Laravel: relationship between siblings - laravel

Question

I have 4 tables flats, residents, floors & resident_floors. The relations between them is as follows:
flats:
id | name
-----------------------------
1 | Flat -1
2 | Flat -2
...
flat_residents:
id | flats_id | name
-----------------------------
1 | 1 | Resident - 1
2 | 2 | Resident - 2
3 | 3 | Resident - 3
...
flat_floors:
id | flats_id
-----------------------------
1 | 101
2 | 102
3 | 201
4 | 202
...
flat_resident_floors:
id | residents_id | floors_id
-----------------------------
1 | 1 | 1
2 | 1 | 2
3 | 2 | 3
4 | 3 | 4
I am trying to create the relationship between them to display the data as follows:
Flat / Floor(s) | Resident
1 / 101, 102 | Resident - 1
2 / 201 | Resident - 2
3 / 202 | Resident - 3
Resident.php
public function floors()
{
return $this->hasManyThrough(Floor::class, ResidentFloor::class, 'floors_id', 'id');
}
Here is the query which is being generated:
SELECT * FROM floors
INNER JOIN flat_resident_floors ON flat_resident_floors.id = floors.id
WHERE flat_resident_floors.floors_id = ?
Where as it should be:
SELECT * FROM floors
INNER JOIN flat_resident_floors ON flat_resident_floors.floors_id = floors.id
WHERE flat_resident_floors.residents_id = ?
I don't understand what or where am I doing wrong..?

Answer 1

Don't think about the underlying SQL so much, instead use the Eloquent relationships to your advantage. In this case, it seems that Flat should hasMany(Floor::class) and Floor should hasMany(Resident::class). Your Flat then hasManyThrough relationship with Resident which writes itself (without needing a pivot table as you are trying to do).
class Floor
{
public function residents()
{
return $this->hasMany(Resident::class);
}
public function flat()
{
return $this->belongsTo(Flat::class);
}
}
class Resident
{
public function floor()
{
return $this->belongsTo(Floor::class);
}
}
class Flat
{
public function floors()
{
return $this->hasMany(Floor::class);
}
public function residents()
{
return $this->hasManyThrough(Resident::class, Floor::class);
}
}