Defining parent using manual attribute assignment not working

[antonkomarev]

If you will redefine parent_id with getParentIdName() method then attribute assignment will be ignored.

class Category
{
    public function getParentIdName()
    {
        return 'parent_category_id';
    }
}

This wouldn't work:

$shop->categories()->create([
    'parent_category_id' => $parentCategory->getKey(),
    'title' => 'Title',
]);

But this will work:

$shop->categories()->create([
    'parent_id' => $parentCategory->getKey(),
    'title' => 'Title',
]);

I've tested another one approach, and it's working:

$category = $shop->categories()->create([
    'title' => 'Title',
]);

$category->appendToNode($parentCategory)->save();

But as you can see it's +1 query. And there is no easy way to create factory in tests:

I have to do:

$subcategories = factory(Category::class, 2)->make();
$subcategories->get(0)->appendToNode($category)->save();
$subcategories->get(1)->appendToNode($category)->save();

Instead of:

$subcategories = factory(Category::class, 2)->create([
    'parent_category_id' => $category->getKey(),
]);

[antonkomarev]

That's happen because this logic is hidden in setParentIdAttribute magic method of the NodeTrait which wouldn't be called if column name is custom.

Test case is added in PR #337

[antonkomarev]

I've found that I've missed this part of documentation:

// Specify parent id attribute mutator
public function setParentAttribute($value)
{
    $this->setParentIdAttribute($value);
}

So in my case I were needed to add:

public function setParentCategoryIdAttribute($value)
{
    $this->setParentIdAttribute($value);
}

But maybe there is other way to solve this task, without requirement to add custom mutator?

Because from my point of view, search for parent shouldn't be done on attribute change. It should be done on save event.

[lazychaser]

This is just for convinience. You should use appendToNode