# Create a fancy input for your Laravel Commands

Hey guys,

Let's do some hands-on practice today. Gonna show you how to create a fancy input for your command.

Life is too short to do boring things, isn't it? Hehe.

## The Fancy and the normal Inputs

When using `$this->ask('Give me your freaking input')`, it will show up an input like this:

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1723260431371/5379052a-0392-4318-b38a-c4ef398c191a.png align="center")

That's a normal one, Laravel doesn't document the way to create a fancy input, like when we run the `make:model` without any arguments:

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1723260525844/603030ce-548b-4a87-a552-e570ec6ce5ee.png align="center")

(sorry, can't take a picture via `ray.so`, copy things there and it's break haha)

As we can see, the fancy input has a proper border (which is nice), a placeholder text for examples.

On the other hand, if we press the cancel command (Mac: Command + C | Linux: Control + C), we'll see this message:

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1723260641470/2f150738-2d09-4e46-8663-155016c72c77.png align="center")

And the normal `ask`:

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1723260731552/79dcd13a-19b2-4668-a84f-b9859d5e46b2.png align="center")

It's definitely way better than the normal one, right?

## How do you implement the Fancy Inputs for Laravel Command?

There are some adjustments we need to make. Let's roll.

### Implements `PromptsForMissingInput`

So that Laravel can smell the missing required arguments thus showing up the inputs for us 😉

### Use `$name`, not `$signature`

Instead of using `$signature`, we'll need to use `$name` (**pure** **form** **without any options or arguments** defined)

```php
class MyFancyCommand extends Command implements PromptsForMissingInput
{
    protected $name = 'app:handle-my-fancy-command';
}
```

### Define Inputs

We'll need to override the `getArguments` and the `promptForMissingArgumentsUsing` methods:

```php
// define argument(s) of your command
protected function getArguments(): array
{
    return [
        ['name', InputArgument::REQUIRED, 'Full Name'],
    ];
}

// define the input's label & placeholder text
protected function promptForMissingArgumentsUsing(): array
{
    return [
        'name' => [
            'Can you plz give me your full name?',
            'E.g.: Seth Chen',
        ],
    ];
}
```

### (Optional) Define your Optional parameter(s)

Simply override the `getOptions` method:

```php
protected function getOptions()
{
    return [
        [
            'admin', // full-form: --admin
            'a',  // short-form: -a
            InputOption::VALUE_NONE, // boolean, no input
            'Make this user as an Administrator', // description
        ],
    ];
}
```

For `InputOption`, take the reference here:

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1723261993673/dc4c32e6-c760-40ad-86f1-ffdbd07270cf.png align="center")

(yes I love light mode 😈)

### Testing

Now, let's hit the `app:handle-my-fancy-command` and try it out:

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1723262542799/49c81e12-bce8-4605-b913-0049a713612f.png align="center")

Really awesome, isn't it?

## What if my terminal can't show up inputs?

This is a fair question, we can't expect all machines (especially servers) to show up fancy things.

Simply use **normal arguments or optional parameters** without any issue 😎.

## Final Words

From the way we **define** the **arguments** & **optional** **parameters**, I feel like this is a **better way** for Laravel commands.

Putting too much text inside the `$signature` aren't so cool.

Enjoy and happy weekend! 😎