How to create follower relationships using Eloquent and Laravel? - php

Question

So, I'm trying to create a relationship where users can follow other users or follow categories.
My intuition says that what I've done so far is not the right way of doing things. I'm especially confounded by how to create the follower - followee relationship.
TABLES:
Users
public function up()
{
Schema::create('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->increments('id');
$table->string('email');
$table->string('password');
$table->string('first_name');
});
}
Categories
public function up()
{
Schema::create('categories', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->increments('id');
$table->string('category');
});
}
Follows
public function up()
{
Schema::create('follows', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->increments('id');
$table->integer('follower_id');
$table->integer('followee_id')->nullable();
$table->integer('category_id')->nullable();
});
}
MODELS:
User
class User extends Model implements Authenticatable
{
public function follows()
{
return $this->hasMany('App\Follow');
}
}
Category
class Category extends Model
{
public function follows()
{
return $this->hasMany('App\Follow');
}
}
Follow
class Follow extends Model
{
public function post()
{
return $this->belongsTo('App\User');
}
public function source()
{
return $this->belongsTo('App\Category');
}
}

Answer 1

According to your scenario, it is recommended that you use Polymorphic Many To Many relationship.
Schema:
users
id - integer
...
categories
id - integer
...
followables
user_id - integer
followable_id - integer
followable_type - string
Models:
User:
public function followers()
{
return $this->morphToMany(User::class, 'followables');
}
public function following()
{
return $this->morphedByMany(User::class, 'followables');
}
Category:
public function followers()
{
return $this->morphToMany(User::class, 'followables');
}
Then you can create the relationship like:
When following an User:
$user->followers()->create(['user_id' => 12])
When following a Category:
$category->followers()->create(['user_id' => 25])
Hope it helps.