README

This package was inspired by https://github.com/BKWLD/cloner and modified to also work with OctoberCMS installations.

A trait for Laravel Eloquent models that lets you clone a model and it's relationships, including files. Even to another database.

Installation

To get started with the Eloquent Model Cloner, use Composer to add the package to your project's dependencies:

composer require vdlp/eloquent-model-cloner

Usage

Your model should now look like this:

class Article extends Eloquent {
   use \Vdlp\EloquentModelCloner\Cloneable;
}

You can clone an Article model like so:

$clone = Article::first()->duplicate();

Cloning Relationships

Lets say your Article has many Photos (a one to many relationship) and can have more than one Authors (a many to many relationship). Now, your Article model should look like this:

class Article extends Eloquent {
   use \Vdlp\EloquentModelCloner\Cloneable;

   protected $cloneableRelations = ['photos', 'authors'];

   public function photos() {
       return $this->hasMany('Photo');
   }

   public function authors() {
        return $this->belongsToMany('Author');
   }
}

The $cloneableRelations informs the Cloneable as to which relations it should follow when cloning. Now when you call Article::first()->duplicate(), all of the Photo rows of the original will be copied and associated with the new Article. And new pivot rows will be created associating the new Article with the Authors of the original (because it is a many to many relationship, no new Author rows are created). Furthermore, if the Photo model has many of some other model, you can specify $cloneableRelations in its class and Cloner will continue replicating them as well.

Customizing the cloned attributes

By default, Cloner does not copy the id (or whatever you've defined as the key for the model) field; it assumes a new value will be auto-incremented. It also does not copy the created_at or updated_at. You can add additional attributes to ignore as follows:

class Photo extends Eloquent {
   use \Vdlp\EloquentModelCloner\Cloneable;

   protected $cloneExemptAttributes = ['uid', 'source'];

   public function article() {
        return $this->belongsTo('Article');
   }

   public function onCloning($src, $child = null) {
        $this->uid = str_random();

        if ($child) {
            echo 'This was cloned as a relation!';
        }

        echo 'The original key is: ' . $src->getKey();
   }
}

The $cloneExemptAttributes adds to the defaults. If you want to replace the defaults altogether, override the trait's getCloneExemptAttributes() method and return an array.

Also, note the onCloning() method in the example. It is being used to make sure a unique column stays unique. The Cloneable trait adds to no-op callbacks that get called immediately before a model is saved during a duplication and immediately after: onCloning() and onCloned(). The $child parameter allows you to customize the behavior based on if it's being cloned as a relation or direct.

In addition, Cloner fires events during cloning and when the model has been cloned, see:

• \Vdlp\EloquentModelCloner\Events\Cloned
• \Vdlp\EloquentModelCloner\Events\Cloning

The event payload contains the clone and the original model instances.