Laravel:Passing variable from controller to view - laravel-4

Question

chatcontroller.php function returns variable to view:
public function getChat()
{
$message = chat_messages::all();
return View::make('home',compact($message));
}
this is my route:
Route::get('/getChat', array('as' => 'getChat','uses' => 'ChatController#getChat'));
this is my home.blade.php:
#extends('layouts.main')
#section('content')
<div class="container">
<h2>Welcome to Home Page!</h2>
<p> <a href="{{ URL::to('/logout') }}" > Logout </a></p>
<h1>Hello <span id="username">{{ Auth::user()->username }} </span>!</h1>
<div id="chat_window">
</div>
<input type="text" name="chat" class="typer" id="text" autofocus="true" onblur="notTyping()">
</div>
<ul>
#foreach($message as $msg)
<li>
{{ $msg['sender_username']," says: ",$msg['message'],"<br/>" }}
</li>
#endforeach
</ul>
<script src="{{ asset('js/jquery-2.1.3.min.js') }}"></script>
<script src="{{ asset('js/chat.js') }}"></script>
#stop
I am trying to send result returned by select query to view from controller.
when I do this from homecontroller.php then it works fine.
if I try to pass from controller which I have defined it gives error message as:Undefined variable.
I have used the extends \BaseController do i need to do anything else to access my controller variable from view.
please suggest some tutorial if possible for same.

Answer 1

Verify the route to be sure it uses the new controller:
Route::get('user/profile', array('uses' => 'MyDefinedController#showProfile'));

Answer 2

First of all check your routes, as Matei Mihai says.
There are two different ways to pass data into your view;
$items = Item::all();
// Option 1
return View::make('item.index', compact('items'));
// Option 2
return View::make('item.index')->with('items', $items); // same code as below
// Option 3
View::share('item.index', compact('items'));
return View::make('item.index);

Answer 3

You can also do this:
$this->data['items'] = Item::all();
return View::make('item.index', $this->data);