How to run multiple Where clauses using laravel models in a switch statement

Question

I have a switch statement that I want to query my Database based on case clauses ; and I want to use Where clauses to achieve my goal. I want to incrementally add where clauses to my User model based on satisfied conditions. example :

switch($key){
    case 'province':
        //User::where('province', '=', $value);
        break;
    case 'city':
        //User::where('city', '=', $value);
        break;
    case 'specialty':
        //User::where('specialty', '=', $value);
        break;
    default:
        break;
}

I want to use Eloquent Models instead of Query Builder. but I don't know how to do this.

Answer 1

This is how you do it:

// instantiate the query
$query = User::query();

// add wheres
switch / foreach or whatever
{
   $query->where(...);
}

// other methods if needed
$query->orderBy(..)

// execute
$users = $query->get();

Answer 2

If you want to add clauses incrementally, a loop would be better than a switch statement. Assuming that your information is coming from user input I'd do it like so:

$input = Input::only(['province', 'city', 'speciality']);
$user = new User;

foreach($input as $key => $value) {
     if(!empty($value)) {
         $user = $user->where($key, $value);
     }
}

$users = $user->get();

return View::make('foo', compact('users'));