What is the proper way to use the Model in Laravel? - php

Question

Can you help me with this? I am currently studying Laravel on my own and I followed the tutorials in the Laracasts and it is awesome. Before Laravel I am using CodeIgniter and Opencart in my projects and I started to study Laravel because I want to learn a new framework.
In CI and Opencart all your database queries are in the model. But in Laravel you can perform and queries in Controller?. Is it a proper way to the queries in Laravel?
I have this kind of code in the Controller:
<?php namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use App\Http\Requests;
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use App\Article;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
class ArticlesController extends Controller {
public function index() {
$articles = Article::all();
return view('articles.index')->with('articles', $articles);
}
}

Answer 1

Yes, this is perfectly fine for small applications.
For large-scale apps however, i'd recommend using repositories as they decouple your models from the controller - which makes them more readable and testable.
Your ArticlesController would translate to something like this:
<?php namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use App\Repositories\Articles\ArticleRepositoryInterface;
class ArticlesController extends Controller {
private $articles;
public function __construct(ArticleRepositoryInterface $articles)
{
$this->articles = $articles;
}
public function index()
{
return view('articles.index')
->with('articles', $this->articles->all());
}
}
Have a look at Laravels Service Container to understand the automatic resolution of the ArticleRepositoryInterface. Laracasts has some good videos on repositories.

Answer 2

Repositories is a smart decision to you. But why?
Basically, repositories is a 'gateway' between your application and your storage.
With repositories, you'll find your 'database queries' in a single place.
Let's think about the model Articles.
Instead of use a static instance of Articles all the times that you need to use it (Articles::find(), Articles::all(), etc), just create a repository of Articles.
Inject this repo in your controller (e.g.), and use 'features' storaged in your ArticleRepository.
What do you mean?
Let's consider a repository of Articles. What I'll use many times in my app of Articles model? I need select all, select by id, insert, update, delete. Basically these 'stuffs'. So, if I have all this stuffs in a place?
class ArticleRepository {
public function all(){}
public function getById($id){}
public function insert($data){}
public function update($data){}
public function delete($id){}
}
Inject this ArticleRepository in your controller. To do this, read a about IoC Container here: http://laravel.com/docs/5.0/container
The construct in your controller will be like this:
public function __construct(ArticleRepository $articles)
{
$this->articles = $articles;
}
Once all, when you need get all Articles in your controller, just do:
public function index()
{
$articles = $this->articles->all();
return View::make('articles.index')->with(['articles' => $articles]);
}
With this practice, you have a clean application with testables controllers and a beautiful organization and design. ;)
Look, I tried to be as didactic as possible to you understand the concept. The use of repositories is not only a way to do. So I let the links in the comments. And let other references here as well.
I'm sure you will understand quickly.
Success in learning! :)
https://laracasts.com/search?q=repositories&q-where=lessons
http://ryantablada.com/post/the-repository-pattern-in-action
http://culttt.com/2014/03/17/eloquent-tricks-better-repositories/
http://culttt.com/2013/07/15/how-to-structure-testable-controllers-in-laravel-4/