Base Model for Laravel 4

BaseModel.php

<?php

use LaravelBook\Ardent\Ardent; // it can be Eloquent too

class BaseModel extends Ardent {

    protected $_name;

    public static function optionList($attribute = 'name') {
        $model = static::getModel();
        $name = $model->_name;
        $lists = $model::lists($attribute, 'id');
        return array('' => "Choose {$name}...") + $lists;
    }

    public static function optionsList($attribute = 'name') {
        return static::optionList($attribute);
    }

    public static function optionListExcluding($excludes = array(), $attribute = 'name') {
        $lists = static::optionList($attribute);
        if (!empty($excludes)) {
            foreach ($excludes as $id) {
                if (isset($lists[$id])) {
                    unset($lists[$id]);
                }
            }
        }
        return $lists;
    }

}