Laravel Metafields

The Laravel Metafields package is a versatile and powerful tool designed for Laravel developers who need to extend their models with metafield functionality. This package enables you to effortlessly attach additional custom fields (metafields) to any Eloquent model in your Laravel application, providing a seamless way to enhance your models with extra data without altering your database schema.

Use Cases:

This package is ideal for projects that require additional data storage like CMS, e-commerce platforms, and custom CRM systems. It's particularly useful in scenarios where the database schema needs to remain unchanged while still allowing for data extension.

Installation

You can install the package via composer:

You can publish and run the migrations with:

Note:
Before running the migrations make sure you have set the correct configuration

You can publish the config file with:

Configuration

Integrating in Model

Integrate the Metafiedable contract and the HasMetafields trait into your model

Usage

To set a metafield, use string or string backed enum key and value as below:

To get metafield value use:

You can also provide a default value when getting a metafield

Note:
A default value is not persisted in the database and is just returned whenever the actual value is null

Similarly, metafields can be deleted as follows:

Cache

Caching is enabled by default, but can be disabled in your metafields.php configuration file. To control caching behavior in your model class, add the $shouldCacheMetafields property. Setting this property in your model will override the default caching configuration. Additionally, you can specify a custom time-to-live (TTL) for the cache by adding the $ttl property to your model, allowing for fine-tuned cache duration control.

In the metafields.php config file

Or in your model class

You can retrieve a non-cached version of the data by using the withoutCache() method. This method provides a straightforward way to bypass caching for a single call, ensuring you get the most up-to-date data.

Serialization

The package includes StandardValueSerializer, DirectValueSerializer and JsonValueSerializer classes. You can choose a default serializer for all fields in the metafields.php configuration file. Additionally, you can define a $metafieldSerializers array inside your model, or you can implement a protected registerSerializers() method in your model to override the default serialization behavior. The registerSerializers() method will then use mapSerializer() method provided by HasMetafields trait to register the serializers. Any custom serializer class you add must implement the FaizanSf\LaravelMetafields\Contracts\ValueSerializer interface.

And then in your model

Alternatively, you can also define $metafieldSerializers property directly into your model

Note:
Due to PHP's restriction where enums can't be used as array keys, we need to utilize the enum values for mapping serializers.

In situations where you already possess a string value that doesn't require serialization, the DirectValueSerializer can be used. This allows you to bypass the usual serialization process, streamlining the handling of such pre-formatted or non-serializable values.

Testing

Changelog

Please see CHANGELOG for more information on what has changed recently.

Credits

• Faizan Shakil Faruqi
• All Contributors

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.