Automatically deleting related rows in Laravel (El

Question

When I delete a row using this syntax:

$user->delete();

Is there a way to attach a callback of sorts, so that it would e.g. do this automatically:

$this->photo()->delete();

Preferably inside the model-class.

Answer 1

Relation in User model:

public function photos()
{
    return $this->hasMany('Photo');
}

Delete record and related:

$user = User::find($id);

// delete related   
$user->photos()->delete();

$user->delete();

Answer 2

I would iterate through the collection detaching everything before deleting the object itself.

here's an example:

try {
        $user = user::findOrFail($id);
        if ($user->has('photos')) {
            foreach ($user->photos as $photo) {

                $user->photos()->detach($photo);
            }
        }
        $user->delete();
        return 'User deleted';
    } catch (Exception $e) {
        dd($e);
    }

I know it is not automatic but it is very simple.

Another simple approach would be to provide the model with a method. Like this:

public function detach(){
       try {

            if ($this->has('photos')) {
                foreach ($this->photos as $photo) {

                    $this->photos()->detach($photo);
                }
            }

        } catch (Exception $e) {
            dd($e);
        }
}

Then you can simply call this where you need:

$user->detach();
$user->delete();

Answer 3

I believe this is a perfect use-case for Eloquent events (http://laravel.com/docs/eloquent#model-events). You can use the "deleting" event to do the cleanup:

class User extends Eloquent
{
    public function photos()
    {
        return $this->has_many('Photo');
    }

    // this is a recommended way to declare event handlers
    public static function boot() {
        parent::boot();

        static::deleting(function($user) { // before delete() method call this
             $user->photos()->delete();
             // do the rest of the cleanup...
        });
    }
}

You should probably also put the whole thing inside a transaction, to ensure the referential integrity..

Answer 4

In my case it was pretty simple because my database tables are InnoDB with foreign keys with Cascade on Delete.

So in this case if your photos table contains a foreign key reference for the user than all you have to do is to delete the hotel and the cleanup will be done by the Data Base, the data base will delete all the photos records from the data base.

Answer 5

There are 3 approaches to solving this:

1. Using Eloquent Events On Model Boot (ref: https://laravel.com/docs/5.7/eloquent#events)

class User extends Eloquent
{
    public static function boot() {
        parent::boot();

        static::deleting(function($user) {
             $user->photos()->delete();
        });
    }
}

2. Using Eloquent Event Observers (ref: https://laravel.com/docs/5.7/eloquent#observers)

In your AppServiceProvider, register the observer like so:

public function boot()
{
    User::observe(UserObserver::class);
}

Next, add an Observer class like so:

class UserObserver
{
    public function deleting(User $user)
    {
         $user->photos()->delete();
    }
}

3. Using Foreign Key Constraints (ref: https://laravel.com/docs/5.7/migrations#foreign-key-constraints)

$table->foreign('user_id')->references('id')->on('users')->onDelete('cascade');

Answer 6

Or you can do this if you wanted, just another option:

try {
    DB::connection()->pdo->beginTransaction();

    $photos = Photo::where('user_id', '=', $user_id)->delete(); // Delete all photos for user
    $user = Geofence::where('id', '=', $user_id)->delete(); // Delete users

    DB::connection()->pdo->commit();

}catch(\Laravel\Database\Exception $e) {
    DB::connection()->pdo->rollBack();
    Log::exception($e);
}

Note if you are not using the default laravel db connection then you need to do the following:

DB::connection('connection_name')->pdo->beginTransaction();
DB::connection('connection_name')->pdo->commit();
DB::connection('connection_name')->pdo->rollBack();