Query builder conditional parameters - php

Question

I have a user table that has related data on a belongsToMany basis
users
id
first_name
skills
id
name
positions
id
name
position_user
position_id
user_id
created_at
updated_at
skill_user
skill_id
user_id
created_at
updated_at
In User model
public function positions()
{
return $this->belongsToMany('App\Position')->withTimestamps();
}
and in Position
public function users()
{
return $this->belongsToMany('App\User')->withTimestamps();
}
(the same for skills)
I am currently passing the following to a view:
$users = User::with('skills')
->with('skills')
->with('positions')
->get();
I want to be able to search on various combinations of skills and positions but am having difficulty creating an elegant solution.
If I select a position or positions, pass that to the controller I can return info as:
if (Request::get('positions'))
{
$positions = Request::get('positions');
}
Where the positions array could look like
array:3 [?
0 => "Analyst"
1 => "Attorney"
2 => "Architect"]
if($positions)
{
$users = User::with('skills')
->with('skills')
->with('positions')
->orWhereHas('positions', function($thisquery) use ($positions)
{
$thisquery->whereIn('name', $positions);
})
->get();
}
If I do the same with skills that works as well.
What I need to do is to combine them - especially since I will be adding more related tables into the search function.
I have tried:
if(($positions)&&($skills))
{
$users = User::with('skills')
->with('skills')
->with('positions')
->orWhereHas('positions', function($thisquery) use ($positions)
{
$thisquery->whereIn('name', $positions);
})
->orWhereHas('skills', function($thisquery) use ($skills)
{
$thisquery->whereIn('name', $skills);
})
->get();
}
But what I am wanting is something more like
$users = User::with('skills')
->with('skills')
->with('positions');
if($skills)
{
$users->orWhereHas('skills', function($thisquery) use ($skills)
{
$thisquery->whereIn('name', $skills);
});
}
if($positions)
{
$users->orWhereHas('positions', function($thisquery) use ($positions)
{
$thisquery->whereIn('name', $positions);
});
}
$users->get();
However that doesn't work -just returns empty resultset.
How can I achieve this in an elegant way?
Or is there perhaps a better way to implement a search function - really I am just wanting to filter on certain parameters.

Answer 1

I think you need "and where" condition here. Or where means matching either one or another or both rules. "And where" would only work if both rules match.
So I'd suggest trying this:
$users = User::with('skills')
->with('skills')
->with('positions');
if($skills)
{
$users->whereHas('skills', function($thisquery) use ($skills)
{
$thisquery->whereIn('name', $skills);
});
}
if($positions)
{
$users->whereHas('positions', function($thisquery) use ($positions)
{
$thisquery->whereIn('name', $positions);
});
}
$users = $users->get();

Answer 2

I solved this problem myself recently.
What I ended up doing was the following:
Get all relevant data into an array.
Filter that array to match parameter values
Return the filtered array.
You can even cache step 1 and recache when you add or update an element.
Go ahead and try an implementation. If you should get stuck, please update your question with relevant code.