Laravel Super Migrations

This is an extension for the Laravel migrations. It is useful when you have a big database that results in a lot of migration files. This package will help you to reduce the number of migration files and furthermore it will give you a better structure with which you will have all schema updates for a table in one file.

Installation

You can install the package via composer:

composer require proai/laravel-super-migrations

Usage

Basically we do not define table builder schemas by migration, but by table. For this purpose you need to create a tables folder in the database/migrations directory. For each table we will create a file in this new directory and link it in the migration files whereever needed. Here is a more detailed explanation:

Migration Classes

Firstly here is a migration file in the database/migrations folder. Notice that we extend the ProAI\SuperMigrations\Migration class. Instead of an up() and a down() method this class needs a schemas() method:

<?php

use ProAI\SuperMigrations\Migration;

class InitProject extends Migration
{
    /**
     * Get table names and related methods for up and down schemas.
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public function schemas()
    {
        return [
            'users' => 'create',
            'comments' => 'create'
        ];
    }
}

The schemas() method returns a list of all database tables that are affected by this migration (users and comments table in the example above). Since there can be more than one migration for a database table, we also need to assign a migration specific name for each table (i.e. create for the users and comments table).

With this pattern we can easily bundle schemas in one migration file. One more example: Let's say we want to add a roles table and a column for the role_id in the users table, then the schemas() method could look like the following:

return [
    'roles' => 'create',
    'users' => 'addRoleIdColumn'
];

The idea behind this is that one migration file includes all schemas for a whole update step rather than just for a table (i.e. one migration InitProject vs. multiple migrations CreateUsersTable, CreateCommentsTable etc.). This way you will have less migration files.

Table Classes

For each tablename that is returned by the schemas() method Laravel Super Migrations searches for a php file in database/migrations/tables with the same name (i.e. for the table users there must exist a file users.php). This file must contain a class that extends ProAI\SuperMigrations\Table and that is named after the table (in camel case) with a Table suffix. For example the classname must be UsersTable for a table users.

Furthermore for each of the migration specific names that we declared in the migration file, the table class must declare a method with the same name (i.e. a create method for the users table). Here is a sample users table class that fits to the migration class from the previous section:

<?php

use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use ProAI\SuperMigrations\Table;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;

class UserTable extends Table
{
    /**
     * Create the table.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function create()
    {
        // These statements will be only executed if direction of migrations is up
        $this->upSchema()->create(function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->increments('id');
            $table->timestamps();
        });

        $this->up(function($tableName) {
            DB::raw('ALTER TABLE `'.$tableName.'` ADD `client_id` BINARY(16)');
        });


        // These statements will be only executed if direction of migrations is down
        $this->downSchema()->dropIfExists();

        $this->down(function($tableName) {
            // some code
        });
    }
}

We use $this->upSchema() and $this->downSchema() to define the up and down schema. These methods return a ProAI\SuperMigrations\Builder instance that is similar to the Laravel database schema builder (see Laravel docs). The only difference is that you don't need the tablename as first argument, because the tablename is already known. Furthermore we use $this->up(...) and $this->down(...) to insert custom code like raw DB statements (usually we don't need these methods).

Generator Command

Run php artisan make:super-migration to create a new migration class that fits to the pattern of this package. You can declare a custom path with the --path option. Note that you have to include the service provider in order to use this command (see installation section).

Support

Bugs and feature requests are tracked on GitHub.

License

This package is released under the MIT License.