Introduction

This Laravel Eloquent extension allows merging multiple relationships using SQL views.
The relationships can target the same or different related models.

Supports Laravel 5.5.25+.

Installation

composer require staudenmeir/laravel-merged-relations:"^1.0"

Usage

• Use Cases
• 1. View
• 2. Relationship
• Limitations

Use Cases

Use the package to merge multiple polymorphic relationships:

class Tag extends Model
{
    public function allTaggables()
    {
        // TODO
    }

    public function posts()
    {
        return $this->morphedByMany('App\Post', 'taggable');
    }

    public function videos()
    {
        return $this->morphedByMany('App\Video', 'taggable');
    }
}

Or use it to merge relationships with different depths:

class User extends Model
{
    public function allComments()
    {
        // TODO
    }

    public function comments()
    {
        return $this->hasMany('App\Comment');
    }

    public function postComments()
    {
        return $this->hasManyThrough('App\Comment', 'App\Post');
    }
}

1. View

Before you can define the new relationship, you need to create the merge view in a migration:

use Staudenmeir\LaravelMergedRelations\Facades\Schema;

Schema::createMergeView('all_taggables', [(new Tag)->posts(), (new Tag)->videos()]);

By default, the view doesn't remove duplicates. Use createMergeViewWithoutDuplicates() to get unique results:

use Staudenmeir\LaravelMergedRelations\Facades\Schema;

Schema::createMergeViewWithoutDuplicates('all_comments', [(new User)->comments(), (new User)->postComments()]);

You can also replace an existing view:

use Staudenmeir\LaravelMergedRelations\Facades\Schema;

Schema::createOrReplaceMergeView('all_comments', [(new User)->comments(), (new User)->postComments()]);

The package includes staudenmeir/laravel-migration-views. You can use its methods to rename and drop views:

use Staudenmeir\LaravelMergedRelations\Facades\Schema;

Schema::renameView('all_comments', 'user_comments');

Schema::dropView('all_comments');

If you are using php artisan migrate:fresh, you can drop all views with --drop-views (Laravel 5.6.26+).

2. Relationship

With the view created, you can define the merged relationship.

Use the HasMergedRelationships trait in your model and provide the view name:

class Tag extends Model
{
    use \Staudenmeir\LaravelMergedRelations\Eloquent\HasMergedRelationships;

    public function allTaggables()
    {
        return $this->mergedRelation('all_taggables');
    }
}

If all original relationships target the same related model, you can use mergedRelationWithModel(). This allows you to access local scopes and use methods like whereHas() or withCount():

class User extends Model
{
    use \Staudenmeir\LaravelMergedRelations\Eloquent\HasMergedRelationships;

    public function allComments()
    {
        return $this->mergedRelationWithModel('App\Comment', 'all_comments');
    }
}

You can use the merged relationship like any other relationship:

$taggables = Tag::find($id)->allTaggables()->latest()->paginate();

$users = User::with('allComments')->get();

Limitations

In the original relationships, it's currently not possible to limit the selected columns or add new columns (e.g. using withCount(), withPivot()).

In the merged relationships, it's not possible to remove global scopes like SoftDeletes. They can only be removed in the original relationships.

Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING and CODE OF CONDUCT for details.