Laravel Eloquent Join

This package introduces the join magic for eloquent models and relations.

Introduction

Eloquent is a powerful ORM but its join capabilities are very poor.

First Eloquent Problem (sorting)

With laravel you can't perform sorting of the relationship fields without manually joining related table which is very awkward. Let me give you a few reasons why. If you have a table with posts and related categories your code might look like this:

$posts = Post::select('posts.*')
    ->join('categories', 'categories.id', '=', 'posts.category_id')
    ->groupBy('posts.id')
    ->where('categories.deleted_at', '=', null)
    ->orderBy('categories.name');
    
if(request()->get('date')){
    $posts->where('posts.date', $date)
}

$posts = $posts->get();

1.The first problem is that you need to worry about select.

    ->select('posts.*')

Reason : without select id from the category can be selected and hydrated into the Post model.

2.The second problem is that you need to worry about groupBy.

->groupBy('posts.id');

Reason : if the relation is HasOne and there are more than one categories for the post, the query will return more rows for categories.

3.The third problem is that you need to change all other where clauses from :

    ->where('date', $date)

to

    ->where('posts.date', $date)

Reason : a post and category can have "date" attribute and in that case without selecting an attribute with table "ambiguous column" error will be thrown.

4.The fourth problem is that you are using table names(not models) and this is also bad and awkward.

    ->where('posts.date', $date)

5.The fifth problem is that you need to worry about soft deletes for joined tables. If the category is using SoftDeletes trait you must add :

    ->where('categories.deleted_at', '=', null)

This package will take care of all above problems for you. Unlike sorting, you can perform filtering on the relationship fields without joining related tables, but this package will give you the ability to do this easier.

Second Eloquent Problem (subqueries)

With laravel you can perform where on the relationship attribute but laravel will generate subqueries which are more slower than joins. With this package you will be available to perform where on the relationship with joins in an elegant way.

Requirements

Laravel Version	Package Tag	Supported	Development Branch
>= 5.5.0	4.*	yes	master
< 5.5.0	-	no	-

Package is also tested for SQLite, MySql and PostgreSql

Installation & setup

1.Install package with composer

composer require fico7489/laravel-eloquent-join

With this statement, a composer will install highest available package version for your current laravel version.

2.Use UniSharp\Laravel\EloquentJoin\Traits\EloquentJoinTrait trait in your base model or only in particular models.

...
use UniSharp\Laravel\EloquentJoin\Traits\EloquentJoin;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

abstract class BaseModel extends Model
{
    use EloquentJoin;
...

3.IMPORTANT

For MySql make sure that strict configuration is set to false

config/database.php

        'mysql' => [
			...
            'strict'    => false,
			...

and that's it, you are ready to go.

Options

Options can be set in the model :

class Seller extends BaseModel
{
    protected $useTableAlias = false;
    protected $appendRelationsCount = false;
    protected $leftJoin = false;
    protected $aggregateMethod = 'MAX';

or on query :

    Order::setUseTableAlias(true)->get();
    Order::setAppendRelationsCount(true)->get();
    Order::setLeftJoin(true)->get();
    Order::setAggregateMethod(true)->get();

useTableAlias

Should we use an alias for joined tables (default = false)

With true query will look like this :

select "sellers".* from "sellers" 
    left join "locations" as "5b5c093d2e00f" 
	...

With false query will look like this :

select "sellers".* 
	from "sellers" 
	left join "locations"                    
	...

Alias is a randomly generated string.

appendRelationsCount

Should we automatically append relation count field to results (default = false)

With true query will look like this :

select "sellers".*, count(locations.id) AS locations_count
	from "sellers" 
	left join "locations" as "5b5c093d2e00f" 
	...

Each relation is glued with an underscore and at the end _count prefix is added. For example for

->joinRelations('seller.locations')

field would be seller_locations_count

leftJoin

Should we use inner join or left join (default = true)

select "sellers".* 
	from "sellers" 
	inner join "locations"                    
	...

vs

select "sellers".* 
	from "sellers" 
	left join "locations"                    
	...

aggregateMethod

Which aggregate method to use for ordering (default = 'MAX').

When join is performed on the joined table we must apply aggregate functions on the sorted field so we could perform group by clause and prevent duplication of results.

select "sellers".*, MAX("locations" ."number") AS sort
	from "sellers" 
	left join "locations" 
	group by "locations" ."id"
	order by sort
	...

Options are : SUM, AVG, MAX, MIN, COUNT

Usage

Currently available relations for join queries

• BelongsTo
• HasOne
• HasMany

New clauses for eloquent builder on BelongsTo and HasOne relations :

joinRelations($relations, $leftJoin = null)

• $relations which relations to join
• $leftJoin use left join or inner join, default left join

orderByJoin($column, $direction = 'asc', $aggregateMethod = null)

• $column and $direction arguments are the same as in default eloquent orderBy()
• $aggregateMethod argument defines which aggregate method to use ( SUM, AVG, MAX, MIN, COUNT), default MAX

whereJoin($column, $operator, $value, $boolean = 'and')

• arguments are the same as in default eloquent where()

orWhereJoin($column, $operator, $value)

• arguments are the same as in default eloquent orWhere()

whereInJoin($column, $values, $boolean = 'and', $not = false)

• arguments are the same as in default eloquent whereIn()

whereNotInJoin($column, $values, $boolean = 'and')

• arguments are the same as in default eloquent whereNotIn()

orWhereInJoin($column, $values)

• arguments are the same as in default eloquent orWhereIn()

orWhereNotInJoin($column, $values, $boolean = 'and')

• arguments are the same as in default eloquent orWhereNotIn()

Allowed clauses on BelongsTo, HasOne and HasMany relations on which you can use join clauses on the query

• Relations that you want to use for join queries can only have these clauses : where, orWhere, withTrashed, onlyTrashed, withoutTrashed.
• Clauses where and orWhere can only have these variations ** ->where($column, $operator, $value) ** ->where([$column => $value])
• Closures are not allowed.
• Other clauses like whereHas, orderBy etc. are not allowed.
• You can add not allowed clauses on relations and use them in the normal eloquent way, but in these cases, you can't use those relations for join queries.

Allowed relation:

public function locationPrimary()
{
    return $this->hasOne(Location::class)
        ->where('is_primary', '=', 1)
        ->orWhere('is_primary', '=', 1)
        ->withTrashed();
}

Not allowed relation:

public function locationPrimary()
{
    return $this->hasOne(Location::class)
        ->where('is_primary', '=', 1)
        ->orWhere('is_primary', '=', 1)
        ->withTrashed()
        ->whereHas('state', function($query){return $query;}
        ->orderBy('name')
        ->where(function($query){
            return $query->where('is_primary', '=', 1);
        });
}

The reason why the second relation is not allowed is that this package should apply all those clauses on the join clause, eloquent use all those clauses isolated with subqueries NOT on join clause and that is more simpler to do.

You might get a picture that there are too many rules and restriction, but it is really not like that. Don't worry, if you do create the query that is not allowed appropriate exception will be thrown and you will know what happened.

Other

• If the model uses the SoftDelete trait, where deleted_at != null will be automatically applied
• You can combine new clauses unlimited times
• If you combine clauses more times on same relation package will join related table only once

Seller::whereJoin('city.title', '=', 'test')
    ->orWhereJoin('city.title', '=', 'test2');

• You can call new clauses inside closures

Seller::where(function ($query) {
    $query
        ->whereJoin('city.title', '=', 'test')
        ->orWhereJoin('city.title', '=', 'test2');
});

• You can combine join clauses e.g. whereJoin() with eloquent clauses e.g. orderBy()

Seller::whereJoin('title', '=', 'test')
    ->whereJoin('city.title', '=', 'test')
    ->orderByJoin('city.title')
    ->get();

See action on real example

Database schema :

Models :

class Seller extends BaseModel
{
    public function locations()
    {
        return $this->hasMany(Location::class);
    }
    
    public function locationPrimary()
    {
        return $this->hasOne(Location::class)
            ->where('is_primary', '=', 1);
    }

    public function city()
    {
        return $this->belongsTo(City::class);
    }

class Location extends BaseModel
{
    public function locationAddressPrimary()
    {
        return $this->hasOne(LocationAddress::class)
            ->where('is_primary', '=', 1);
    }
    

class City extends BaseModel
{
    public function state()
    {
        return $this->belongsTo(State::class);
    }
}

Join

Join BelongsTo

Seller::joinRelations('city')

Join HasOne

Seller::joinRelations('locationPrimary')

Join HasMany

Seller::joinRelations('locations')

Join Mixed

Seller::joinRelations('city.state')

Join (mix left join)

Seller::joinRelations('city', true)->joinRelations('city.state', false)

Ordering

Order BelongsTo

Seller::orderByJoin('city.title')

Order HasOne

Seller::orderByJoin('locationPrimary.address')

Order HasMany

Seller::orderByJoin('locations.title')

Order Mixed

Seller::orderByJoin('city.state.title')

Ordering (special cases with aggregate functions)

Order by relation count

Seller::orderByJoin('locations.id', 'asc', 'COUNT')

Order by relation field SUM

Seller::orderByJoin('locations.is_primary', 'asc', 'SUM')

Order by relation field AVG

Seller::orderByJoin('locations.is_primary', 'asc', 'AVG')

Order by relation field MAX

Seller::orderByJoin('locations.is_primary', 'asc', 'MAX')

Order by relation field MIN

Seller::orderByJoin('locations.is_primary', 'asc', 'MIN')

Filtering (where or orWhere)

Filter BelongsTo

Seller::whereJoin('city.title', '=', 'test')

Filter HasOne

Seller::whereJoin('locationPrimary.address', '=', 'test')

Filter HasMany

Seller::whereJoin('locations.title', '=', 'test')

Filter Mixed

Seller::whereJoin('city.state.title', '=', 'test')

Relation count

$sellers = Seller::setAppendRelationsCount(true)->join('locations', '=', 'test')
    ->get();
    
foreach ($sellers as $seller){
    echo 'Number of location = ' . $seller->locations_count;
}

Filter (mix left join)

Seller::joinRelations('city', true)
    ->joinRelations('city.state', false)
    ->whereJoin('city.id', '=', 1)
    ->orWhereJoin('city.state.id', '=', 1)

Generated queries

Query :

Order::whereJoin('seller.id', '=', 1)->get();

Sql :

select "orders".* 
    from "orders" 
    left join "sellers" on "sellers"."id" = "orders"."seller_id" 
    where "sellers"."id" = ? 
    and "orders"."deleted_at" is null 
    group by "orders"."id"

Query :

Order::orderByJoin('seller.id', '=', 1)->get();

Sql :

select "orders".*, MAX(sellers.id) as sort
    from "orders" 
    left join "sellers" on "sellers"."id" = "orders"."seller_id" 
    where "orders"."deleted_at" is null 
    group by "orders"."id"
    order by sort asc

Elegance of package

Lets look how first example from documentation now looks like. This code :

$posts = Post::select('posts.*')
    ->join('categories', 'categories.id', '=', 'posts.category_id')
    ->groupBy('posts.id')
    ->where('categories.deleted_at', '=', null)
    ->orderBy('categories.name');
    
if(request()->get('date')){
    $posts->where('date', $date)
}

$posts = $posts->get();

is now :

$posts = Post::orderByJoin('category.name');
    
if(request()->get('date')){
    $posts->where('posts.date', $date)
}

$posts = $posts->get();

Both snippets do the same thing.

Tests

This package is well covered with tests. If you want run tests just run composer update and then run tests with "vendor/bin/phpunit"

Contribution

Feel free to create new issue for :

• bug
• notice
• request new feature
• question
• clarification
• etc...

License

MIT

Free Software, Hell Yeah!