I really appreciate your super simple referral system.... Now I can make my own referral system with your idea ... Thanks a lot !!!

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Coding PowerX •

How to get referrals details like name , email , username from the referral instead of just the referral count ?

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AzeezUmor •

@foreach (Auth()->user()->referrals as $referral)
<ul>
<li>{{$referral->email}}</li>
</ul>
@endforeach

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AzeezUmor •

How to generate TOKEN for user registration URL instead of using USERNAME?

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Mahr Mudasser •

I want to use it to send invitation link on email . How can i use this .