Cache Remember condition

[acip]

I recently embarked on a project refactoring task and stumbled upon a scenario where caching null values for a particular remember call wasn't beneficial. This sparked an idea to enhance the remember functionality in Laravel. I propose the following extensions:

1. Enable remember only if the callback returns a non-null value.
2. Allow remember to be conditioned on custom logic.

These enhancements could be implemented either through a new method (for the first suggestion) or by introducing a new parameter to the existing remember method. What are your thoughts on this?

[henzeb]

I'd suggest a remberIf and a rememberUnless method.

[gkmk]

Null values shouldn't be cached by default in Laravel. What version are you using? The remember function would execute the callback everytime if there is no key or value is null.

[kfriars]

I have come across a similar scenario, where remembering null values triggers expensive computations on every request.

For redis for example, we have the exists method, which tells you if the cache key exists. In my opinion, It would make more sense to return whatever value is stored in cache when the cache key exists, rather than based on the truthiness of the value stored.

Adding a new cache method like persist or rememberKey which does the same thing as remember but depends only on cache key presence would be useful in any case where your remembered closure can rightfully have a null return value.

[henzeb]

you could return false. then it gets cached, but with false. adding ?:null when returning the response of remember solves your issue.

[kfriars]

I hear you @henzeb, but that is more of a workaround to a use-case I imagine is fairly common and people just aren't aware.

Just trying to say there is a good case for an alternate remember in a language/framework where null values are quite common.

[henzeb]

I do agree. It's just how laravel has setup the Cache api. The "has" method for example just tries to retrieve the he value and tests if it is not null. So this new method would be a workaround on its own...

[shaedrich]

So, if any value has to be able to be returned, it doesn't matter, whether we change null to false or keep null. To solve this, there are other options:

• Return Optional
• Treat throwing an exception as a non-cacheable return value