edit this page Searching

Searching is one of the most basic functions that is used on websites. Because of this Laravel Repository comes a simple yet powerful way of performing this.

Also see Global Scopes under Scope for more Searching magic.

Repository Search Method

Within your repository sits a variable called searchable, it holds the table columns you wish to make searchable to the user. The reason for the array is for security reason, it restricts what is searchable by the user.

In the example bellow we are stating that we want the parameter query to search the table columns name and email.

<?php

namespace App\Repositories;

use Torann\LaravelRepository\Repository;

class UsersRepository extends Repository
{
    /**
     * Specify Model class name
     */
    protected string $model = \App\User::class;

    /**
     * Valid searchable columns
     */
    protected array $searchable = [
        'query' => [
            'name',
            'email',
        ],
    ];
}

The set in the controller is very simple as you can see from here:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Repositories\UserRepository;

class UsersController extends Controller
{
    protected UserRepository $repository;

    public function __construct(UserRepository $repository)
    {
        $this->repository = $repository;
    }

    /**
     * Display a listing of the resource.
     *
     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request $request
     * @return \Illuminate\Contracts\View\View
     */
    public function index(Request $request)
    {
        $users = $this->repository
            ->search($request->get('query'))
            ->paginate();

        return view('users.index')->with([
            'users' => $users,
        ]);
    }
}

More Complex Searching

For a more complex search, we added the columns confirmed and user_role_id to the searchable array.

<?php

namespace App\Repositories;

use Torann\LaravelRepository\Repository;

class UsersRepository extends Repository
{
    /**
     * Specify Model class name
     */
    protected string $model = \App\User::class;

    /**
     * Valid searchable columns
     */
    protected array $searchable = [
        'confirmed',
        'role' => 'user_role_id',
        'query' => [
            'name',
            'email',
        ],
    ];
}

As you can see this is set as a key value pair. Where the key is used to get the database query parameter from the array of parameters sent to the search method. And the value is the name of the table column to perform the query on.

But a value is not always needed, in this case the key is also used as missing value. So in the example we are expecting the parameter from the user to be role and the corresponding table column name to be user_role_id. This is done to better hide the table columns from the user.

So let's see this in a controller:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Repositories\UserRepository;

class UsersController extends Controller
{
    protected UserRepository $repository;

    public function __construct(UserRepository $repository)
    {
        $this->repository = $repository;
    }

    /**
     * Display a listing of the resource.
     *
     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request $request
     * @return \Illuminate\Contracts\View\View
     */
    public function index(Request $request)
    {
        $users = $this->repository
            ->search($request->only('role', 'confirmed', 'query'))
            ->paginate();

        return view('users.index')->with([
            'users' => $users,
        ]);
    }
}

Searching Joined Tables

The columns names can also include joined tables. To do this simple prefix the column with the table name.

For example let's say we have a table that is called profiles and it is joined using a Global Scope. We are searching the user's name, we can also search their profile's slug for the same value.

<?php

namespace App\Repositories;

use Torann\LaravelRepository\Repository;

class UsersRepository extends Repository
{
    /**
     * Specify Model class name
     */
    protected string $model = \App\User::class;

    /**
     * Valid searchable columns
     */
    protected array $searchable = [
        'query' => [
            'name',
            'profiles.slug',
        ],
    ];
}

Searching Relationship Tables

Sometimes you may need to search an attribute that's located a relationship table. To do that we use a special syntax as the value for the searchable key. Keep in mind this is not intended for query searching.

Syntax

joining_table:column,foreign_key,related_key,alias

• joining_table is the table used for joining
• column this is the column we perform the were query
• foreign_key the key on the joining table to create the join with
• related_key optional the local or related key, this will the column argument if not set
• alias optional attribute used as the joining table alias

Example

<?php

namespace App\Repositories;

use Torann\LaravelRepository\Repository;

class PostsRepository extends Repository
{
    /**
     * Specify Model class name
     */
    protected string $model = \App\Post::class;

    /**
     * Valid searchable columns
     */
    protected array $searchable = [
        'author' => 'users:name,id,user_id',
        'query' => [
            'title',
        ],
    ];
}

Range Querying

To perfrom a range query simple use one of the following prefixes followed by the separator :.

Prefixes

• gt greater than
• lt less than
• ne not equal to
• bt between (comma separated two values)

Examples

Return posts with a comment count greater than 10

http://site.dev/posts?comment_count=gt:10

Return posts with a comment count between 10 and 20

http://site.dev/posts?comment_count=bt:10,20