README

Every year, I run into the same issues and start “hacking and cracking” as soon as Advent of Code begins. Not anymore! I wrote this Laravel package with two clear goals: to download your personal puzzle inputs and to prepare controller files so you don’t have to start hacking in your web.php.

This Laravel package can download all of your personal puzzle inputs for a specific year and, afterward, it prepares a default controller split into two parts, allowing you to solve each part of the daily Advent of Code challenges. I also prepared some options on how to view your solution.

My Laravel package is currently in a “WIP” (Work in Progress) phase, so please keep this in mind when using it.

Get your Session Cookie

1.   Log in to the Advent of Code website: https://adventofcode.com
2.   Open the developer console in your browser and navigate to the Cookies section
2.5  - For Chromium-based browsers, go to Application → Storage → Cookies, then click on the Advent of Code website URL.
3.   Look for the "session" cookie, and copy its value 
4.   Add the following key to your .env file: ADVENT_OF_CODE_SESSION_COOKIE, and paste your session cookie value here.

Installation

Install mjderoode/advent_of_code_helper with composer:

composer require mjderoode/advent_of_code_helper

Add your session cookie value to the .env:

ADVENT_OF_CODE_SESSION_COOKIE="################################"

Optionally, you can disable routing by setting the following key in your .env file (must be a boolean; the default is true):

ADVENT_OF_CODE_ROUTING_ENABLED=false

Usage/ Examples

The Laravel package includes two commands: aoc:import and aoc:try.

The aoc:import command is used to download your personal puzzle inputs and prepare the necessary Controller files. This command expects two parameters: the first (year) is mandatory with a default value of 2024, and the second (day) is optional.

To download all of your puzzle inputs from 2023, run:

php artisan aoc:import 2023

By specifying the second argument, you can download the puzzle input for a specific day, for example day 3 of 2016.

php artisan aoc:import 2016 3

The aoc:try command is used to test your solutions. This command expects three parameters: year, day, and part (with defaults: year=2024 and part=1).

php artisan aoc:try 2023 1 1

Publishable assets

Don’t like the stub? No problem! Just run the following command, and the stub will be published, ready for you to edit as you like!

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="stubs-aoc"

Try out your solutions

In this Laravel package, you have several options to try out your solutions. The first is through the command line—refer to the aoc:try command as explained in the previous section.

The second option is to view your solution in the browser. I’ve prepared a specific route for your Advent of Code controllers (see php artisan route:list, specifically aoc.solution). For example, to view your solution for “year 2016, day 2, part 2,” go to {{ YOUR APP URL HERE }}/2016/2/2.

TODO's

Tasks

Refactor code; this one never ends.
Detach the “GenerateControllerLayoutJob”.
Make “GenerateControllerLayoutJob” available in its own command.
Download all puzzle inputs from the start to the current year? (Not sure yet).

Authors

@mjderoode (github)

License

The MIT License (MIT).

mjderoode / advent_of_code_helper

Maintainers

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