README

This project allows you to easily create a REST API with Laravel. It has extended functionality, such as eager loading, searching, filtering, and more.

Installation

composer require weapnl/laravel-junction

JS/TS Support

Laravel-Junction has a companion JavaScript/TypeScript package called JS-Junction! This package extends the functionality of our Laravel package to the front end, offering a seamless integration for your web applications.

Development

In order to easily work on this package locally and use it in another local project, do the following:

1. Add a repository in the composer.json file of the project you want to include Laravel-Junction in:

"repositories": {
    "laravel-junction": {
        "type": "path",
        "url": "./laravel-junction",
        "options": {
            "symlink": true
        }
    }
}

1. If your other project runs in docker, add a volume referencing the folder where Laravel-Junction resides:

services:
  api:
    image: ...
    volumes:
      - ../laravel-junction:/var/www/laravel-junction

1. Install the local package. The symlink option you set on the repository earlier makes sure that you only need to do this once as opposed to every code change.

composer require weapnl/laravel-junction dev-main

Quick Start

// app/Http/Controllers/Api/UserController.php
namespace App\Http\Controllers\Api;

use Weap\Junction\Http\Controllers\Controller;

class UserController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * The class name of the model for which the controller should implement CRUD actions.
     *
     * @var string
     */
    public $model = User::class;

    /**
     * Define the relations which can be loaded in a request using "array" notation.
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public function relations(): array
    {
        return [
            'orders',
        ];
    }

// routes/api.php
Junction::apiResource('users', 'UserController');

You're all set and ready to go now. You can now perform requests to the /api/users endpoint. Try a post request to create a new user, or a get request to retrieve all users.

Usage

Setting up the Controller

To make the controller accessible through the api, you need to extend the Weap\Junction\Http\Controllers\Controller class. This class extends the default Laravel controller, and adds some extra functionality. Defining the controller is pretty straightforward, check the Quick start section for a basic example. We will now go over some of the extra functionality.

// app/Http/Controllers/Api/UserController.php
namespace App\Http\Controllers\Api;

use Weap\Junction\Http\Controllers\Controller; // Make sure to import the Controller class from the Weap/Junction package.

class UserController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * The class name of the model for which the controller should implement CRUD actions.
     *
     * @var string
     */
    public $model = User::class;
    
    /**
     * The class name of Resource to be used for the show and index methods.
     *
     * @var string $resource
     */
    public $resource = UserResource::class;

    /**
     * Define the relations which can be loaded in a request using "array" notation.
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public function relations(): array
    {
        return [
            'orders',
            // Define all your relations here with should be accessible through the API.
        ];
    }

Sample usage

/api/users?orders[0][column]=id&orders[0][direction]=asc&&search_value=john&search_columns[]=name&search_columns[]=email

Sample response

The response always contains the properties items, total and page, even if you're not using pagination.

{
  "items": [
    {
      "id": 2,
      "name": "John Doe",
      "email": "john.doe@app.com",
      "orders": [],
      "comments": [
        {
          "id": 1,
          "body": "Hello world!"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "total": 1, // Total amount of items
  "page": 1 // The current page
}

Filters

Filters are applied to the query. Filters are defined using array keys. Available filters:

Modifiers

Modifiers are applied after the query has run. Available modifiers:

Pagination

Pagination is applied on database-level (after applying all filters). The following parameters can be used to setup pagination:

Simple pagination

Simple pagination almost the same as the pagination above. But the simple pagination doesn't return the total amount of items or a page number. This is useful for large database tables where the normal pagination is too slow.

Relations

To limit the relations which can be loaded using the with filter, you can override the relations method on your controller. This method should return an array containing relations (dot-notation is supported). To add filters to the relation query, you can use the key as relation name and a closure as the value.

Note: When using dot-notation, if a closure is given for one of the higher-level relations in your controller, that closure will be applied to the query. For example with relations implemented like below, loading the relation user.activities, will apply the isAdmin scope to the user query.

public function relations()
{
    return [
        'user' => fn ($query) => $query->isAdmin(),
        'user.activities',
    ];
}

Extensions

To modify the relations array before it is parsed, you can use the following in a service provider;

app(\Weap\Junction\Extensions\RelationExtension::class)->add(function (array $relations, \Illuminate\Routing\Controller $controller) {
    // Only get activities of the past week
    $relations['activities'] = fn ($query) => $query->where('created_at', '>', now()->subWeek());

    return $relations;
});

This example will add or replace the activities relation on any controller. Note that it only sets the relation on the controller; it does not actually load the relation unless it is requested.

Accessors

To append accessors to models in the response, you can use the appends modifier. This modifier allows dot-notation for relations. These relations will be eager loaded (relation closures defined in the controller are applied as well).

In some cases you may want an accessor to return a value of one of its relations, which would normally cause a lazy load when the accessor is executed. To eager load the relation, you could add it to the request using the with filter, which means the frontend is responsible for proper eager loading. To shift this responsibility to the backend, you can use the Junction::makeAttribute() function to make an accessor instead of Attribute::make():

use Weap\Junction\Junction;

/**
 * @return Attribute<string, never>
 */
protected function name(): Attribute
{
    return Junction::makeAttribute(
        get: fn (): string => $this->contact->name,
        with: ['contact'],
    );
}

In this case, the contact relation would be eager loaded before the accessor is executed, which can prevent N+1 queries. The with array also allows dot-notation and closures to customize the query:

use Weap\Junction\Junction;

/**
 * @return Attribute<string, never>
 */
protected function name(): Attribute
{
    return Junction::makeAttribute(
        get: function (): string {
            return match ($this->subjectable::class) {
                Employee::class => $this->subjectable->contact?->name,
                Freelancer::class => $this->subjectable->company?->name,
                default => null,
            } ?: '';
        },
        with: [
            'subjectable' => function ($query) {
                $query->morphWith([
                    Employee::class => ['contact'],
                    Freelancer::class => ['company'],
                ]);
            },
        ],
    );
}

Search

This package supports search functionality for given models and relations. On your controller, add a searchable property like defined below. When you want to search a model, add "search_value" to your request. Optionally you can add "search_columns" to override the columns from your controller.

public $searchable = [
    'id',
    'name',
    'orders.order_number',
];

Resources

To use resources, set the resource variable in your controller. Your resource must extend \Weap\Junction\Http\Controllers\Resources.

This allows you to specify which attributes, accessors and relations will be returned. To do this, override the corresponding method:

• availableAttributes. Return an array of strings, specifying which attributes will be returned. The primary key is always included.
• availableAccessors. Return an array of strings, specifying which accessors will be returned.
• availableRelations. Return an array of key/value pairs, where the key is the name of the relation, and the value is another resource.

Return null in any of these methods to allow ALL attributes/accessors/relations to be returned.

Example:

class UserResource extends BaseResource
{
    /**
     * @return array|null
     */
    protected function availableAttributes(): ?array
    {
        return [
            'first_name'
        ];
    }

    /**
     * @return array|null
     */
    protected function availableAccessors(): ?array
    {
        return [
            'fullName'
        ];
    }

    /**
     * @return array|null
     */
    protected function availableRelations(): ?array
    {
        return [
            'orders' => OrderResource::class,
        ];
    }
}

Actions

This package also supports action routes.

Add the action method in your controller:

/**
 * @param null|Model $model
 */
protected function actionSomeName($model = null)
{
    //
}

• If you are using policies, your policy should implement the action policy, which receives the model as parameter.
• Now, you can call the following route as a PUT request: /api/users. In the body, add the following (the id is optional):

{
    "action": "someName",
    "id": 1
}

• You can add as many actions as you want. Just make sure to prefix the method with action.

Index route options

Enforce order by model key

To enable the option to enforce an order by on the query, set the junction.route.index.enforce_order_by_model_key config value to true. This will add an "order by" clause to the query based on the model's key name, if no "order by" is already present for the key name. The default order direction is asc, but if you want it to use desc, update the junction.route.index.enforce_order_by_model_key_direction config value to desc.

Validation

FormRequest validation

To validate the incoming request, you can create a FormRequest and extend the Weap\Junction\Http\Controllers\Requests\DefaultFormRequest class. This class extends the default Laravel FormRequest class, and adds some extra functionality.

Standard validation

To validate the request, create a request file for your model and add this to the controller.

/**
 * The class name of FormRequest to be used for the store and update methods.
 *
 * @var string
 */
public $formRequest = ModelRequest::class;

• Add rules to the rules() method in the ModelRequest.

/**
 * Get the validation rules that apply to the request.
 *
 * @return array
 */
public function rules()
{
    return [
        'first_name' => 'required',
    ];
}

/**
 * Define validation rule messages for store and update requests.
 *
 * @return array
 */
public function messages()
{
    return [
        'first_name.required' => 'The first name is required.',
    ];
}

Save fillable attributes

By default, only validated attributes are saved when calling store/update routes. To save fillable attributes instead, set the following on your controller:

/**
 * Set to true to save fillable instead of validated attributes in store/update methods.
 *
 * @var bool
 */
protected $saveFillable = true;

Using Temporary Media Files with Spatie Medialibrary

Step 1: Uploading Files via the API

To upload files through the API, use the /media/upload endpoint. Include an array of files under the files key in the request body. These files will be temporarily stored in the media library and linked to a MediaTemporaryUpload model.

Example Upload Request:

{
    "files": [<uploaded file here>, ...]
}

Step 2: Attaching Files to a Model

Example A: Updating an Existing Model

To attach files to an existing model, include the media IDs in a PUT request. For instance, if you want to attach an identity document to an employee, your PUT request to /employees/3 might look like this, assuming the identity files are stored in the IdentityFiles collection on the Employee model:

{
    "first_name": "John",
    "last_name": "Doe",
    "_media": {
        "IdentityFiles": [1]
    }
}

The API will search the request body for the _media key and associate the specified media IDs with the correct collection. In this example, media ID 1 will be attached to the IdentityFiles collection of the Employee with ID 3.

Example B: Creating a New Model

You can also attach files when creating a new model using a POST request. For example, if you are creating a new Employee and want to attach a profile picture, your POST request to /employees might look like this:

{
    "first_name": "Jane",
    "last_name": "Smith",
    "_media": {
        "ProfilePicture": [2]
    }
}

This will attach media ID 2 to the ProfilePicture collection of the newly created Employee.

Using the _media Key in Nested Structures

The _media key can also be nested within the request body, for example, inside a contact key. In this case, the API will attach the media files to the contact relationship of the Employee, whether you are creating a new model or updating an existing one.

Example Request with Nested _media Key (for creation):

{
    "first_name": "Jane",
    "last_name": "Smith",
    "contact": {
        "phone": "123-456-7890",
        "_media": {
            "ProfilePicture": [3]
        }
    }
}

In this example, when creating a new Employee, media ID 3 will be attached to the ProfilePicture collection within the contact relationship of the new Employee.

Using a Custom Temporary Upload Model

By default, temporary uploads use the Weap\Junction\Models\MediaTemporaryUpload model and the media_temporary_uploads table. If you need extra columns, relations or other behavior on the temporary upload record, you can swap in your own model.

1. Create a subclass of MediaTemporaryUpload:

// app/Models/MyMediaTemporaryUpload.php
namespace App\Models;

use Weap\Junction\Models\MediaTemporaryUpload;

class MyMediaTemporaryUpload extends MediaTemporaryUpload
{
    // Add your custom columns, relations, casts, scopes, etc.
}

2. Register it in config/junction.php:

'route' => [
    'media' => [
        // ...
        'media_temporary_upload_model' => \App\Models\MyMediaTemporaryUpload::class,
    ],
],

Your subclass inherits the default table and the Spatie HasMedia integration, so no further setup is required. Once registered, Junction uses your model everywhere temporary uploads are read or written.