Should You Use a Notification or a Mailable?

Summary

In this video, Josh explains how to use Laravel for sending emails and notifications in web applications. He discusses the differences between Laravel's mailables and notifications, highlighting the flexibility and customization options for notifications, such as sending SMS or Slack messages. Through a practical example of a meetup registration app, Josh shows how to notify event organizers and registrants using both systems. He emphasizes that while mailables are great for simple emails to non-authenticated users, notifications offer more advanced, expandable features for user interaction. The choice depends on your application's needs and future scalability.

Takeaways

• 📧 Laravel makes it easy to send both emails and notifications, including sending notifications via email.
• 🔔 Notifications in Laravel are more customizable and flexible than mailables, offering more control over the delivery method.
• 📝 When deciding between mailables and notifications, it depends on your personal preference and project needs.
• 👥 Notifications can be sent to registered users, while mailables can be sent to users who are not authenticated in the application.
• 🔄 Laravel notifications support sending multiple types of notifications (e.g., email, SMS, Slack) with customizable timing.
• 💡 Notifications can be queued for better performance, allowing for bulk handling of multiple signups or alerts.
• ⚙️ The Laravel notification system can handle complex scenarios, such as sending notifications via multiple channels (e.g., email, SMS).
• 🛠 Notifications are ideal for handling user-specific actions like notifying an organizer when someone registers for a meetup.
• 📨 Mailables are useful for sending one-off emails, especially for non-authenticated users such as event registrants.
• 📬 Laravel offers flexibility in structuring notifications and mailables, allowing for custom templates, subjects, and actions.

Q & A

What is the primary difference between Laravel notifications and mailables?

Laravel notifications offer more customization, flexibility, and features like sending emails, SMS, and Slack notifications, whereas mailables are simpler and mainly focused on sending straightforward emails.

When should you consider using notifications over mailables in Laravel?

Notifications are more suitable when you need more customization, want to support different channels (SMS, Slack), or plan to expand notification methods in the future. Notifications are also ideal for sending messages to authenticated users within your application.

What kind of users might receive mailables instead of notifications?

Mailables are often used for external users who are not authenticated or registered within the application, such as people signing up for an event but not having a user account.

Can Laravel notifications send emails and other types of notifications simultaneously?

Yes, Laravel notifications can send multiple types of notifications, such as emails and SMS, simultaneously or with different timing preferences, like sending an email first and an SMS later.

What does it mean when a notification is queued in Laravel?

Queuing a notification means that it will be processed and sent in the background, instead of being sent immediately, which can improve performance, especially when sending multiple notifications.

Why might you use a queue when sending notifications?

Using a queue helps to handle large volumes of notifications efficiently, prevents delays during user requests, and ensures better system performance, especially when sending notifications to many recipients.

How can you customize a notification in Laravel to include specific details like a registrant’s name or email?

You can pass parameters, such as a registrant’s name or email, into the notification’s constructor and then customize the mail message to include those details.

What should you consider when deciding to use notifications versus mailables in Laravel?

Consider whether the recipient is an authenticated user in your application and whether you need the flexibility to send notifications across multiple channels. Mailables are simpler for sending one-off emails, especially to non-authenticated users.

Can notifications be used to notify non-authenticated users in Laravel?

Technically, yes, but notifications are best suited for notifying authenticated users. Mailables are generally a better option for non-authenticated users.

What are some of the components that Laravel provides for customizing emails sent via markdown?

Laravel provides various components for customizing emails in markdown, such as buttons, panels, and tables, to enhance the appearance of the email.