Laravel generate multiple models using factory HasMany relationship

Question

In Laravel 8 we can create a user with multiple posts (hasMany relation) like so:

User::factory()
      ->has(Post::factory()->count(3))
      ->create();

But I want to create 3 users, each with 3 posts. I tried the following [added times(3)]:

User::factory()
      ->has(Post::factory()->count(3))
      ->times(3)
      ->create();

But this doesn't work. It creates the users, but not the posts.

I tried this in a seeder, and in tinker, with the same result.

I know I can do it in a loop, but isn't there a fluent way to do it? ????

Evangelos Evangelos · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-01T23:41:09

For this example i assume you have a posts migration like the following

class CreatePostsTable extends Migration {

  public function up() {
    Schema::create('posts', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->id();
        $table->foreignId("user_id")->references("id")->on("users")->onDelete("cascade");
        $table->string("name");
        $table->timestamps();
    });
  }

  public function down() {
    Schema::dropIfExists('posts');
  }
}

PostsFactory.php like this one

class PostFactory extends Factory {

  protected $model = Post::class;

  public function definition() {

    return [
        "name" => $this->faker->words($nb = 3, $asText = true)
    ];
  }
}

and finally User.php model like this

  class User extends Authenticatable {
    use HasFactory, Notifiable;

    public function posts() {

      return $this->hasMany('App\Models\Post');

    }

  }

with that said you may do something like this in your DatabaseSeeder.php

User::factory()->times(3)->hasPosts(3)->create();

Then you can simply use: "php artisan migrate --seed" if your database is empty or "php artisan migrate:refresh --seed" in case it is not

Keep in mind that any records will be permanently lost after this action and the seeder will create new records

Laravel generate multiple models using factory HasMany relationship

1 Answers