Retrieve conditions matched on laravel model query - mysql

Question

This might be an SQL limitation but I'm working on a Laravel project and so I'm posing the questions to solve what I'm trying to accomplish.
I am preforming a search on a model (and it's relationships)
Auth::user()->employers()
->where('name', 'like' $filter)
->orWhereHas('locations.location', function($query) use ($filter) {
$query->where('name', 'like', $filter);
})
->orWhereHas('locations.branches', function($query) use ($filter) {
$query->where('name', 'like', $filter);
})
->orWhereHas('locations.positions', function($query) use ($filter) {
$query->where('name', 'like', $filter);
})->get();
I would like to be able to identify which of this conditions was the one that matched the record so that I can tell the frontend, "Hey this record is being shown to you because x property nested in it matched your search critera." Where x is the condition that made it a match.
The code above returns a collection of records that matched.
I want to know where EACH of those records matched.

Answer 1

Now your query looks like this:
select *
from employees
where name like ?
or exists (select * from locations ...)
or exists (...)
When you add the subqueries to the SELECT part, you get boolean values:
select *,
exists (select * from locations ...) as hasLocations
exists (...) as hasBranches
...
from employees
where name like ?
or exists (select * from locations ...)
or exists (...)
You have to take a look at the whereHas implementation to find a way generating these subqueries from the relationships.

Answer 2

If I understand your question correctly, you simply want to show your model and say "you are seeing this because...". If that is indeed the case and the model may only have a location, or a branch, or a position when the query is complete then you may simply query it in an if statement. Assuming your 'search' criteria is $name:
$matches = array();
if($user->location == $name) {
array_push($matches, 'location');
};
if($user->branch == $name) {
array_push($matches, 'branch');
};
if($user->position == $name) {
array_push($matches, 'position');
};
return $matches;
You have basically done your query, and now need simply examine the object for which parameter satisfies your condition. If there are more than a few hard conditions though I'd search out a more object-oriented approach, though in this case a simple procedural method on the object would do. Could do this on the User model returning an array with matched values if there are more than one:
public function foundBy($name) {
$matches = array();
if($this->location == $name) {
array_push($matches, 'location');
};
if($this->branch == $name) {
array_push($matches, 'branch');
};
if($this->position == $name) {
array_push($matches, 'position');
};
return $matches;
}
This to call it:
$foundBy = $user->foundBy($name);
And should return an array.
In this way, what the method returns will tell you how the object matches by looking at the values in the array.
Hope this helped!