Adding defaults for Number helper

[raditzfarhan]

My Problem

Right now, if I want to use currency apart from USD, I need to specify the currency like so Number::currency(1000, in: 'MYR') every time I use it. This can quickly become a hassle if my application will only use that one currency. Below is the current code snippet with USD as the default currency.

/**
     * Convert the given number to its currency equivalent.
     *
     * @param  int|float  $number
     * @param  string  $in
     * @param  ?string  $locale
     * @return string|false
     */
    public static function currency(int|float $number, string $in = 'USD', ?string $locale = null)
    {
        static::ensureIntlExtensionIsInstalled();

        $formatter = new NumberFormatter($locale ?? static::$locale, NumberFormatter::CURRENCY);

        return $formatter->formatCurrency($number, $in);
    }

Proposed Idea

I think it would be nice if we can set a global defaults for Number helper like what we already have for Password rule. We can set the defaults in the boot method of the application service provider. So in this way, we can set a default value, not only just for currency, it can also be use for something like locale, or precision. Here is the snippet of how it would look like:-

use Illuminate\Support\Number;

/**
 * Bootstrap any application services.
 */
public function boot(): void
{
    Number::defaults(function () {
        $number = Number::currency('MYR');
 
        return $this->app->isProduction()
                    ? $number->locale('my')
                    : $number;
    });
}

Usage

Then, whenever I call the currency method, it will use back my default setting that I have set in application service provider boot method without the need for me to specify the currency each time. My code will become a lot shorter and if i want to deploy my app to a different country, I can just change the currency value in the defaults without the need to touch the code anywhere else.

Number::currency(1000); // results in  MYR 1,000.00

What do you guys think? Any feedbacks or suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks!

[shaedrich]

Shouldn't this be ideally in config/app.php like the locale and such?

[raditzfarhan]

Yeah it could be. But currently the Number helper doesn't seem to be affected by the config parameter like locale. Besides, the currency or precision are not present in the config/app.php and I am not sure whether it should be included in the config/app.php or not.

[shaedrich]

what would be the harm in doing so? There's still the option to overwrite it in a function call. But doing so seems to be the least surprise imho.

[raditzfarhan]

Yeah I can see your point. Would be great to have this feature.

[qwertz182]

What about setting a default currency just like setting a default locale? Like this:

use Illuminate\Support\Number;
use Illuminate\Support\ServiceProvider;
 
class AppServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
    public function boot()
    {
        Number::useCurrency('MYR');
    }
}

I think this would be a great addition

[shaedrich]

No, why? Shouldn't the method do that internally automatically? What would be the benefits of defaults otherwise?

[qwertz182]

Yeah, but that actually the problem. The methdod doesn't do it internally automatically, at least from what I could see in the code

[shaedrich]

Well, then this should be changed 🤷🏻 I would recommend creating a PR but chances aren't low that it would be rejected.

[Alex-S-Davies]

This seems like a great idea. It would probably need withCurrency as well as useCurrency just like what has locale offers.

[qwertz182]

I created a pull request for this.