Comparing dates in view and applying class - laravel

Question

I am currently displaying projects within a view using a foreach loop.
#foreach ($projects as $project)
<div class="col-xs-4 col-sm-4 col-md-4 col-lg-4">
{!! Form::open(array('class' => 'form-inline delete', 'method' => 'DELETE', 'route' => array('projects.destroy', $project->id))) !!}
<div class="panel panel-default">
<div class="panel-heading projectPanelHeading">
<h4>{{ $project->projectName }}</h4>
</div>
<div class="panel-body projectPanel">
<p>Deployment Date: {{ ($project->deploymentDate ? date('d-m-Y', strtotime($project->deploymentDate)) : '') }}</p>
<p>Status: {{ $project->status or '' }}</p>
</div>
</div>
{!! Form::close() !!}
</div>
#endforeach
As you can see, each project has a $project->deploymentDate which I convert to a date object with the format d-m-Y.
What I am trying to do is compare the deploymentDate with the current date, and if the deploymentDate has passed, to apply a panel-red class to the panel.
I was thinking about doing something like this
{!! Form::open(array('class' => 'form-inline delete', 'method' => 'DELETE', 'route' => array('projects.destroy', $project->id))) !!}
#if(date('d-m-Y', strtotime($project>deploymentDate)) < date('d-m-Y'))
<div class="panel panel-default panel-red">
<div class="panel-heading projectPanelHeading">
<h4>{{ $project->projectName }}</h4>
</div>
<div class="panel-body projectPanel">
<p>Deployment Date: {{ ($project->deploymentDate ? date('d-m-Y', strtotime($project->deploymentDate)) : '') }}</p>
<p>Status: {{ $project->status or '' }}</p>
</div>
</div>
#else
<div class="panel panel-default">
<div class="panel-heading projectPanelHeading">
<h4>{{ $project->projectName }}</h4>
</div>
<div class="panel-body projectPanel">
<p>Deployment Date: {{ ($project->deploymentDate ? date('d-m-Y', strtotime($project->deploymentDate)) : '') }}</p>
<p>Status: {{ $project->status or '' }}</p>
</div>
</div>
#endif
{!! Form::close() !!}
What I do not like about this approach is the repetition of the panel block. Additionally, there are a lot of mistakes with panel-red being applied to projects who's deploymentDate has not yet passed, and vice versa.
Is there a better way to achieve what I am after which is both correct, and does not require repetition?
Thanks

Answer 1

First of all, add the deploymentDate attribute to the $dates array in your Project model. This will ensure you have Carbon instances for your deploymentDate.
Project.php
protected $dates = ['deploymentDate'];
Once achieved you can check the if it's less than by simple function:
#if($project->deploymentDate->lt(\Carbon\Carbon::Now()))
This can also be achieved by a method on the model, in your Project.php
public function checkDeploymentDate()
{
return $this->deploymentDate->lt(\Carbon\Carbon::Now());
}
Then in your views:
#if($project->checkDeploymentDate())
Finally for the panel part, you can add a Blade directive for it:
AppServiceProvider.php
<?php
namespace App\Providers;
use Blade;
use Illuminate\Support\ServiceProvider;
class AppServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
/**
* Perform post-registration booting of services.
*
* #return void
*/
public function boot()
{
Blade::directive('deploymentDate', function($expression) {
return "<?php echo($expression); ?>";
});
}
}
Blade directives will help you extend new functionality to your Blade templates. So in the above example, in your view template:
{{#deploymentDate(test)}} will echo test