Laravel 5.1 - pivot table between three tables, better option?

Question

I have 3 tables: Users, Languages and Levels.

One user have many languages and level.

Example:

• Jorge speaking: English advanced, Spanish basic.
• Peter speaking: English advanced, Italian medium, French basic.
• Luis speaking: Spanish advanced, English advanced, Italian medium.

Table User

+----------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field    | Type        | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+----------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| id       | int(11)     | NO   | PRI | NULL    | auto_increment |
| name     | varchar(50) | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| lastname | varchar(50) | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
+----------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+

Table Languages

+-------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field | Type        | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+-------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| id    | int(11)     | NO   | PRI | NULL    | auto_increment |
| name  | varchar(50) | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
+-------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+

Table levels

+-------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field | Type        | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+-------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| id    | int(11)     | NO   | PRI | NULL    | auto_increment |
| name  | varchar(50) | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
+-------+-------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+

Pivot table

+-------------+----------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| Field       | Type     | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
+-------------+----------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
| id          | int(11)  | NO   | PRI | NULL    | auto_increment |
| user_id     | int(11)  | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| language_id | int(11)  | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| level_id    | int(11)  | NO   |     | NULL    |                |
| created_at  | datetime | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
| updated_at  | datetime | YES  |     | NULL    |                |
+-------------+----------+------+-----+---------+----------------+

The question is, how create the pivot table with three tables (in the doc laravel the example is only with 2 tables) is possible with three tables? How to relationship with eloquent?

Answer 1

Well I have something in a project using three tables and as pivot, so I run:

Modelo User:

class User extends Model{

public function levels(){
return $this->belongsToMany('App\Level','name pivot table')->withPivot('language_id');
}

public function languages(){
return $this->belongsToMany('App\Language','name pivot table')->withPivot('level_id');
}
}

Modelo Levels:

 class Level extends Model{

    public function users(){
    return $this->belongsToMany('App\User','name pivot table')->withPivot('language_id');
    }

    public function languages(){
    return $this->belongsToMany('App\Language','name pivot table')->withPivot('user_id');
    }
    }

Table Language:

    class Language extends Model{

    public function users(){
    return $this->belongsToMany('App\User','name pivot table')->withPivot('level_id');
    }

   public function levels(){
    return $this->belongsToMany('App\Level','name pivot table')->withPivot('user_id');
    }
    }

I hope you serve this option that I use to access information from all three tables

use:

$user = User::find(1);
$user->levels->pivot->language_id;
$user->levels->name;
$user->languages->pivot->level_id;
$user->languages->name;

Answer 2

You didn't post your relationships, but you can create a separate model of your pivot table. So you can define the relationships with the user model, language model and level model in that pivot model.