Laravel model attribute with previous and next values - php

Question

How can I get a model's attribute value with the previous and next maximum values?
Let's say I have a user model with a column for age. I now want to know the age of user x as well as the closest previous and subsequent age values.
$age = User::find($id)

Answer 1

In the code you posted, $age is currently a User instance, or null, so that doesn't do much.
If age is a column on your users table, then you could do something like this:
$age = User::findOrFail($id)->age;
try {
return User::where('age', '<', $age)
->orderBy('age', 'DESC')
->firstOrFail()
->age;
} catch (ModelNotFoundException $mnfe) {
return null; // Or similar
}
try {
return User::where('age', '>', $age)
->orderBy('age', 'ASC')
->firstOrFail()
->age;
} catch (ModelNotFoundException $mnfe) {
return null; // Or similar
}
Using $age (let's imagine 30) as your point of reference:
For Younger:
Query for anyone younger ('age' < 30)
Ordering them from 29 to 0 (DESC)
Find the first one (or failing if there are none)
Return that User's age
For Older:
Query for anyone older ('age' > 30)
Ordering them from 30 to ∞ (ASC)
Find the first one (or failing if there are none)
Return that User's age
Sidenote, this code can go in a Controller or Model as functions like getPreviousAge($age), getNextAge($age), etc.