Get relationship with eloquent - laravel

Question

I am using laravel 6.16.0 and I have two migrations:
person
Schema::create('persons', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->bigIncrements('id');
$table->string('full_name')->nullable($value = true);
$table->date('date_of_birth')->nullable($value = true);
$table->string('phone')->nullable($value = true);
$table->string('office')->nullable($value = true);
$table->timestamps();
});
senator_attributes
Schema::create('senator_attributes', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->bigIncrements('id');
$table->integer('persons_id')->default('999999')->nullable($value = true);
$table->string('party')->nullable($value = true);
// ...
$table->timestamps();
});
My models look like the following:
class Person extends Model
{
protected $table = 'persons';
protected $guarded = ['id'];
}
class SenatorAttributes extends Model
{
protected $table = 'senator_attributes';
protected $guarded = ['id'];
public function person()
{
return $this->belongsTo(Person::class, 'persons_id');
}
}
I was wondering, how can I query all Persons and get for each person their attributes?
I appreciate your replies!

Answer 1

For pretty straight forward solutions you can directly do:
First, you need to add the SenatorAttributes model inside the Person model. You can do so like the following:
class Person extends Model
{
protected $table = 'persons';
protected $guarded = ['id'];
public function senator_attributes()
{
return $this->hasMany(SenatorAttributes::class, 'persons_id'); // or you can use hasOne if person model is supposed to only have one single senator attribute.
}
}
Now to load senator attributes for each person.
Solution 1, with Eager(early/desperate) Loading:
$persons = Person::with('senator_attributes')->get();
Solution 2, on-demand loading:
$persons = Person::all();
foreach($persons as $person) {
$senator_attribures = $person->senator_attributes;
// write your logic here...
}
Solution 1 is fine as long as you don't load all of the rows at the runtime. If you are planning to load hundreds/thousands of models, consider chunking the solution and use eager loading with it.
Learn more about Laravel Eloquent Relationships here.
Now, read the following if you are interested in best practices.
I don't want to sound nosey, but I personally follow the following ground rules while working on any project.
Table name should always be in plural and model name to be in singular form. For example, persons table will have Person model.
Foreign keys should always be in singular form of referenced table + referenced column of the referenced table. For example, if you wish to add a person reference to senator_attributes table, you should add person_id column to senator_attributes table.
Fact, Laravel supports this naming convention, above all, you save yourself time and maintain the consistency and practice across the teams and projects.