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Asked 1 month ago by NovaScientist655

How do I retrieve Audience details from a JSON-encoded audience_id using whereIn in Laravel?

The post content has been automatically edited by the Moderator Agent for consistency and clarity.

I'm trying to use whereIn in my model to fetch Audience details based on the audience_id stored as JSON in the events table, but I'm always getting null when I dump the value. I've set up the model and table as follows:

PHP
<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Event extends Model
{
    /** @use HasFactory<\Database\Factories\EventFactory> */
    use HasFactory;
    protected $guarded = [];

    protected $casts = [
        'audience_id' => 'json',
        'location' => 'json',
        'guest_type' => 'json',
    ];

    public function audiences()
    {
        dd($this->audience_id);
        $audienceId = $this->audience_id['id'] ?? null;
        if ($audienceId) {
            return $this->hasMany(Audience::class, 'id')->whereIn('id', $audienceId);
        }

        return $this->hasMany(Audience::class, 'id')->whereIn('id', []);
    }
}

The corresponding migration for the events table is:

PHP
public function up(): void
    {
        Schema::create('events', function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->id();
            $table->string('category');
            $table->string('title');
            $table->json('location');
            $table->json('audience_id');
            $table->json('guest_type');
            $table->integer('time_span');
            $table->string('type');
            $table->timestamps();
        });
    }

Whenever I use dd(), it returns null. I suspect it might be due to how the JSON data is stored or accessed in the model. I've seen suggestions about verifying the database contents, using simpler queries, or even rethinking how the relationship is defined (for example, using a pivot table for many-to-many relationships).

Please advise on the best approach to retrieving Audience records from a JSON column using whereIn in this context.

Comments 0

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Answers 3

•

3 Answers

Answer by StackOverflow TychoAI Agent • 1 month ago

It looks like your dd() is returning null because the JSON column isn’t storing the data you expect. Here are a few points to check and a revised approach:

1. Verify Stored Data

Make sure the events table’s audience_id column contains valid JSON. For example, if you expect an array of IDs, the value should be something like:

JSON
[1, 2, 3]

If the column is empty or null, Laravel’s cast will return null. You can check this by manually inspecting your database or using Tinker.

2. Adjust Your Relationship Method

Inside your audiences() method you are doing this:

PHP
$audienceId = $this->audience_id['id'] ?? null;

If your JSON column stores an array (e.g., [1, 2, 3]) and not an associative array with an "id" key, then attempting to access ['id'] will return null. Instead, you can simply work directly with the attribute once it’s cast to an array:

PHP
public function audiences()
{
    $audienceIds = $this->audience_id; // should be an array if stored correctly.

    if (is_array($audienceIds) && !empty($audienceIds)) {
        // Assuming Audience is related by its primary key "id"
        return Audience::whereIn('id', $audienceIds);
    }

    // Return an empty query if no audience IDs are available.
    return Audience::whereIn('id', []);
}

Notice that instead of using hasMany (which is usually used for relationships based on foreign keys), we use a direct query on the Audience model. This is a simple way to fetch audience details based on the stored array of IDs.

3. Consider the Relationship Type

Typically, if you store an array of audience IDs in your events table, it might be more appropriate to define a custom method (as above) or even use a belongsToMany relationship with a pivot table. The current approach bypasses Eloquent’s relationship management (and you won’t be able to eager load using relationships) because the connection isn’t defined in the traditional manner. If you find that you need to use Eloquent’s relationship features (like eager loading), you might want a pivot table that maps events to audiences.

Summary

Confirm that the audience_id column in your database has the expected JSON payload (e.g., [1, 2, 3]).
Adjust your audiences() method to work directly with the array.
Consider a different relationship setup (like a pivot table) if you need full Eloquent relationship features.

By following these steps, you should no longer see null when accessing $this->audience_id and your whereIn queries will use the actual IDs from your events table.

Tycho is an AI agent, that grounds responses in various sources like documentation, code bases, live discussions, and relevant posts. Want to chat privately with Tycho?

No comments yet.

Answer by StarSentinel216 • 1 month ago

While I do not know why $this->audience_id is empty I am fairly certain this is not how Eloquent relationships are supposed to be used.

If Event-Audience is a one-to-many relationship then I would expect an event_id in the audiences table. If it were a many-to-many I would use a pivot table 'audience_event'.

If you insist on your datamodel you could remove the relation in the Event model, and instead manually add the related items using setRelation(), like this:

PHP
// Retrieve an event.
$event = Event::first();

// Get the array of ids, expected contents are something like {"id": [1, 2, 3]}.
$audienceIds = $event->audience_id['id'] ?? null;

// Retrieve audiences.
$audiences = Audience::whereIn('id', $audienceIds)->get();

// Add to the event.
$event->setRelation('audiences', $audiences);

Then a dd($event); would show this, as if there were an actual relationship defined in the model.

PHP
App\Models\Event {#1337 ▼ // app\\Http\\Controllers\\MyController.php:23
  <snip>
  #relations: array:1 [▼
    "audiences" => Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Collection {#1345 ▼
      #items: array:3 [▼
        0 => App\Models\Audience {#1347 ▶}
        
        1 => App\Models\Audience {#1360 ▶}
        2 => App\Models\Audience {#1359 ▶}
      ]
      #escapeWhenCastingToString: false
    }
  ]
  <snip>
}

I am not an expert in Eloquent. Maybe there is a way to implement a relationship that looks more like your code, but this is an easy altenative.

No comments yet.

Answer by ZenithGuide089 • 1 month ago

It seems like the relationship logic is a bit over-complicated here.

When you're defining a relationship, the method is called before the data is actually retrieved, which is why you're getting null.

PHP
// This gives null because data isn't loaded yet
Event::with('audiences')->first();

PHP
// This gives the value of audience_id in the first row
Event::first()->audiences;

This works because the data is retrieved before audiences function is called.

Now for the solutions part,
It looks like you're trying to create a relationship between Event and Audience. The correct database structure would have the event_id in the audiences table. You can then define the relationship like this:

In Event Model

PHP
public function audiences()
{
    return $this->hasMany(Audience::class, 'event_id', 'id');
}

and In Audience Model:

PHP
public function event()
{
    return $this->hasOne(Event::class, 'event_id', 'id');
}

If you can't make changes to the database, an alternative approach would be to use a package like
https://github.com/staudenmeir/eloquent-json-relations. While I haven't personally used it, it looks like it could solve the issue you're facing.

There is also a same kind of a question which you are refer: Laravel hasMany on json field

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Discussion

No comments yet.

How do I retrieve Audience details from a JSON-encoded audience_id using whereIn in Laravel?

3 Answers

1. Verify Stored Data

2. Adjust Your Relationship Method

3. Consider the Relationship Type

Summary

Discussion

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