Laravel belongsToMany to return specific columns only

Question

So I have a many to many relationship between Users and Photos via the pivot table user_photo. I use belongsToMany('Photo') in my User model. However the trouble here is that I have a dozen columns in my Photo table most I don't need (especially during a json response). So an example would be:

//Grab user #987's photos:
User::with('photos')->find(987);
//json output:
{
  id: 987,
  name: "John Appleseed",
  photos: {
    id: 5435433,
    date: ...,
    name: 'feelsgoodman.jpg',
    ....// other columns that I don't need
  }
}

Is it possible to modify this method such that Photos model will only return the accepted columns (say specified by an array ['name', 'date'])?

User.php

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

Note: I only want to select specific columns when doing a User->belongsToMany->Photo only. When doing something like Photo::all(), yes I would want all the columns as normal.

EDIT: I've tried Get specific columns using "with()" function in Laravel Eloquent but the columns are still being selected. Also https://github.com/laravel/laravel/issues/2306

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 28 '14 at 15:51

6

You can use belongsToMany with select operation using laravel relationship.

public function photos()
{
  return $this->belongsToMany('Photo')->select(array('name', 'date'));
}

answered Sep 28 '14 at 15:51

Vivek Pandey

396
5
10

jah · Answer 2 · 2014-02-08T14:08:39.260

1

Im assuming you have a column named user_id. Then you should be able to do the following:

public function photos()
{
    return $this->belongsToMany('Photo')->select(['id', 'user_id', 'date', 'name']);
}

You have to select, the foreign key, else it will have no way of joining it.

edited Feb 08 '14 at 14:08

answered Feb 08 '14 at 13:24

jah

1,265
10
21

Fixed `belongsToMany('Photo')`. `photo_user` table has `photo_id` and `user_id` fields. – tiffanyhwang Feb 08 '14 at 13:55
Try using get method instead of select. Does it throw an exception? – jah Feb 08 '14 at 14:15
`Call to undefined method Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Collection::addEagerConstraints()` – tiffanyhwang Feb 08 '14 at 14:17
If I'm not mistaken, wouldn't the get method conflict with the find method in `User::with('photos')->find(987)`? – tiffanyhwang Feb 08 '14 at 14:21

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 08 '14 at 21:03

Specifying the exact columns you want for the Photos relationship will likely end up biting you in the butt in the future, should your application's needs ever change. A better solution would be to only specify the data you want to return in that particular instance, i.e. the specific JSON response you're delivering.

Option 1: extend/overwrite the toArray() Eloquent function (which is called by toJson()) and change the information returned by it. This will affect every call to these methods, though, so it may end up giving you the same problems as doing select() in the original query.

Option 2: Create a specific method for your JSON response and call it instead of the general toJson(). That method could then do any data building / array modifications necessary to achieve the specific output you need.

Option 3: If you're working with an API or ajax calls in general that need a specific format, consider using a library such as League/Fractal, which is built for just such an occasion. (Phil is also working on a book on building APIs, and it doesn't suck.)

Laravel belongsToMany to return specific columns only

3 Answers3