I'm new to laravel, coming from Codeigntier. I am trying to get to grips with the model/classes/eloquent convention that Laravel uses. I know that I can make a table in my database called, say, "categories". Then I can make a file in my models folder called category.php containing just the following code:
Class Category extends Eloquent { }
which automatically connects with the table name with the plural version of the name ("categories") and gives me access to all the Eloquent commands in my controller like Category::All();
Here's what I don't get: Do I need to make a new model for every table in my database? In that case I will end up with a bunch of files in my models folder with names like resource1.php, resource2.php, etc, each just containing the same code as above (replacing the name of the class).
Can't I just make one model called, say, "database_handler.php" and then just put all these classes into it in the same place?