Laravel querying database 'AND' 'OR' Where orWhere - php

Question

In Laravel 4 I have built a search form. Where a person can submit either
email address
From - To date
Ref number
They can only search using one of the above options; As they have to select from a drop down on which they would like to search with. The final code I used to get this working is as follows:
if(Input::get('from') && Input::get('to')){
$records = Applications::where('created_at', '>=', Input::get('from'))
->where('created_at', '<', date('Y-m-d', strtotime(Input::get('to'). ' + 1 days')))
->lists('id');
}elseif(Input::get('email') || Input::get('ref')){
$records = Applications::where('Application_number', '=', Input::get('ref'))
->where('email', '=', Input::get('email'), 'OR')
->lists('id');
}else{
$records = Applications::all()->lists('id');
}
The works for my requirements, but I'm not really happy this is the best solution.
I also tried to use either of the solutions in this thread Laravel 4 eloquent WHERE with OR AND OR?
$result = User::where('created_at', 'LIKE', '%' . $search . '%')
->where('updated_at', 'LIKE', '%' . $search . '%', 'OR')
->where('user_first_name', 'LIKE', '%' . $search . '%', 'AND')
->where('user_any_field', 'LIKE', '%' . $search . '%')->get();
OR
Model::where(function ($query) {
$query->where('a', '=', 1)
->orWhere('b', '=', 1);
})->where(function ($query) {
$query->where('c', '=', 1)
->orWhere('d', '=', 1);
});
But all I kept getting was value can't be null, when searching on from and to; email and ref worked fine.

Answer 1

You can try this:
$input = Input::all();
Model::where(function($query) use ($input) {
if (isset($input['something'])) {
$query->where('some_field_1', '=', $input['something']);
}
if (isset($input['something_else'])) {
$query->where('some_field_2', '=', $input['something_else']);
}
})->get();
I think this is the cleanest way. Of course, you should put the if statements to be of your need.