Laravel unexpected error "class user contains 3 abstract methods..."

Question

While programming my Authentication app on Laravel, I came across to an error I've never seen before. I've been brainstorming for almost an hour for the cause of this problem but yet I can't find a solution.

Error:

Class User contains 3 abstract methods and must therefore be declared abstract or implement the remaining methods (Illuminate\Auth\UserInterface::getRememberToken, Illuminate\Auth\UserInterface::setRememberToken, Illuminate\Auth\UserInterface::getRememberTokenName)

User.php Model:

<?php

use Illuminate\Auth\UserInterface;
use Illuminate\Auth\Reminders\RemindableInterface;

class User extends Eloquent implements UserInterface, RemindableInterface {

protected $fillable = [
    "email",
    "username",
    "password",
    "password_temp",
    "code",
    "active",
    "created_at",
    "updated_at",
    "banned"
];

/**
 * The database table used by the model.
 *
 * @var string
 */
protected $table = 'users';

/**
 * The attributes excluded from the model's JSON form.
 *
 * @var array
 */
protected $hidden = array('password');

/**
 * Get the unique identifier for the user.
 *
 * @return mixed
 */
public function getAuthIdentifier()
{
    return $this->getKey();
}

/**
 * Get the password for the user.
 *
 * @return string
 */
public function getAuthPassword()
{
    return $this->password;
}

/**
 * Get the e-mail address where password reminders are sent.
 *
 * @return string
 */
public function getReminderEmail()
{
    return $this->email;
}

}

And the RegisterController.php

<?php

class RegisterController extends BaseController {

public function getRegister()
{
    return View::make('template.home.register');
}

public function postRegister()
{
    $rules = [
        "email"         => "required|email|max:50|unique:users",
        "username"      => "required|max:50|min:5|unique:users",
        "password"      => "required|max:50|min:6",
        "password_again"=> "required|same:password",
    ];

    $messages = ["required" => "This field is required." ];

    $validator = Validator::make(Input::all(), $rules, $messages);

    if($validator->fails())
    {
        return Redirect::route('register')->withErrors($validator)->withInput();
    } else {
        $email      = Input::get('email');
        $username   = Input::get('username');
        $password   = Input::get('password');
        $code       = str_random(60);

        $user = User::create([
            'email'         => $email,
            'username'      => $username,
            'password'      => Hash::make($password),
            'code'          => $code,
            'activated'     => 0,
            'banned'        => 0
        ]);

        if ($user)
        {
            Mail::send('template.email.activate', ['link' => URL::route('activate', $code), 'username' => $username], function($message) use ($user)
            {
                $message->to($user->email, $user->username)->subject('Account Registration');
            });

            return Redirect::route('register')->with('homeError', 'There was a problem creating your account.');
        }
    }
    return Redirect::route('register')->with('homeError', 'Account could not be created.');
}
}

Answer 1

Ah found it.

Its apparently documented Laravel Update.

You can check Laravel docs to fix your issues:

"First, add a new, nullable remember_token of VARCHAR(100), TEXT, or equivalent to your users table.

Next, if you are using the Eloquent authentication driver, update your User class with the following three methods:

public function getRememberToken()
{
    return $this->remember_token;
}

public function setRememberToken($value)
{
    $this->remember_token = $value;
}

public function getRememberTokenName()
{
    return 'remember_token';
}

"

See http://laravel.com/docs/upgrade for further details.

Answer 2

I'm not a pro at implementing PHP Interfaces, but I believe you need to include all methods of UserInterface and RemindableInterface in your User class (since it implements them). Otherwise, the class is "abstract" and must be defined as such.

By my knowledge, a PHP interface is a set of guidelines that a class must follow. For instance, you can have a general interface for a specific database table. It would include definition of methods like getRow(), insertRow(), deleteRow(), updateColumn(), etc. Then you can use this interface to make multiple different classes for different database types (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis), but they must all follow the rules of the interface. This makes migration easier, since you know no matter which database driver you are using to retrieve data from a table it will always implement the same methods defined in your interface (in other words, abstracting the database-specific logic from the class).

3 possible fixes, as far as I know:

abstract class User extends Eloquent implements UserInterface, RemindableInterface
{
}

class User extends Eloquent
{
}

class User extends Eloquent implements UserInterface, RemindableInterface
{
     // include all methods from UserInterFace and RemindableInterface
}

I think #2 is best for you, since if your class doesn't implement all methods from UserInterface and RemindableInterface why would you need to say it does.

Answer 3

This is an update problem. Laravel force us to update the User.php model with the following code to fix this problem.

Note: All existing "remember me" sessions will be invalidated by this change, so all users will be forced to re-authenticate with your application.

public function getRememberToken()
{
    return $this->remember_token;   
}

public function setRememberToken($value)
{
    $this->remember_token = $value;
} 

public function getRememberTokenName()
{
    return 'remember_token';
}