Storing A Snapshot Of A Model Entry?

I didn't face that use case before, but here's how I would do it.

1. Create a database table similar to the model that I want to save with an extra saved_at timestamp field. But solution will work if I have only one model.

2. Store the model values as a JSON with morph relationship in a separated table. But then we need to keep converting it to a model again after retrieving the JSON data.

3. Duplicate the row inside the same table with a parent_id marking the origin record, and when we need to retirve the most updated one we use saved_at to get last saved item.

Just thinking with you loudly.

There are several options to achieve this. One approach that I would recommend is using a database trigger. Which doesn't require any direct application config/programming by itself to capture changes.

• This is great for sensitive data where version control is a must
• Multiple applications or services may interface with a single database
• Doesn't task app servers with excess load
• Fairly simple to implement (requires some knowledge of SQL)

1. Duplicate the table and append/prepend an identifier to the table name that indicates changes/history. This can be something like "customer_jobs_changelog"
2. Setup a table trigger on "customer_jobs" on before update. In this trigger, you can quantify which fields it should look at to detect a change that it should log, perhaps when assignee_id is changed (handed off). Likewise, you don't have to define fields if you want to track all changes.

An example that you can use and modify:

CREATE TABLE `customer_jobs` (
 `customer_id` int(11) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
 `assignee_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
 `other_properties` varchar(10) DEFAULT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`customer_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=1000 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci;
CREATE DEFINER=`root`@`localhost` TRIGGER `ChangeLog` AFTER UPDATE ON `customer_jobs` FOR EACH ROW BEGIN
SET @new_value = NEW.assignee_id;
SET @old_value = OLD.assignee_id;
IF (@new_value != @old_value) THEN INSERT INTO customer_jobs_cangelog (`customer_id`, `assignee_id`, `other_properties`) VALUES (NEW.customer_id, NEW.assignee_id, NEW.other_properties); END IF;
END

Another approach on an application level you can take is using Elquoent Events. https://laravel.com/docs/9.x/eloquent#events When an update on the model occurs, you can include some logic that compares the new and previous value of a particular field(s) and decide whether or not a "snapshot" model should be saved based on your criteria.