Best method to check for duplicates in store function prior to saving - laravel

Question

I have a team-based app where one database services multiple teams. We have a custom fields table which allows for each team to create their own custom fields they want to create in addition to the global fields universally available to every team. Each custom field record has a name, type, and church_id field in the create.blade input form. Now with the nature of having separate teams, we need a system where they could create their own custom field that might share the same name of a custom field created and connected to another church team. This has been done and works just fine.
The problem is that we need to also make it so that only one custom field by a specific name can be created within the same church team. We do not want duplicate fields within the same church team. And herein lies my question, what is the best way in the store function to keep duplicates from occurring within the same team-based records. I have looked at firstOrNew, firstOrCreate, and updateOrCreate but which one is best suited to my need.
As I said, the fields we have in the form are 'name', 'type', and 'church_id' and these correspond to the custom field DB fields as 'name', 'type', and 'created_by_team_id'. What I need to have happen is for the system to check to see if there is a record matching the input 'name' that shares the same 'created_by_team_id' as the input 'church_id. If there is a record by that 'name' which also shares a marching 'id' then the system recognizes that as a duplicate and does NOT create a new record in the DB. But, if there is a record that shares the same 'name' but does not share the same 'created_by_team_id/church_id' then the system goes ahead and creates that new record because it is not a duplicate.
This is my create function:
{
if (! Gate::allows('custom_field_create')) {
return abort(401);
}
if (auth()->user()->role->contains(1)) {
$churches = Team::all();
$churchArr = array('empty' => 'Please select a church...');
foreach ($churches as $church) {
$churchArr[$church->id] = $church->name;
}
$churches->created_by_id = auth()->user()->id;
$church_id = null;
} else {
$churches = false;
$church_id = auth()->user()->team_id;
$churchArr = [];
}
return view('admin.custom_fields.create', compact('churches', 'churchArr', 'church_id'));
And this is my store function:
{
if (! Gate::allows('custom_field_create')) {
return abort(401);
}
$custom_field = CustomField::create($request->all());
$custom_field->created_by_team_id = $request->input('church_id');
$custom_field->save();
return redirect()->route('admin.custom_fields.index');
As I stated, I have been looking at and trying the firstOrNew, firstOrCreate, and updateOrCreate methods but all my attempts have been a failure. What would be the proper way to implement one of these methods to achieve my goals using my fields and DB criteria to avoid creating duplicate fields by the same name within the same team-based id?

Answer 1

I found the workable solution to be updateOrCreate. This allows the use of both 'name' and 'type' to be needing to be found to match. If either one is found but not the other it will create a new record. If both are found it just updates the record, which by nature avoids the duplicate creation. This allows the 'church_id' field to just added on as a filler rather than using it as one of the fields keyed on to.
$custom_field = CustomField::updateOrCreate(['name' => $request->input('name'), 'type' => $request->input('type')]);
$custom_field->created_by_team_id = $request->input('church_id');
$custom_field->save();