Registering Before Filters On a Controller

Problem

You want a filter to occur before any actions on a specific controller.

You thought about adding to app/filters.php, but are curious if there's another way to do this.

Solution

Use Controller::beforeFilter()

This is normally done in the constructor of your controller.

class MyController extends \Controller
{
    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->beforeFilter('auth');
    }
}

Just like Route filters, you can add additional arguments.

class MyController extends \Controller
{
    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->beforeFilter('auth', ['except' => 'login']);
        $this->beforeFilter('csrf', ['on' => 'post']);
    }
}

Or implement the filter with a Closure.

class MyController extends \Controller
{
    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->beforeFilter(function()
        {
            if (date('G') < 6)
            {
                return "This website doesn't work before 6am";
            }
        });
    }
}