Laravel: AppServiceProvider to register an API Key? - laravel

Question

I'm pretty new to Larvel, so apologies in advance for what I assume is a trivial question.
I'm building a store page using Stripe as my payment processor, and their PHP library requires users to register an API key.
Up to this point, I have been setting my API key in the first line of my Controller that creates the checkout session. This seems unnatural to me, and I thought that there would be a better way to "globally" set this API key upon the application boot up.
I then came across the AppServiceProvider, which I understand can be used to perform tasks on startup. I am now setting my API key in it's register() function, like so:
public function register() {
\Stripe\Stripe::setApiKey(env('STRIPE_SECRET_KEY'));
}
This works but I am wondering if this is normal and best-practice. The Laravel documentation mentions that this is a good place for registering event listeners or even routes, but doesn't mention anything similar to API keys or setting up the registration for third-party libraries.
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

One suggestion is dont call env anywhere in your code other than config file.Better create config file in config folder.
For example create a file called stripe.php in config folder
<?php
return [
'stripe_secret_key'=>env('STRIPE_SECRET_KEY')
];
Then you can access
\Stripe\Stripe::setApiKey(config('stripe.stripe_secret_key'));
This helps when you cache config.If you run php artisan config:cache then it wont call env
As per documentation
If you execute the config:cache command during your deployment
process, you should be sure that you are only calling the env function
from within your configuration files. Once the configuration has been
cached, the .env file will not be loaded and all calls to the env
function will return null.
Ref: https://laravel.com/docs/8.x/helpers#method-env
difference between register and boot method
“After all providers have been registered, they are “booted”. This
will fire the boot method on each provider. A common mistake when
using service providers is attempting to use the services provided by
another provider in the register method. Since, within the register
method, we have no gurantee all other providers have been loaded, the
service you are trying to use may not be available yet. So, service
provider code that uses other services should always live in the boot
method. The register method should only be used for, you guessed it,
registering services with the container. Within the boot method, you
may do whatever you like: register event listeners, include a routes
file, register filters, or anything else you can imagine.”
So the register one is just for binding. The boot one is to actually
trigger something to happen.
Ref: https://laracasts.com/discuss/channels/general-discussion/difference-between-boot-and-register-method