How to use DB facade with helper

$retval = array_values(['_id]) ; you're missing a quote in there.

Well spotted, but still the value in the database does not change and the the returned value is Array ( [0] => _id )

Maybe I'm not calling it properly:

                $db_array = get_next(array('name' => 'role_id'));
                print_r( $db_array );

Did you add the helpers you want to use.

Not sure what you mean, I just ran php artisan make:helper MyHelper like it says https://github.com/browner12/helpers then added my function. Have I missed something?

So your counter table actually has a field named _id, that is numerical that you're trying to increment by 1?

I don't understand what you're trying to do here

$retval = array_values(['_id']) ;

return $retval;

array_values() returns the values of an array. You're giving it an array of ['_id'], so it returns an array of the values, which is the exact same array as you started with. You then return the array, which will always be literally ['_id']. An array containing a string of _id.

I did say it's a noob question, I want to increment the _id field by one and use the $name variable to find the record, to edit it. then return the new value of _id. I know mongodb is a bit weird because you can add fields as you go along which is totally different to mysql or postgres. In the 'counter' table I have one record '_id' = 100 and 'name' = 'role_id'

According to this https://github.com/jenssegers/laravel-mongodb#query-builder it should work,

<?php

//namespace app\Helpers;

use Jenssegers\Mongodb\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;

if (!function_exists('get_next')) {

    /**
     * description
     *
     * @param
     * @return
     */

        function get_next( $name )
        {
        DB::collection('counter')
        ->where('name', $name )->increment('_id');

        $retval = DB::collection('counter')
        ->where('name', $name)->first();

        return $retval;

        }
}

must be an error in the namespace, I've no idea what use?

Aha, after much reading the namespace should be:

namespace App\Helpers;

class MyHelper
{
    //my function in here
}

When I try this i get the error Call to undefined function App\Admin\Controllers\get_next()

So the question now becomes: My function is in App/Helpers/MyHelper.php how do I override the App\Admin\Controllers ?

@LUDO1960 - Your helpers are part of the global namespace. Your helper file(s) do not need a namespace declaration. In your last post you are trying to include them in a class. None of this will solve the underlying issue of the function not doing what you expect. And, there you were right--you're not calling it correctly because you are passing an array as your argument and then not accessing its value by its index.

// Instead of this:
$db_array = get_next(['name' => 'role_id]);

// Do this:

$db_array = get_next('role_id');

However, if you want/need to pass an array as your argument to get_next(), you have to access it by index in your helper:

// If you call it like this:
$db_array = get_next(['name' => 'role_id']);

// You'll need to access role_id like this:

    function get_next( $name )
    {
        DB::table('counter')
            ->where('name', $name['role_id'] )->increment('_id');

        return DB::collection('counter')->where('name', $name['role_id'])->first();
    }

If you don't need to pass an array as an argument, simply passing the value (role_id) to get_next will work with your helper:

// Call like this:
$db_array = get_next('role_id');

// But maybe change your parameter name and do this:
    function get_next( $role_id )
    {
        DB::table('counter')
            ->where('name', $role_id )->increment('_id');

        return DB::collection('counter')->where('name', $role_id)->first();
    }

HTH!

Thank you for your detailed answer, it really does help me a lot. Here's what happens:

<?php

use Jenssegers\Mongodb\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;

function get_next( $role_id )
{
    DB::collection('counter')
        ->where('name', $role_id )->increment('_id');

    return DB::collection('counter')
         ->where('name', $role_id)->first();
}

I get the error:

Performing an update on the path '_id' would modify the immutable field '_id'

Don't like the look of that, can I force it somehow? Has my cunning plan been foiled by MongoDB?

Thanks again for your valued input.

Just found this https://docs.mongodb.com/v3.0/tutorial/create-an-auto-incrementing-field/

@LUDO1960 - TMYK. I personally don't use Mongo sooooo, yes your strategy is foiled, but not your plan. Since you can't create a new _id by incrmenting, why not just do an insert and return the newly inserted id? Like so:

function get_next( $role_id )
{
    return DB::collection('counter')
        ->insertGetId(['name' => $role_id]);
}

@lindstrom Tried your suggestion but could not get it to do what I wanted. However it did get me thinking:

<?php

use Jenssegers\Mongodb\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;

function get_next( $name )
{
    $old_num = DB::collection('counter')
        ->where( 'name', $name )->pluck('_id');

    $new_num = $old_num[0] + 1;

    DB::collection('counter')
        ->where( 'name', $name )->delete();

    DB::collection('counter')->insert(
        ['_id' => $new_num, 'name' => $name ]
    );

}

Voila, an auto incrementing mongodb _id field, thanks everybody for getting me over the hurdle. Kept the variable as $name so I can throw other id's at the function not just role_id.