Set Query Builder conditions to Model in Laravel 5.1 - php

Question

First I have to say that I tried to find solution, and i didn't.
Basic question:
$Br = new BrandTop;
dd( $Br->limit(10)->get() ); // Will return 10 rows
and
$Br = new BrandTop;
$Br->limit(10);
dd( $Br->get() ); // Will return all rows.
So, the basic question - why? How can I set some limit for Model, but still work with it, for example set (or not set) some where or order depends on other variables.
Advanced question:
I want to use Model like this:
class BrandTop extends Model
{
public function withBrand() {
return $this->leftJoin('brand', 'brand.id' , '=', 'brandtop.brand_id');
}
public function forType($type) // there is much more conditions for type
{
return $this->where(['type' => $type]);
}
// main function
public function forSunglasses($limit = 0, $logo = false)
{
if ($logo)
$this->where(['menu_logo' => 1])->orderBy('total_sales', 'desc');
if ($limit)
$this->limit($limit);
return $this->forType('sunglasses')->withBrand();
// But there goes Error, because forType() return Builder object, and it has no withBrand() method
}
}
So, there is much more conditions, and it's much easier to set all conditions in separate methods. But how?

Answer 1

Model vs Builder
The thing to understand here is the difference between the Model object and the underlying Builder (query builder) object.
The statement $Br = new BrandTop; will create a new instance of a Model, and assign it to the $Br variable. Next, the $Br->limit(10) statement will create a new instance of a Builder object for the brand_tops table, with a limit of 10 applied.
In your first example, by doing $Br->limit(10)->get(), you're calling get() on the Builder that has your limit applied.
In your second example, your individual $Br->limit(10) creates the new Builder instance, but never uses it for anything. The next statement, $Br->get(), creates another new Builder instance without any constraints, so it retrieves all the records.
To be able to build up your query, you need to assign your Builder instance to a variable, and continue to modify that instance before finally calling get(). For example, to get your second example to work:
$query = BrandTop::query();
$query->limit(10);
$query->where(/*conditions*/);
dd($query->get());
Query Scopes
In relation to the second part of your question, you probably want to look into query scopes.
class BrandTop extends Model
{
// renamed to "JoinBrand" instead of "WithBrand", as "with" would imply
// an eager loaded relationship vs a joined table
public function scopeJoinBrand($query)
{
return $query->leftJoin('brand', 'brand.id' , '=', 'brandtop.brand_id');
}
// got rid of "for" prefix
public function scopeType($query, $type)
{
return $query->where('type', $type);
}
// got rid of "for" prefix
public function scopeSunglasses($query, $limit = 0, $logo = false)
{
if ($logo)
$query->where(['menu_logo' => 1])->orderBy('total_sales', 'desc');
if ($limit)
$query->limit($limit);
return $query->type('sunglasses')->joinBrand();
}
}
With the above model, your code would look something like:
dd(BrandTop::sunglasses()->get());
// or, more verbosely:
$query = BrandTop::query();
$query->sunglasses(); // $query already an object, no need to reassign it to itself
dd($query->get());