Query multiple table relationships using Laravel Eloquent Models - mysql

Question

I'm trying to query multiple tables using Laravel Eloquent Models with one to one, one to many and many to many relationships.
I have a forms table, a brands table a users table and a brand_groups pivot table.
Each form has one brand and one user:
forms
ID
user_id
brand_id
Brands do not have any foreign keys:
brands
ID
Users do not have any foreign keys:
users
ID
And there is a pivot table to create a many to many relationship for creating brand groups that have many users like brand members:
brand_groups
brand_id
user_id
I'm trying to get all the forms that belong to a user either by a direct ownership (forms.user_id) or by brand membership, all the forms from all the brands that the user is a member through brand_groups many to many pivot table.
For example, we have 2 brands, 2 users and 1 user is a member of 1 brand:
brand(ID: 1)
brand(ID: 2)
user(ID: 1)
user(ID: 2)
brand_group(brand_id: 1, user_id: 1)
form(ID: 1, user_id: 1, brand_id: null)
form(ID: 2, user_id: null, brand_id: 1)
form(ID: 3, user_id: 2, brand_id: 1)
form(ID: 4, user_id: 1, brand_id: 2)
Using Laravel Eloquent Models (not direct DB facade calls), I'd like to retrieve all the forms that belong to a user. For the user(ID:1) there are 3 forms:
form(ID:1) direct user ownership
form(ID:2) user is a member of brand(ID:1) group which is the brand of form(ID:2)
form(ID:3) user is a member of brand(ID:1) group which is the brand of form(ID:3)
I gave it a shot using Eloquent: Relationships - Has Many Through:
Has Many Through
The "has-many-through" relationship provides a convenient way to access distant relations via an intermediate relation.
I have tried it like this:
class User extends Model
{
public function forms()
{
return Forms::hasManyThrough(
Form::class,
BrandGroups::class,
'brand_id',
'brand_id',
'id',
'form_id',
)->where('id', $this->id);
}
}
But I get errors like:
BadMethodCallException with message 'Call to undefined method App\Models\Form::brand_groups()'
EDIT
After some digging, I have managed to come up with the working MySQL code that will return all the forms for a user:
SELECT * FROM `forms`
WHERE EXISTS (
SELECT `brand_id`, `user_id`
FROM `brand_groups`
WHERE `forms`.`brand_id` = `brand_groups`.`brand_id`
AND `brand_groups`.`user_id` = 1
) OR `forms`.`user_id` = 1
Now I just need to convert that query to an eloquent model relation.
Eloquent Models
User.php
class User extends Authenticatable implements MustVerifyEmail
{
public function brands()
{
return $this
->belongsToMany(Brand::class, 'brand_groups')
->using(BrandGroups::class)
->as('member');
}
public function forms()
{
return $this->hasMany(Form::class, 'user_id');
}
}
Brand.php
class Brand extends Model
{
protected $table = 'brands';
public function forms()
{
return $this->hasMany(Form::class);
}
public function members()
{
return $this
->belongsToMany(User::class, 'brand_groups')
->using(BrandGroups::class)
->as('member');
}
}
Form.php
class Form extends Model
{
protected $table = 'forms';
public function owner()
{
return $this->belongsTo(User::class);
}
public function brand()
{
return $this->belongsTo(Brand::class);
}
}
UPDATE
I manage to find a query to get all forms related to a user like this:
class User extends Authenticatable implements MustVerifyEmail
{
...
public function allForms()
{
return Form::where(function ($q) {
$q->whereExists(function ($q) {
$q->from('brand_groups')
->where('forms.brand_id', DB::raw('brand_groups.brand_id'))
->where('brand_groups.user_id', $this->id);
})->orWhere('owner_id', $this->id);
});
}
}
How this can be converted to a direct User model eloquent relationship?

Answer 1

Have you tried to Eager Load the User model relationships?
Edit
Firstly: the pivot table name should be the singular -snake_case- name of both tables and should be in alphabetical order (brand_user)
Next, try the following:
return User::where(‘id’, $this->id)->with([‘forms’,‘brands.forms’)->get();
This should return the Forms with direct ownership plus the user Brands and their associated Forms