# FAQ's

Here are some common questions and issues that you may encounter while working with Laravel.

• Models
  • How can I set the default sort column on a model?
  • How can I populate Laravel models without DB data?
  • What is the Model $appends Property: How Does It Work?
• Eloquent
  • What is the difference between the following two queries?

# Models

# How can I set the default sort column on a model?

Eloquent orders records based on their primary key, you can change the default sorting column by adding a global scope to the model.

protected static function booted() {
    static::addGlobalScope('position', function (Builder $builder) {
        $builder->orderBy('position');
    });
}

# How can I populate Laravel models without DB data?

Use the Sushi package to populate Laravel models without DB data. It is also useful when you want to populate your models with static data.

Using this package consists of two steps:

Add the Sushi trait to a model. Add a $rows property to the model.

composer require calebporzio/sushi

class State extends Model
{
    use \Sushi\Sushi;

    protected $rows = [
        [
            'abbr' => 'NY',
            'name' => 'New York',
        ],
        [
            'abbr' => 'CA',
            'name' => 'California',
        ],
    ];
}

Now you can use the model as usual.

$states = State::all();
$stateName = State::whereAbbr('NY')->first()->name;

For more information, visit the Sushi GitHub repository

# What is the Model $appends Property: How Does It Work?

In Laravel, the $appends property on an Eloquent model allows you to add custom attributes to the model's array and JSON representations. These attributes are not stored in the database; they are "computed" or "accessor" attributes, meaning they are generated at runtime based on some logic in the model.

How It Works:

To use the $appends property you;

1. Define an "accessor" in your model, which are methods that provide logic for computing the value of the custom attribute. These methods must follow the naming convention of get{AttributeName}Attribute.

   public function getFullNameAttribute()
   {
       return "{$this->first_name} {$this->last_name}";
   }
   

2. After defining the accessor, you include the attribute name in the $appends property on the model. The attribute name should be in snake_case, matching how it would appear in the JSON output.

   class User extends Model
   {
       protected $appends = ['full_name'];
   
       public function getFullNameAttribute()
       {
           return "{$this->first_name} {$this->last_name}";
       }
   }
   

# Eloquent

# What is the difference between the following two queries?

$query = auth()->user()->studentCourses; // Collection
$query = auth()->user()->studentCourses(); // Query Builder

The first query returns a collection of courses that belong to the user. The second query returns a query builder instance that you can further modify before executing the query.