Model Factories Relations

First you define both factory methods for your models, and then you'd do something like the example below (from the docs).

http://laravel.com/docs/5.1/testing#model-factories

Adding Relations To Models

You may even persist multiple models to the database. In this example, we'll even attach a relation to the created models. When using the create method to create multiple models, an Eloquent collection instance is returned, allowing you to use any of the convenient functions provided by the collection, such as each:

$users = factory('App\User', 3)
           ->create()
           ->each(function($u) {
                $u->posts()->save(factory('App\Post')->make());
            });

@mstnorris I need a way of doing it on the factories definitions. Not when I am already using them on testing or seeding.

@prodigy10 you'd just do something like: (I'm not sure of the exact syntax, but Jeffrey has a lesson on it.) I'll try to find it.

$factory->define('App\User', function ($faker) {
    return [
        'name' => $faker->name,
        'email' => $faker->email,
        'profile_id' => $factory->create('App\Profile')->id,
        'password' => str_random(10),
        'remember_token' => str_random(10),
    ];
});

https://laracasts.com/series/whats-new-in-laravel-5-1/episodes/5

@mstnorris Jeffrey doesn't really goes over that part on the tutorial. I got it working with this code:

$factory->define( User::class, function ($faker) {
    return [
        'name' => $faker->firstName(),
        'email' => $faker->email,
        'password' => bcrypt("password")
    ];
});

$factory->define(Company::class, function ($faker) use ($factory) {



    return [

    'name' => $faker->company(),
    'owner_id' => factory(User::class)->create()->id

    ];
});

@prodigy10 that is what I wrote above, but using the newer syntax.

@mstnorris @prodigy10 Be wary of using 'profile_id' => $factory->create('App\Profile')->id in your factory definitions. It works fine but if you need to override the profile_id value the original definition ($factory->create('App\Profile')->id) will still be created first before your override is merged in and may cause issues for you later on. I've raised this issue on github https://github.com/laravel/framework/issues/9245 but have not heard a response yet.

@devinfd I saw your issue on GitHub and I hope that is sorted soon. While it is still in development it shouldn't be an issue, and unless you are writing 100s of these things then whatever solution they go with, I'm sure it can be swapped out.

@mstnorris the "newer syntax" was not a minor detail, if I would have known the "newer syntax" I would not have opened the question in the first place.

@prodigy10 maybe you should check out the documentation first in future then.

• http://php.net/manual/en/migration55.new-features.php
• http://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.basic.php#language.oop5.basic.class.class

@mstnorris @prodigy10 For those hitting this problem still, and looking for a solution, @devinfd PR has been merged into L5.1.16, so pull that and read the comments in https://github.com/laravel/framework/pull/9387 for details.

May be will help you

factory(App\Category::class, 7)
            ->create()
            ->each(function(App\Category $category) {
                factory(App\Item::class, 10)
                    ->create([
                        'category_id' => $category->id,
                    ]);
            });

how to create a factory for N: N relationships ... how to feed the PIVOT table