BelongsToThrough

, _(*1)

This inverse version of HasManyThrough allows BelongsToThrough relationships with unlimited intermediate models., _(*2)

Supports Laravel 5.0+., _(*3)

Installation

composer require staudenmeir/belongs-to-through:"^2.5"

Use this command if you are in PowerShell on Windows (e.g. in VS Code):, _(*4)

composer require staudenmeir/belongs-to-through:"^^^^2.5"

Versions

Laravel	Package
12.x	2.17
11.x	2.16
10.x	2.13
9.x	2.12
8.x	2.11
7.x	2.10
6.x	2.6
5.x	2.5

Consider this HasManyThrough relationship:
Country → has many → User → has many → Post, _(*5)

class Country extends Model
{
    public function posts()
    {
        return $this->hasManyThrough(Post::class, User::class);
    }
}

Use the BelongsToThrough trait in your model to define the inverse relationship:
Post → belongs to → User → belongs to → Country, _(*6)

class Post extends Model
{
    use \Znck\Eloquent\Traits\BelongsToThrough;

    public function country(): \Znck\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsToThrough
    {
        return $this->belongsToThrough(Country::class, User::class);
    }
}

You can also define deeper relationships:
Comment → belongs to → Post → belongs to → User → belongs to → Country, _(*7)

Supply an array of intermediate models as the second argument, from the related (Country) to the parent model (Comment):, _(*8)

class Comment extends Model
{
    use \Znck\Eloquent\Traits\BelongsToThrough;

    public function country(): \Znck\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsToThrough
    {
        return $this->belongsToThrough(Country::class, [User::class, Post::class]);
    }
}

Custom Foreign Keys

You can specify custom foreign keys as the fifth argument:, _(*9)

class Comment extends Model
{
    use \Znck\Eloquent\Traits\BelongsToThrough;

    public function country(): \Znck\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsToThrough
    {
        return $this->belongsToThrough(
            Country::class,
            [User::class, Post::class], 
            foreignKeyLookup: [User::class => 'custom_user_id']
        );
    }
}

Custom Local Keys

You can specify custom local keys for the relations:, _(*10)

VendorCustomerAddress → belongs to → VendorCustomer in VendorCustomerAddress.vendor_customer_id VendorCustomerAddress → belongs to → CustomerAddress in VendorCustomerAddress.address_id, _(*11)

You can access VendorCustomer from CustomerAddress by the following, _(*12)

class CustomerAddress extends Model
{
    use \Znck\Eloquent\Traits\BelongsToThrough;

    public function vendorCustomer(): \Znck\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsToThrough
    {
        return $this->belongsToThrough(
            VendorCustomer::class,
            VendorCustomerAddress::class,
            foreignKeyLookup: [VendorCustomerAddress::class => 'id'],
            localKeyLookup: [VendorCustomerAddress::class => 'address_id'],
        );
    }    
}

Table Aliases

If your relationship path contains the same model multiple times, you can specify a table alias (Laravel 6+):, _(*13)

class Comment extends Model
{
    use \Znck\Eloquent\Traits\BelongsToThrough;

    public function grandparent(): \Znck\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsToThrough
    {
        return $this->belongsToThrough(
            Comment::class,
            Comment::class . ' as alias',
            foreignKeyLookup: [Comment::class => 'parent_id']
        );
    }
}

Use the HasTableAlias trait in the models you are aliasing:, _(*14)

class Comment extends Model
{
    use \Znck\Eloquent\Traits\HasTableAlias;
}

Soft Deleting

By default, soft-deleted intermediate models will be excluded from the result. Use withTrashed() to include them:, _(*15)

class Comment extends Model
{
    use \Znck\Eloquent\Traits\BelongsToThrough;

    public function country(): \Znck\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsToThrough
    {
        return $this->belongsToThrough(Country::class, [User::class, Post::class])
            ->withTrashed('users.deleted_at');
    }
}

class User extends Model
{
    use SoftDeletes;
}