Search query on the basis of if post variable exists in laravel - php

Question

I want to write a search query on Laravel on the basis of either "keyword" or "experience" or "location" search query should run if any of these variable exists.
I am making an Ajax call to achieve this
jobsController.php
public function homepageSearch() {
$_POST = json_decode(file_get_contents('php://input'), true);
$jobs = Jobs::latest('created_at')->search()->get();
echo $jobs;
}
Model jobs.php
class Jobs extends Model {
public function scopeSearch($query) {
$query->where('job_title', 'like', '%'.$_POST['keyword'].'%')
->orWhere('job_description', 'like', '%'.$_POST['keyword'].'%');
if(isset($_POST['keyword'])) {
$query->where('job_title', 'like', '%'.$_POST['keyword'].'%')
->orWhere('job_description', 'like', '%'.$_POST['keyword'].'%');
}
if(isset($_POST['experience'])) {
$query->where('min_exp', $_POST['experience'])
->orWhere('max_exp', $_POST['experience']);
}
if(isset($_POST['city'])) {
$query->where('job_location','like','%'.$_POST['city'].'%');
}
}
}
I want to search on the basis of either keyword or city or experience is this correct way to achieve this in laravel?
I am new to Laravel. Can you suggest me with this.

Answer 1

class Job extends Model {
public function scopeSearch($query, $keyword, $experience, $city) {
$query->where(function ($q) {
$q->where('job_title', 'like', '%'.$_POST['keyword'].'%')
->orWhere('job_description', 'like', '%'.$_POST['keyword'].'%');
});
if(isset($keyword)) {
$query->where(function ($q) {
$q->where('job_title', 'like', '%'.$_POST['keyword'].'%')
->orWhere('job_description', 'like', '%'.$_POST['keyword'].'%');
});
}
if(isset($experience)) {
$query->where(function($q) {
$q->where('min_exp', $_POST['experience'])
->orWhere('max_exp', $_POST['experience']);
});
}
if(isset($city)) {
$query->where('job_location','like','%'.$_POST['city'].'%');
}
return $query;
}
}
Call from your controller using the following:
Job::search($request->input('keyword'),
$request->input('experience'), $request->input('city'));
A few observations/suggestions:
Where chaining needs to be correct. When you say $query->where(..a..)->orWhere(..b..)->where(..c..)->orWhere(..d..) it will evaluate to: ((a && c) || b || d). Where you intended ((a || b) && (c || d)). This is why you need to use closures like I have above using parameter grouping
Avoid using $_POST, use the Request object instead as Laravel does quite a lot of work for you when you use $request
Avoid calling your request object from the model. It's not the model's responsibility to check request/post variables, it's your controller's responsibility to do so. Use dynamic scopes instead to segregate the responsibilities
You need to return the query object in scopes
A model is one entity. So "a job" is a model not "jobs". So I renamed the Jobs class to Job :)