How to merge categories table with items table and returtn array of each category with items-CodePudding

I have three tables and after each table is the defined eloquent relationship of each entity.

categories

id	name
1	cars
2	bikes

 public function items()
    {
        return $this->belongsToMany(AccountItem::class, "category_item", "category_id", "item_id");
    }

category_items

id	category_id	item_id
1	1	1
2	1	2

items

id	name
1	volks
2	bmw

public function categories()
    {
        return $this->belongsToMany(Category::class, "category_items", "item_id", "category_id");
    }

I am stuck on how to get a function that will return an array of the data with each category and the corresponding items. Incase the category has null items it returns a empty array of the category.

CodePudding user response：

I assume your relationship is correct. If so, you can do this to load.

$categories = Category::with('items')->get();

foreach ($categories as $category) {
    $categoryArray = [
        'id' => $category->id,
        'name' => $category->name,
        'items' => $category->items->toArray()
    ];
}