Automatically deleting related rows in Laravel (Eloquent ORM)

Question

When I delete a row using this syntax:

$user->delete();

Is there a way to attach a callback of sorts, so that it would e.g. do this auto

Answer 1

I would iterate through the collection detaching everything before deleting the object itself.

here's an example:

try {
        $user = User::findOrFail($id);
        if ($user->has('photos')) {
            foreach ($user->photos as $photo) {

                $user->photos()->detach($photo);
            }
        }
        $user->delete();
        return 'User deleted';
    } catch (Exception $e) {
        dd($e);
    }

I know it is not automatic but it is very simple.

Another simple approach would be to provide the model with a method. Like this:

public function detach(){
       try {
            
            if ($this->has('photos')) {
                foreach ($this->photos as $photo) {
    
                    $this->photos()->detach($photo);
                }
            }
           
        } catch (Exception $e) {
            dd($e);
        }
}

Then you can simply call this where you need:

$user->detach();
$user->delete();