How do I access a global model instance in laravel 4? - laravel-4

Question

In Laravel 4, how do I create an instance of a model and make it globally available? Even in views. I'm looking to do something similar to the way you get the User instance using Auth::User->name (the syntax I mean, not storing in a session) but in this case it would be ModelName::DefaultEntity->attribute.
A little more detail...
I am writing an application that will house multiple websites - a bit like a CMS. So I have a Website model. Each Website model will have a URL attribute so that when a user visits the URL the application can retrieve the Website model from the database and brand the website appropriately e.g. Title, logo, theme, etc...
I would like the current Website model to be available everywhere without having to create a new instance of Website in every controller/method. So in my layouts and views I could just say something like:
{{ Website::Website()->name }}
or
{{ CurrentWebsite::name }}
I have achieved the first one by making a static method in the Website model:
public static function current()
{
return Website::find(1); // just to test it for now
}
But with that, it will have to do a database query every time I say:
{{ Website::current()->name }}
Plus it doesn't feel right.
Can anyone help?
Kind regards,
Robin

Answer 1

You probably are looking for 'a shared container bind'. See the docs here.
<?php
App::singleton('foo', function()
{
return Website::whereCode('whoop')->first();
});
App::make('foo'); // every where you need it

Answer 2

Create normal class. Like CurrentWebsite or Website or whatever.
class Website {
public function a() {
//your code
}
}
Create facade (WebsiteFacade.php)
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Facade;
class WebsiteFacade extends Facade {
protected static function getFacadeAccessor() { return 'website'; }
}
Create Service Provider
use Illuminate\Support\ServiceProvider;
class WebsiteServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider {
public function register()
{
$this->app->bind('website', function()
{
return new Website();
});
}
}
4.Go to your config/app.php and add folowing:
'providers' => array(
'WebsiteServiceProvider'
)
and
'aliases' => array(
'WebsiteFacade'
)
5.Refrech auto loader. And Now you can access Website class anywhere like this:
Website::a();

Answer 3

What you already have is good, but if you just want prevent that query from executing every time, you can cache it:
public static function current()
{
return Website::remember(10)->find(1); // just to test it for now
}
Adding a listener to your routes.php:
DB::listen(function($sql, $bindings, $time) { var_dump($sql); var_dump($bindings); });
And executing it:
{{ Website::current()->name }}
Will show the query in the first execution but not in the second, because it's cached.