Filtering Collection Objects by Type with whereInstanceOf

Laravel's whereInstanceOf method provides a clean way to filter collections based on object types, particularly useful when dealing with polymorphic relationships or mixed object collections.

<?php

use App\Models\User;
use App\Models\Post;
use App\Models\Comment;
use Illuminate\Support\Collection;

$collection = collect([
    new User(['name' => 'John']),
    new Post(['title' => 'Hello']),
    new User(['name' => 'Jane']),
]);
$users = $collection->whereInstanceOf(User::class);

Let's explore a practical example of handling a notification feed with different types of activities:

<?php

namespace App\Services;

use App\Models\Comment;
use App\Models\Like;
use App\Models\Follow;
use Illuminate\Support\Collection;

class ActivityFeedService
{
    public function getUserFeed(User $user): array
    {
        // Get all activities
        $activities = collect([
            ...$user->comments()->latest()->limit(5)->get(),
            ...$user->likes()->latest()->limit(5)->get(),
            ...$user->follows()->latest()->limit(5)->get(),
        ]);
        // Sort all activities by created_at
        $activities = $activities->sortByDesc('created_at');

        return [
            'comments' => $activities->whereInstanceOf(Comment::class)
                ->map(fn (Comment $comment) => [
                    'type' => 'comment',
                    'text' => $comment->body,
                    'post_id' => $comment->post_id,
                    'created_at' => $comment->created_at
                ]),
            'likes' => $activities->whereInstanceOf(Like::class)
                ->map(fn (Like $like) => [
                    'type' => 'like',
                    'post_id' => $like->post_id,
                    'created_at' => $like->created_at
                ]),
            'follows' => $activities->whereInstanceOf(Follow::class)
                ->map(fn (Follow $follow) => [
                    'type' => 'follow',
                    'followed_user_id' => $follow->followed_id,
                    'created_at' => $follow->created_at
                ])
        ];
    }
}

WhereInstanceOf simplifies type-based filtering in collections, making it easier to handle mixed object types while maintaining clean, readable code.

The post Filtering Collection Objects by Type with whereInstanceOf appeared first on Laravel News.

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