{"id":22187,"date":"2020-10-06T17:36:39","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T17:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associating_media_files_with_laravel_s_eloquent_models"},"modified":"2024-06-03T13:06:19","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T20:06:19","slug":"associating_media_files_with_laravel_s_eloquent_models","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cloudinary.com\/blog\/associating_media_files_with_laravel_s_eloquent_models","title":{"rendered":"Associating Media Files With Laravel\u2019s Eloquent Models"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laravel<\/a>, currently the most popular PHP framework, offers databases an efficient, well-written Active Record implementation, called the Eloquent Object-Relational Mapper (ORM). Specifically, Eloquent maps a database table to an Eloquent model along with fluent methods and expressions for querying and modifying the database\u2019s records.<\/p>\n

Given that you as web developers routinely and frequently upload, download, and transform media files, being able to efficiently associate them with your Laravel Eloquent models saves time and resources. This tutorial describes that process, step by step, with code examples.<\/p>\n

Set Up a Laravel Project<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. \n

    Install Composer<\/a> and PHP<\/a> on your development or production machine and then run this command:<\/p>\n

    composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel\/laravel project\n<\/code><\/span><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
  2. \n
    Go to the project<\/code> directory and rename the env.example<\/code> file to .env<\/code>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
  3. \n
    Run the project with the command php artisan serve<\/code>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    Your Laravel project is now up and running.<\/p>\n
    Set Up Cloudinary\u2019s Laravel SDK<\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. \n
      Install Cloudinary\u2019s Laravel SDK<\/a>:<\/p>\n
      composer require cloudinary-labs\/cloudinary-laravel\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
      Note:<\/strong> Be sure to follow the steps in the #Installation section. Publish the configuration file and add your Cloudinary credentials to the .env<\/code> file of your app.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
    2. \n
      Publish the migration file in Cloudinary\u2019s Laravel SDK with this command:<\/p>\n
      php artisan vendor:publish --provider="CloudinaryLabs\\CloudinaryLaravel\\CloudinaryServiceProvider" --tag="cloudinary-laravel-migration"\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/li>\n
    3. \n
      Run php artisan migrate<\/code> to create the required media table in your database. Verify that the table is in place afterwards.<\/p>\n
      Before uploading files to Cloudinary, sign up<\/a> for a free Cloudinary account, log in, and note your cloud name and API keys from the dashboard.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \"media<\/p>\n
      Set Up the Mechanics for Attaching Media<\/h2>\n
      Follow the two steps below to attach media to a webpage, which can accept as many as you desire as thumbnails or as files. Follow these two steps:<\/p>\n
        \n
      1. \n
        Create with Laravel migrations a pages<\/code> table with two fields, id<\/code> and body<\/code>, in your database.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
      2. \n
        Create the Page<\/code> model that maps to the pages<\/code> database table:<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        <?php\n\nnamespace App;\n\nuse Illuminate\\Database\\Eloquent\\Model;\n\nclass Page extends Model\n{\n\n    \/**\n    * The table associated with the model.\n    *\n    * @var string\n    *\/\n    protected $table = 'pages';\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
        Set Up the Mechanics for Attaching Files to Laravel Eloquent Models<\/h2>\n
        Next, import the CloudinaryLabs\\CloudinaryLaravel\\MediaAlly<\/code> trait into your model so that you can attach media files to the Eloquent model:<\/p>\n
        <?php<\/span>\n\nnamespace<\/span> App<\/span>;\n\nuse<\/span> Illuminate<\/span>\\Database<\/span>\\Eloquent<\/span>\\Model<\/span>;\nuse<\/span> CloudinaryLabs<\/span>\\CloudinaryLaravel<\/span>\\MediaAlly<\/span>;\n\nclass<\/span> Page<\/span> extends<\/span> Model<\/span>\n<\/span>{\n    use<\/span> MediaAlly<\/span>;\n\n    ...\n}\n<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTML, XML<\/span> (<\/span>xml<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n
        App\\Models\\Page.php<\/em><\/p>\n
        Attach, Retrieve, Or Delete Media Files<\/h2>\n
        You can now attach media files to the Page<\/code> model in your Laravel controller. Below are three use cases. The first two assume that you\u2019re uploading the files as attachments for the first time<\/strong><\/p>\n
        First Use Case<\/h3>\n
        Create a page and then attach files to it:<\/p>\n
        ...\n$page = Page::create($this<\/span>->request->input());\n$page->attachMedia($file);   \/\/ Example of $file is $request->file('file');<\/span>\n...\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n
        To verify, check the media<\/code> table in your database for a new record that looks like this:<\/p>\n
        \"media<\/p>\n
        Second Use Case<\/h3>\n
        Fetch an existing page and attach media files to it:<\/p>\n
        ...\n$page = Page::find(2<\/span>);\n$page->attachMedia($file);   \/\/ Example of $file is $request->file('file');<\/span>\n...\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n
        Third Use Case<\/h3>\n
        In this instance, you\u2019ve already uploaded to Cloudinary or another cloud storage the media files to be attached to a page. Call the attachRemoteMedia<\/code> method:<\/p>\n
        ...\n$page = Page::create($this<\/span>->request->input());\n$page->attachRemoteMedia($existingRemoteUrl); \n...\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n
        ...\n$page = Page::find(2<\/span>);\n$page->attachRemoteMedia($existingRemoteUrl);  \n...\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n
        File Retrieval<\/h3>\n
        You can retrieve all the files you\u2019ve attached to the Page<\/code> record, or just the first or last file.<\/p>\n
        To retrieve all the files that are attached to the Page<\/code> record:<\/strong><\/p>\n
        ...\n$filesBelongingToSecondPage = Page::find(2<\/span>)->fetchAllMedia();\n...\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n
        To retrieve the first file that\u2019s attached to the Page<\/code> record:<\/strong><\/p>\n
        ...\n$fileBelongingToSecondPage = Page::find(2<\/span>)->fetchFirstMedia();\n...\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n
        To retrieve the last file that\u2019s attached to the Page<\/code> record:<\/strong><\/p>\n
        ...\n$fileBelongingToSecondPage = Page::find(2<\/span>)->fetchLastMedia();\n...\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n
        File Deletion<\/h3>\n
        To delete all the files you\u2019ve attached to the Page<\/code> record:<\/p>\n
        ...\n$page = Page::find(2<\/span>);\n$page->detachMedia();\n...\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n
        Leverage More Cloudinary Capabilities<\/h2>\n
        Uploading and attaching files barely scratches the surface of media management. Cloudinary helps you administer the entire spectrum of your media\u2019s lifecycle, end to end, from upload and transformation to optimization and delivery. Do check it out<\/a>.<\/p>\n
        Want to Learn More About Laravel?<\/h2>\n