How to Add and Implement Payment Processing Interfaces in Laravel 11: The Part 1 with Hardcoded Binding

#php #laravel #designpatterns #webdev

In this blog post, we’ll explore how to take the first step in adding and implementing a payment processing interface in a Laravel 11 application. We'll start by creating a hardcoded binding between the PaymentProcessorInterface and a specific implementation, such as StripePaymentProcessor. This approach is a foundational setup, laying the groundwork for more advanced techniques like dynamic binding using service containers(binding being done at "compile time" based on configuration) and runtime bindings using factories, which we’ll cover in future posts.

Step 1: Create the Contracts Directory (if it doesn’t exist)

Laravel encourages a clean and organized codebase. When implementing interfaces, we’ll typically place them inside the App\Contracts directory.

If the Contracts directory doesn't exist yet in our application, we can create it by running the following command in the terminal:

mkdir app/Contracts

This directory will serve as the location for all our application interfaces, keeping them separate from the concrete implementations.

Step 2: Save the PaymentProcessor Interface in the Contracts Directory

Now that we have the Contracts directory, let’s create a new file where the PaymentProcessorInterface will live. To do so, run the following command:

touch app/Contracts/PaymentProcessorInterface.php

This will create an empty file that we will populate in the next step.

Step 3: Define the PaymentProcessor Interface

In our newly created PaymentProcessorInterface.php file, define the interface as follows:

<?php

namespace App\Contracts;

interface PaymentProcessorInterface
{
    public function createPayment(float $amount, string $currency, array $paymentDetails): array;
    public function processPayment(array $paymentData): array;
    public function refundPayment(string $transactionId, float $amount): bool;
}

This interface will act as a contract, ensuring that any class implementing it will contain the necessary methods for creating, processing, and refunding payments.

Step 4: Implementing the Interface in a Service Class

With the PaymentProcessorInterface defined, the next step is to create a class that implements this interface. Typically, we would place this implementation in the app/Services directory.

For instance, let’s create a StripePaymentProcessor class that implements this interface. We can create the file by running:

touch app/Services/StripePaymentProcessor.php

Then, implement the class as shown below:

<?php

namespace App\Services;

use App\Contracts\PaymentProcessorInterface;

class StripePaymentProcessor implements PaymentProcessorInterface
{
    public function createPayment(float $amount, string $currency, array $paymentDetails): array
    {
        // Stripe-specific payment creation logic
    }

    public function processPayment(array $paymentData): array
    {
        // Stripe-specific payment processing logic
    }

    public function refundPayment(string $transactionId, float $amount): bool
    {
        // Stripe-specific payment refund logic
    }
}

This class now contains the necessary methods to create, process, and refund payments via Stripe’s API. We can replace or extend this with other payment processors as needed by creating additional classes implementing the same interface.

Step 5: Binding the Interface in the Service Container (Hardcoded)

Now that the interface and its implementation are ready, we need to tell Laravel how to resolve the PaymentProcessorInterface. In this first step, we’ll use a hardcoded binding by explicitly binding the interface to a specific implementation in Laravel’s service container.

To do this, we can modify the AppServiceProvider or create a new service provider.

In app/Providers/AppServiceProvider.php, add the following code inside the register method:

public function register()
{
    $this->app->bind(
        \App\Contracts\PaymentProcessorInterface::class,
        \App\Services\StripePaymentProcessor::class
    );
}

This binding tells Laravel that whenever the PaymentProcessorInterface is required, it should automatically inject the StripePaymentProcessor class. While this approach works, it is limited because it binds a specific implementation to the interface.

This hardcoded binding is an excellent starting point, but it doesn’t provide the flexibility required for larger applications or when supporting multiple payment processors. In the next part of this series, we’ll explore how to achieve dynamic binding using Laravel’s service container and factories, allowing the system to select different implementations at runtime based on the payment gateway needed:

Dynamic Binding: Allowing multiple implementations for different payment processors.
Factory Pattern: Using factories to select the correct payment processor based on runtime conditions.

Make sure you check all the parts of this tutorial: