Laravel: Cannot reindex collection's array in eager loading after using unset() - laravel

Question

I have following code:
// User.php
public function groups() {
return $this->belongsToMany(
Group::class,
'group_user',
'user_id',
'group_id',
'id'
);
}
// Group.php
public function users() {
return $this->belongsToMany(
User::class,
'group_class',
'group_id',
'user_id',
'id'
);
}
And in routes/web.php
Route::get('/test', function () {
$me = App\User::first();
$group = App\Group::with('users')->first();
foreach ($group->users as $user_index => $user) {
// Show all users (a.k.a members) of this group, except myself
if ($user->id == $me->id) {
unset($group->users[$user_index]);
}
}
return $group;
}):
Result:
{
"id": 1,
"name": "ABC Group",
"users": { // This should be array right?
"1": { // This should be start with 0
"id": 2,
"name": "...",
"email": "...",
},
"2": { // This should be 1
"id": 3,
"name": "...",
"email": "...",
}
}
}
What I have tried:
#1 Put values() in the end of foreach loop, like:
foreach ($group->users as $user_index => $user) {
// Show all users (a.k.a members) of this group, except myself
if ($user->id == $me->id) {
unset($group->users[$user_index]);
}
$group->users->values(); // Not working
}
#2 Put values() after the foreach loop, like:
Route::get('/test', function () {
$me = App\User::first();
$group = App\Group::with('users')->first();
foreach ($group->users as $user_index => $user) {
// Show all users (a.k.a members) of this group, except myself
if ($user->id == $me->id) {
unset($group->users[$user_index]);
}
}
$group->users->values(); // Still not working
return $group;
}):
Expected result:
{
"id": 1,
"name": "ABC Group",
"users": [ // Array
{ // index 0
"id": 2,
"name": "...",
"email": "...",
},
{ // index 1
"id": 3,
"name": "...",
"email": "...",
}
]
}
Q: How to reindex collection array in eager loading after using unset()?
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

You've got a few things to unpack here that might help you.
First, your query returns a Laravel collection of users attached to the single model Group. Laravel has a bit of magic in the background that allows for array notation as well, but probably easiest to think about this as a collection for your purposes. In some cases, you can translate this to an array using Laravel's toArray() method, something like:
$userArray = $group->users->toArray();
For dropping an index, or in this case a user from the Group's users, take a look at the forget() method, which works on the collection object.
However, I think you may wish to come at this from the reverse... Pull the unwanted index(es) in a single query, rather than having to loop through the collection after the fact. Something like this may be of value to you:
$me = App\User::first();
$group = App\Group::with(['users' => function($query) use($me){
$query->where('users.id', '!=', $me->id);
}])->first();
This query will remove the unwanted user from the collection right out of the database, eliminating the need for additional code, which is what I think you were after.
HTH.