hasManyThrough() or similar database model - laravel

Question

I have a database setup similar to this:
items
id - integer
user_id - int
users
id - integer
name - string
contacts
id - integer
user_id - integer
name - string
Using Eloquent ORM how would I query for that returns the associated user, and their contacts? I'm currently using
Items::with('user')->get();

Answer 1

Models and relationship:
// User model
class User extends Eloquent {
public function items()
{
return $this->hasMany('Item');
}
public function contacts()
{
return $this->hasMany('Contact');
}
}
// Contact model
class Contact extends Eloquent {
public function user()
{
return $this->belongsTo('User');
}
}
// Item model
class Item extends Eloquent {
public function user()
{
return $this->belongsTo('User');
}
}
Usage:
$items = Item::with('user.contacts')->get(); // Result will be a collection object
$firstItem = $items->first(); // get the first item from collection
// Or this to get first one
$firstItem = $items->get(0); // get the first item from collection
$firstItem->user; // Get related User Model
$firstItem->user->contacts; // get collection of Contact models
If you pass the $items to your view then you may use a loop, for example:
$items = Item::with('user.contacts')->get();
return View::make('viewname')->with('items', $items);
In your view:
#foreach($items as $item)
{{ $item->property_name }}
{{ $item->user->property_name }}
#foreach($item->user->contacts as $contact)
{{ $contact->propertyname }}
#endforeach
#endforeach

Answer 2

It's called loading nested relations - last example on http://laravel.com/docs/eloquent#eager-loading
$items = Items::with('user.contacts')->get();
// then for example:
$item = $items->first();
$item->user; // user Model
$item->user->contacts; // Collection of Contact models
A note: there is no relation to access such relation directly. hasManyThrough won't work in this setup.