Make query scope only return one object

Hello!

I created a query scope to return the current promotion. It looks like this:

public function scopeCurrent($query, array $fields = null)
    {
        $now = Carbon::now();

        $query = $query->where('startdate', '<=', $now)->where('enddate', '>=', $now);

        if($fields)
            $query = $query->select($fields);

        return $query->first();
    }

When there is a promotion, the object is returned correctly. But when nothing is found, a Builder object is returned instead of null.

Why does it happen? I wouldn't like to use Subpromotion::current()->first() because I really only want 1 record everytime I use current(). If it works when I use Subpromotion::current()->first(), why doesn't it work inside the scopeCurrent() method since it's the same object?

Am I doing something wrong? Calling first() on a scope method is not correct?

Any help would be appreciated! By the way, I'm using Laravel 5.2.

usman

9 years ago

Best Answer

Level 27

@karinegomes Yes, it is not correct to use the first inside the scopes because they are meant to be chained (i.e. adding behaviour to query) and Eloquent builder reassings a builder instance if it finds that a scope is returning the null value.

Here is the culprit line of code from the core: https://github.com/laravel/framework/blob/5.4/src/Illuminate/Database/Eloquent/Builder.php#L1017

Now, you can either use a simple static method inside your model or use first inside the controller and not in the scope.

5 likes

tykus

9 years ago

Level 104

Query scopes are intended to return Builder instances, not query results.

1 like

karinegomes

9 years ago

Level 1

Thanks! Yeah, I think I'll go with a static method then, looks more clean to me.

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