.. _object_model:

Object Model
============

The Object Model included with Laravel-Parse provides a beautiful, simple 
ActiveRecord implementation for working with Parse classes. Each class has 
a corresponding "Model" which is used to interact with that Parse class. 
Models allow you to query for data in your classes, as well as insert new 
records into parse.

Defining Object Model
---------------------

.. include:: ../how-to/generate-model.rst

Object Model Conventions
------------------------

Parse Class Name
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

By default Laravel-Parse expects that your Parse class will have the same name 
as your model has. But you can change that using the `parseClassName` attribute
to determine the Parse class to use:

.. code-block:: php

   protected static $parseClassName = "Customer";

Default Master Key Usage
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

In Parse you may need sometimes permission to do heavy stuff, e.g. resetting the
password for users or deleting rows from Parse, otherwise an exception will be 
thrown. This can be blocked if you determine the master key usage for your model,
by adding the `defaultUseMasterKey` attribute to your model:

.. code-block:: php

   protected static $defaultUseMasterKey = true;


Create new Entry
----------------

You can use the `create` method to insert a new record in parse. The `create` 
method returns the saved model instance:

.. literalinclude:: ../references/route-create.php
   :language: php
   :lines: 4-9
   :dedent: 4

Retrieving Object Models
------------------------

Once you have created a model, you are ready to start retrieving data from your 
Parse class. Think of each Object Model as a powerful query builder allowing you 
to fluently query the Parse class associated with the model. For example:

.. code-block:: php

   use App\Test;

   $flights = App\Test::all();

   foreach ($tests as $test) {
       echo $test->string;
   }

Retrieving Single Object Models / Aggregates
---------------------------------------------

Of course, in addition to retrieving all of the records for a given table, you 
may also retrieve single records using `find` or `first`. Instead of returning 
a collection of models, these methods return a single model instance:

.. code-block:: php

   // Retrieve a model by its objectId ...
   $test = App\Test::find("b9Hx6skhEX");

   // Retrieve the first model matching the query constraints...
   $test = App\Test::where('number', 4)->first();

.. hint::
   You can not use `find` method passing in an array with key values as you may
   known from Laravel. Laravel-Parse doesn't have this functionality and only 
   will handle strings.

Modify and Delete Object Models
-------------------------------

Please refer to :ref:`quick-usage` for further information about how to modify
and delete Object Models.