Solving Custom Page Refresh Issue with Admin PJAX by Breaking Out of Conventional Thinking

Using laravel-admin for backend development, we added a notification bell in the top-right corner

As shown above, clicking the bell icon should clear notifications and refresh the current page. Implemented using laravel-admin’s action:

<?php

namespace App\Admin\Actions\Custom;

use Encore\Admin\Actions\Action;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class MarkNotificationRead extends Action
{
    protected $selector = '.mark-notification-read';

    public function handle(Request $request)
    {        
        // forget notifications
        return $this->response()->success("Marked all as read")->refresh();
    }

    public function html()
    {
        // get notifications
        $count = 1;
        $countText = "<span class=\"label label-danger\">{$count}</span>";

        return "<li title='Click to mark as read'>
    <a href=\"#\" class='mark-notification-read'>
      <i data-count='{$count}' id='notification' class=\"fa fa-bell fa-rotate-0\"></i>
      {$countText}
    </a>
</li>";
    }
}

The pseudo-code above implements the notification feature. However, laravel-admin’s PJAX implementation only refreshes content areas, leaving the bell badge unchanged.

Attempted Solutions:

Tried disabling PJAX using \Admin::disablePjax(); in handler - ineffective (should be applied at page level)
Overrode the handleActionPromise method in the Action class:

public function handleActionPromise()
{
    $resolve = <<<'SCRIPT'
var actionResolver = function (data) {
        // ... [original code]
        if (then.action == 'refresh') {
            // Added this critical line
            window.location.reload();
            return;
        }
        // ... [remaining code]
SCRIPT;

    \Encore\Admin\Admin::script($resolve);
    return <<<'SCRIPT'
process.then(actionResolver).catch(actionCatcher);
SCRIPT;
}

Comparison with Dcat Admin:
Notably, Dcat Admin provides better extensibility through overridable methods:

protected function resolverScript()
{
    return <<<'JS'
function (target, results) {
    // Custom refresh handling
    window.location.reload();
}
JS;
}

Key Takeaways

Avoid getting tunnel-visioned by perceived constraints (PJAX limitations in this case)
When stuck, consider re-examining parent class capabilities before complex workarounds
Modern admin frameworks often provide extension points - explore inheritance hierarchies before reinventing wheels

This experience demonstrates how stepping back from conventional thinking patterns can reveal simpler solutions hidden in framework mechanics.