Laravel 4 change form open with if else statement - forms

Question

I'm new to Laravel and trying some stuff out. Hope you guys can point me in the right direction.
I have a form to add categories on a the page with the overview of all the categories. Now I'm routing to the same page when you want to add or edit a category. Problem is, I want the normal add form to show when the url is category/add and when the url is category/edit/id I want it to show the form to edit (with form model binding). I placed the code in an if else statement, but it always shows the edit form, therefore if I want to add a new category on the url categories I get an error because it's the edit form.
Here's the code in the index.bade.php:
#if(Request::url() === 'categories' )
{{ Form::open(array('url' => 'category/add', 'class' => 'form-horizontal')) }}
#else
{{ Form::model($category, array(
'url' => 'category/edit/'.$category->id ,
$category->id,
'class' => 'form-horizontal'))
}}
#endif
My controller:
public function index()
{
$categories = Category::get();
$category = new Category();
View::share('title', 'Mini Blog - Categories');
$view = View::make('category.index')->with('category', $category);
$view->categories = $categories;
return $view;
}
public function edit($id)
{
$categories = Category::get();
$category = Category::find($id);
View::share('title', 'Mini Blog - Edit category');
return View::make('category.index')->with(array('category' => $category, 'categories' => $categories));
}
Is this the way to go? Or is there a better way?

Answer 1

Instead of checking the URL I suggest you depend on the model variable. Ever Eloquent model has a property exists that tells you if the model has been loaded from the DB or it's a new instance.
#if( ! $category->exists)
{{ Form::open(array('url' => 'category/add', 'class' => 'form-horizontal')) }}
#else
{{ Form::model($category, array(
'url' => 'category/edit/'.$category->id ,
$category->id,
'class' => 'form-horizontal'))
}}
#endif
Actually you can use Form::model with an empty model as well, so you should be able to reduce it to this:
{{ Form::model($category, array(
'url' => ($category->exists ? 'category/edit/'.$category->id : 'category/add'),
'class' => 'form-horizontal'))
}}

Answer 2

There is a much better way.
In your controller do this:
public function create()
{
return View::make('create');
}
public function edit($id)
{
return View::make('edit')->withId($id);
}
Then in your views you have
Create.blade.php
{{ Form::open(array('url' => 'category/add', 'class' => 'form-horizontal')) }}
#include ('form')
{{ Form::close() }}
Edit.blade.php
{{ Form::model($category, array('url' => 'category/edit/'.$category->id, category->id, 'class' => 'form-horizontal')) }}
#include ('form')
{{ Form::close() }}
Form.blade.php
//Put your HTML form stuff here