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2015-10-28 Laravel

Laravel 5 Models

Laravel 5 Models#

A good application is model centric - models are what view and controllers are based on.

Database settings are found in config/database.php but most environment variables used can be set in .env:

DB_HOST=localhost
DB_DATABASE=myproject
DB_USERNAME=homestead
DB_PASSWORD=secret

don’t forget to create the database because Laravel will not do it for you

Object Relational Mappers (ORM’s) are used to map application obejcts to databse obejcts. Most ORMs come with common functions such as: querying, inserting, updating, and deleting records, managing table relationships, and dealing with other aspects of the data life cycle

Creating a model with a migration#

php artisan make:model MyModel -m

Note: Like most web frameworks, Laravel expects the model name to be singular form (Todolist), and the underlying table names to be plural form (todolists).

Migrations#

Migrations offer a file-based approach to changing the structure of your database, allowing you to create and drop tables, add, update and delete columns, and add indexes, among other tasks. Further, you can easily revert, or roll back, any changes if a mistake has been made or you otherwise reconsider the decision. Finally, because each migration is stored in a text file, you can manage them within your project repository

Migrations are found in database/migrations

The methods in migrations are up() (redo) and down() undo.

  • $table->increments(‘id’): The increments method indicates we want to create an automatically incrementing integer column that will additionally serve as the table’s primary key.

  • $table->timestamps(): The timestamps method informs Laravel to include created_at and updated_at timestamp columns, which will be automatically updated to reflect the current timestamp when the record is created and updated, respectively.

Adding a string column:

$table->string('name');

Running Migrations#

php artisan migrate

Undoing a migration

php artisan migrate:rollback

Checking Migration Status#

php artisan migrate:status

Models#

Virtual Attributes (Fullname does not exist in the database):

public function getFullnameAttribute()
{
  return $this->first_name . " " . $this->last_name;
}

eg.

$list = User::find(12);
echo $list->fullname;