Laravels Eloquent to store many to many relationship - laravel-4

Question

I have 3 tables
-- networks
Schema::create('networks', function(Blueprint $table)
{
$table->engine = 'InnoDB';
$table->increments('id');
$table->string('network');
$table->string('description',255);
$table->string('attributes',255);
$table->timestamps();
});
and
-- campaigns
Schema::create('campaigns', function($table) {
$table->engine = 'InnoDB';
$table->increments('id');
$table->string('campaign_title');
$table->integer('owner')->unsigned();
$table->string('details');
$table->timestamps();
});
Schema::table('campaigns', function($table) {
$table->foreign('owner')->references('id')->on('users')->onDelete('cascade');
});
and
-- campaign_networks_relationhsips
Schema::table('campaign_networks_relationhsips', function($table)
{
$table->foreign('campaign_id')->references('id')->on('campaigns')->onDelete('cascade');
$table->foreign('network_id')->references('id')->on('networks')->onDelete('cascade');
});
On new Campaign creation, in the Form I show available Networks as checkboxes.
User gives a title to the campaign and ads the desired Networks to it and saves.
The question:
has Eloquent a method which would pull this relation directly to the binding tables(campaign_networks_relationhsips) or I have to make 2 queries like saving the campaign and after getting the id of the campaign I use a loop on networks to save this relations in my binding table.
example
created campaign: gives me back id:1
choosed networks 3,4
than loop and save
1-3
1-4
in campaign_networks_relationhsips
than I try the following
<?php namespace Td\Reports\Controllers\Backend;
use Td\Reports\Campaigns\CampaignsInterface;
use Input,
Redirect,
View,
App,
Str;
use Illuminate\Support\MessageBag;
class CampaignsController extends ObjectBaseAdminController {
/**
* The place to find the views / URL keys for this controller
* #var string
*/
protected $view_key = 'admin.campaigns';
protected $networks;
/**
* Construct
*/
public function __construct(CampaignsInterface $campaigns) {
$this->model = $campaigns;
$networks = App::make('Td\Reports\Networks\NetworksInterface');
$this->networks = $networks->getAll();
parent::__construct();
}
public function postNew() {
$record = $this->model->getNew(Input::all());
//$record->campaign_title= Input::get('campaign_title');
$valid = $this->validateWithInput === true ? $record->isValid(Input::all()) : $record->isValid();
if (!$valid)
return Redirect::to('admin/' . $this->new_url)->with('errors', $record->getErrors())->withInput();
// Run the hydration method that populates anything else that is required / runs any other
// model interactions and save it.
$record->save();
$record->networks()->sync([3,4]);
return Redirect::to($this->object_url)->with('success', new MessageBag(array('Item Created')));
}
}
than I have the repository for campaigns
<?php
namespace Td\Reports\Campaigns;
use Td\Reports\Core\EloquentBaseRepository;
use Td\Reports\Abstracts\Traits\NetworkableRepository;
use Datatables,Sentry;
class CampaignsRepository extends EloquentBaseRepository implements CampaignsInterface {
/**
* Construct
* #param Campaigns $campaigns
*/
public function __construct(Campaigns $campaigns) {
$this->model = $campaigns;
public function getAll() {
if (Sentry::getUser()->hasAnyAccess(['system'])) {
return $this->model->get();
} else {
return $this->model->where('owner', Sentry::getUser()->id)->get();
}
}
public function networks()
{
return $this->belongsToMany('Network', 'campaign_networks_relationhsips');
}
}

Answer 1

A must read for you: http://laravel.com/docs/eloquent#relationships
From what you wrote I assume you want to save a model and its pivot relations, so here it goes:
// basic example flow in a controller, repo or wherever you like
$campaign = new Campaign;
$campaign->name = Input::get('name');
// assign more campaign attributes
$campaign->save();
$campaign->networks()->sync([3,4]); // 3,4 are existing network rows ids
That's all. For the above to work you need to setup these relationships:
// Campaign model
public function networks()
{
return $this->belongsToMany('Network', 'campaign_networks_relationhsips');
}
// Network model
public function campaings()
{
return $this->belongsToMany('Campaign', 'campaign_networks_relationhsips');
}