Using Browsers with HasRelated behavior

[nikhiltri]

As part of upgrading to the latest version of Twill we're working on cleaning up our repositories to use Twill's new generalized browser functionality. One thing we're finding is that this functionality only works when the model uses a proper relation, e.g., the updateBrowser method looks for a model method that uses an Eloquent relationship that it can run a sync() on.

For some of our model relationships, we use the HasRelated behavior so we don't have to build out DB tables for something minor. But I'm not sure this new browser functionality can work with relationships that use HasRelated.

I'm not sure what a good solution might be. Perhaps in the array passed in the definition in the $browser array, we can say whether the regular browser methods should be called, or the related methods? E.g., updateBrowser vs. updateRelatedBrowser, and getFormFieldsForBrowser vs. getFormFieldsForRelatedBrowser.

Is this something you've already accounted for in some way? Or is this something new?

[ifox]

Hi @nikhiltri!

This is a great suggestion, both because it is indeed not currently implemented and because the approach you propose makes sense. We can add a new property in the browsers array items to elect to use the HasRelated specific functions.

[pboivin]

Hi @nikhiltri,

Curious to know if you have implemented this on your end. Would it be OK if I submitted a PR for this?

[nikhiltri]

Hey @pboi20,

We created a new behavior in our codebase that replicates some of the functionality of HandleBrowser. We didn't actually change anything is HandleBrowser but do reference methods defined there. I'm not sure if this is ultimately the best route to take:

<?php

namespace App\Repositories\Behaviors;

/**
 * Mimic Twill's generalized behavior for browsers,
 * but when the relation uses HasRelated instead of being
 * a proper model relation.
 *
 * @see A17\Twill\Repositories\Behaviors\HandleBrowsers
 * @see https://github.com/area17/twill/discussions/940
 */
trait HandleRelatedBrowsers
{
    protected $relatedBrowsers = [];

    protected function getRelatedBrowsers()
    {
        return collect($this->relatedBrowsers)->map(function ($browser, $key) {
            $browserName = is_string($browser) ? $browser : $key;
            $moduleName = !empty($browser['moduleName']) ? $browser['moduleName'] : $this->inferModuleNameFromBrowserName($browserName);

            return [
                'relation' => !empty($browser['relation']) ? $browser['relation'] : $this->inferRelationFromBrowserName($browserName),
                'model' => !empty($browser['model']) ? $browser['model'] : $this->inferModelFromModuleName($moduleName),
                'browserName' => $browserName,
            ];
        })->values();
    }

    public function afterSaveHandleRelatedBrowsers($object, $fields)
    {
        foreach ($this->getRelatedBrowsers() as $browser) {
            $this->updateRelatedBrowser($object, $fields, $browser['browserName']);
        }
    }

    public function getFormFieldsHandleRelatedBrowsers($object, $fields)
    {
        foreach ($this->getRelatedBrowsers() as $browser) {
            $fields['browsers'][$browser['browserName']] = $this->getFormFieldsForRelatedBrowser($object, $browser['relation']);
        }

        return $fields;
    }
}

This works because it plugs into ModuleRepository's afterSave() and getFormField() functions.

[pboivin]

@nikhiltri, this is great! I find the idea of a standalone behavior cleaner than what I had in mind. Thanks for sharing :)

[ifox]

That's great, guys! Will happily merge a PR adding this functionality.

[nikhiltri]

Here you go! #967