Laravel Eloquent Select Where Query Returns Empty Array

Question

Right now, i'm using Laravel Eloquent for the retrieval of purchases from a specific pack; supposedly, this line:

$customer_words_per_pack = $customer_words->where('note', 'like', $pack_title); 

should return query result objects in an array, instead it returned an empty array. Though, I can retrieve all the pack list using this query:

$models = \App\Models\WordPack::groupBy('description')->get();

When I create a query that retrieves all the selected pack purchases using:

$pack_title = '%'.$pack->description.'%'; 

The $pack->description does return a string, but when I place this in the query, it does not return anything.

My goal for this is to retrieve all the purchases from this pack. What could be the most probable cause of this non-returning of results using Laravel Eloquent?

Controller

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;

class WebGetSalesReportsController extends BaseController
{
    //
    public function handle(Request $request)
    {
        $models = \App\Models\WordPack::groupBy('description')->get();

        $viewData = [ 'title' => 'Quick-E - Sales Reports',
                      'packs' => $models ];
        return view($this->getViewGroup() . 'sales_reports', $viewData);

    }


    public function generate(Request $request){
        $dateFrom = $request->input('date-from');
        $dateTo = $request->input('date-to');
        $pack_selected = $request->input('packs');
        $str_selected = '%'.$pack_selected.'%';
        $request->session()->flash('date-from', $dateFrom);
        $request->session()->flash('date-to', $dateTo);
        $request->session()->flash('packs', $pack_selected);
        $action = $request->input('action', 'Go');
        $models = \App\Models\WordPack::groupBy('description')->get();
        $price = \App\Models\WordPack::where('description', $pack_selected)->get();
        $customer_words = \App\Models\CustomerWord::select('customer_emails.first_name', 'customer_emails.last_name', 'words', 'customer_words.created_at', 'note')
                                                  ->join('customer_emails', 'customer_words.customer_id', '=', 'customer_emails.customer_id')
                                                  ->whereNotNull('verified_at');



        //var_dump($customer_words);
        if(strlen($dateFrom) == 0 && strlen($dateTo) == 0){
            if($pack_selected == 'all_packs'){
                $customer_words = $customer_words->get();
            }
            else{
                $customer_words = $customer_words->where('note', 'like', $str_selected)
                                ->get();
            }
        }
        else if(strlen($dateFrom) != 0 && strlen($dateTo) != 0){
            if($pack_selected == 'all_packs'){
                $customer_words = $customer_words->whereBetween('customer_words.created_at', [ $dateFrom , $dateTo ])
                                ->get();
            }
            else{
                $customer_words = $customer_words->where('note', 'like', $str_selected)
                                ->whereBetween('customer_words.created_at', [ $dateFrom , $dateTo ])
                                ->get();
            }
        }

        if($action === 'CSV')
            return $this->makeCsv($dateFrom, $dateTo, $pack_selected, $models, $customer_words);

        $viewData = [ 'title' => 'Quick-E - Sales Reports',
                      'packs' => $models,
                      'dateFrom' => $dateFrom,
                      'dateTo' => $dateTo,
                      'pack_selected' => $pack_selected,
                      'customer_words' => $customer_words ];
        return view($this->getViewGroup() . 'sales_reports_results', $viewData);
    }

    private function makeCsv($dateFrom, $dateTo, $pack_selected, $models, $customer_words)
    {
        $newLine = "\r\n";

        $result = ob_start();
        if($result !== true)
            die('error generating report');

        /*if by pack*/
        if($pack_selected != 'all_packs'){
            echo '"Date"';
            echo ',';
            echo '"' . date("M d, Y", strtotime($dateFrom)) ." to ". date("M d, Y", strtotime($dateTo)) . '"';
            echo $newLine;

            echo '"Pack"';
            echo ',';
            echo '"' . $pack_selected . '"';
            echo $newLine;

            echo '"No. of Packs Purchased"';
            echo ',';
            echo '"' . $customer_words->count() . '"';
            echo $newLine;

            echo '"Total Sales"';
            echo ',';

            $price_total = 0;
            foreach($customer_words as $customer_word){
                $json_note = json_decode($customer_word->note, true);
                $price_total += $json_note['price'];
            }

            echo '"$' . round($price_total, 2) . '"';
            echo $newLine;

            echo $newLine;
            echo $newLine;

            echo '"Date Purchased"';
            echo ',';

            echo '"Word Pack"';
            echo ',';

            echo '"Words"';
            echo ',';

            echo '"Price"';
            echo ',';

            echo '"Customer"';
            echo ',';

            echo $newLine;


            foreach($customer_words as $customer_word){
                $json_note = json_decode($customer_word->note, true);

                echo '"'.date("M d, Y g:i:s A", strtotime($customer_word->created_at)).'"';
                echo ',';

                echo '"'.$pack_selected.'"';
                echo ',';

                echo '"'.$customer_word->words.'"';
                echo ',';

                echo '"$'.round($json_note['price'], 2).'"';
                echo ',';

                echo '"'.$customer_word->first_name.' '.$customer_word->last_name.'"';
                echo ',';

                echo $newLine;
            }
            echo $newLine;
            echo $newLine;
        }

        /*all packs*/
        if($pack_selected != 'all_packs'){
            foreach($models as $pack){
                var_dump($pack->description);
                $pack_title = '%'.$pack->description.'%';
                $customer_words_per_pack = $customer_words->where('note', 'like', $pack_title);
                if($customer_words_per_pack->count() > 0){
                    echo '"Date"';
                    echo ',';
                    echo '"' . date("M d, Y", strtotime($dateFrom)) ." to ". date("M d, Y", strtotime($dateTo)) . '"';
                    echo $newLine;

                    echo '"Pack"';
                    echo ',';
                    echo '"' . $pack->description . '"';
                    echo $newLine;

                    echo '"No. of Packs Purchased"';
                    echo ',';
                    echo '"' . $customer_words_per_pack->count() . '"';
                    echo $newLine;

                    echo '"Total Sales"';
                    echo ',';

                    $price_total = 0;
                    foreach($customer_words_per_pack as $customer_word){
                        $json_note = json_decode($customer_word->note, true);
                        $price_total += $json_note['price'];
                    }

                    echo '"$' . round($price_total, 2) . '"';
                    echo $newLine;

                    echo $newLine;
                    echo $newLine;

                    echo '"Date Purchased"';
                    echo ',';

                    echo '"Word Pack"';
                    echo ',';

                    echo '"Words"';
                    echo ',';

                    echo '"Price"';
                    echo ',';

                    echo '"Customer"';
                    echo ',';

                    echo $newLine;


                    foreach($customer_words_per_pack as $customer_word){
                        $json_note = json_decode($customer_word->note, true);

                        echo '"'.date("M d, Y g:i:s A", strtotime($customer_word->created_at)).'"';
                        echo ',';

                        echo '"'.$pack_selected.'"';
                        echo ',';

                        echo '"'.$customer_word->words.'"';
                        echo ',';

                        echo '"$'.round($json_note['price'], 2).'"';
                        echo ',';

                        echo '"'.$customer_word->first_name.' '.$customer_word->last_name.'"';
                        echo ',';

                        echo $newLine;
                    }
                    echo $newLine;
                    echo $newLine;
                }
            }
        }

        $csv = ob_get_contents();

        $result = ob_end_clean();
        if($result !== true)
            die('error finalizing report');


        $filename = tempnam("/tmp", str_random(5) . '.sales.report');
        file_put_contents($filename, $csv);

        $headers = array(
            'Content-Type' => 'text/csv',
        );

        $pack_name = $pack_selected;
        if($pack_selected == 'all_packs')
            $pack_name = 'All Packs';

        $docName = "sales_".date("m-d-Y_h-i-s-A")."[".$pack_name."].csv";
        return \Response::download($filename, $docName, $headers);
    }
}

View

@foreach($packs as $pack)
    <?php
        $pack_title = '%'.$pack->description.'%';
        $customer_words_per_pack = $customer_words->where('note', 'like', $pack_title);
        echo $customer_words_per_pack;
    ?>
    @if($customer_words_per_pack->count() > 0)
    <div class="box-top-info">
        <p class="top-info">Date: <?php echo date("M d, Y", strtotime($dateFrom)) ." to ". date("M d, Y", strtotime($dateTo)); ?></p>
        <p class="top-info">Pack: {{ $pack->description }}</p>
        <p class="top-info">No. of Packs Purchased: {{ $customer_words_per_pack->count() }}</p>
        <p class="top-info">Total Sales: $<?php 
            $price_total = 0;
            foreach($customer_words_per_pack as $customer_word){
                $json_note = json_decode($customer_word->note, true);
                $price_total += $json_note['price'];
            }
            echo round($price_total, 2);
        ?>
        </p>
    </div>
    <br>
    <div id="responsive-table">
        <div class="row tbl-wrapper">
            <div class="col s12 outer-tbl"> 
                <table class="striped" id="sorting">
                    <thead>
                        <tr>
                            <th>Date Purchased</th>
                            <th>Word Pack </th>
                            <th>Words </th>
                            <th>Price </th>
                            <th>Customer </th>
                        </tr>
                    </thead>
                    <tbody class="striped">
                        @foreach($customer_words_per_pack as $customer_word)
                        <?php $json_note = json_decode($customer_word->note, true); ?>
                        <tr>
                            <td><?php echo date("M d, Y g:i:s A", strtotime($customer_word->created_at)); ?></td>
                            <td>{{ $pack_selected }}</td>
                            <td>{{ $customer_word->words }}</td>
                            <td><?php echo '$'.round($json_note['price'], 2); ?></td>
                            <td>{{ $customer_word->first_name }} {{ $customer_word->last_name }}</td>
                        </tr>
                        @endforeach
                    </tbody>
                </table>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    <hr class="split">
    @endif
@endforeach

Answer 1

You can use double quotes for the same,

$pack_title              = $pack->description; // changed this
$customer_words_per_pack = $customer_words->where('note', 'like', "%$pack_title%"); 

It should work

Edit

use App\Models\WordPack;
use App\Models\CustomerWord; // make sure they are in Models folder.

You have to create customer_words again as follow

$customer_words = CustomerWord::select('customer_emails.first_name', 'customer_emails.last_name', 'words', 'customer_words.created_at', 'note')
            ->join('customer_emails', 'customer_words.customer_id', '=', 'customer_emails.customer_id')
            ->whereNotNull('verified_at');
$pack_title              = $pack->description; // changed this
$customer_words_per_pack = $customer_words->where('note', 'like', "%$pack_title%")->get(); // append get() to close the query 

It should work.

Note: Eloquent will close the query once you will write get() at the end.