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4 changes: 4 additions & 0 deletions docs/eloquent-models/schema-builder.txt
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -54,6 +54,10 @@ your database schema by running methods included in the ``Schema`` facade.
The following sections explain how to author a migration class when you use
a MongoDB database and how to run them.

Modifying databases and collections from within a migration provides a
controlled approach that ensures consistency, version control, and reversibility in your
application.

Create a Migration Class
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Expand Down
179 changes: 179 additions & 0 deletions docs/fundamentals/database-collection.txt
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,179 @@
.. _laravel-db-coll:

=========================
Databases and Collections
=========================

.. facet::
:name: genre
:values: reference

.. meta::
:keywords: php framework, odm

.. contents:: On this page
:local:
:backlinks: none
:depth: 2
:class: singlecol

Overview
--------

In this guide, you can learn how to use {+odm-short+} to access
and manage MongoDB databases and collections.

MongoDB organizes data in a hierarchical structure. A MongoDB
deployment contains one or more **databases**, and each database
contains one or more **collections**. In each collection, MongoDB stores
data as **documents** that contain field-and-value pairs. In
{+odm-short+}, you can access documents through Eloquent models.

To learn more about the document data format,
see :manual:`Documents </core/document/>` in the Server manual.

.. _laravel-access-db:

Specify the Database in a Connection Configuration
--------------------------------------------------

You can specify a database name that a connection uses in your
application's ``config/database.php`` file. The ``connections`` property
in this file stores all of your database connection information, such as
your connection string, database name, and optionally, authentication
details. After you specify a database connection, you can perform
database-level operations and access collections that the database
contains.

If you set the database name in the ``database`` property to the name of a
nonexistent database, Laravel still makes a valid connection. When you
insert any data into a collection in the database, the server creates it
automatically.

The following example shows how to set a default database connection and
create a database connection to the ``animals`` database in the
``config/database.php`` file by setting the ``dsn`` and ``database`` properties:

.. code-block:: php
:emphasize-lines: 1,8

'default' => 'mongodb',

'connections' => [

'mongodb' => [
'driver' => 'mongodb',
'dsn' => 'mongodb://localhost:27017/',
'database' => 'animals',
], ...
]

When you set a default database connection, {+odm-short+} uses that
connection for operations, but you can specify multiple database connections
in your ``config/database.php`` file.

The following example shows how to specify multiple database connections
(``mongodb`` and ``mongodb_alt``) to access the ``animals`` and
``plants`` databases:

.. code-block:: php

'connections' => [

'mongodb' => [
'driver' => 'mongodb',
'dsn' => 'mongodb://localhost:27017/',
'database' => 'animals',
],

'mongodb_alt' => [
'driver' => 'mongodb',
'dsn' => 'mongodb://localhost:27017/',
'database' => 'plants',
]

], ...

.. note::

The MongoDB PHP driver reuses the same connection when
you create two clients with the same connection string. There is no
overhead in using two connections for two distinct databases, so you
do not need to optimize your connections.
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I'll note that if users expect to change the database name for separate connections, that would result in the driver not re-using the same connection since the connection string (i.e. dsn option) will technically differ.

This relates to my suggestion in https://github.com/mongodb/laravel-mongodb/pull/2816/files#r1559726362 to encourage users not to specify any "auth database" in the connection string, which the Laravel library just so happens to use as a "default" database.

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Thanks for the information! Since i modified the multiple connections example to specify the default db in the connection strings, should I remove this note then?

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I'm asking @GromNaN above, but I very much dislike the example being presented here. If there's any way we can change this to avoid using the "auth database" URI component, I'd like to see it.

I can confirm that this paragraph is no longer relevant given the current state of the PR, but the fact that it's now creating multiple database connections is very disagreeable to me. This doesn't feel like something we should be conveying so simply in docs that some users are bound to copy/paste as reference.

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The correct configuration should be to extract the database into a dedicated config:

   'connections' => [

       'mongodb' => [
           'driver' => 'mongodb',
           'dsn' => 'mongodb://localhost:27017/',
           'database' => 'animals',
       ],

       'mongodb_alt' => [
           'driver' => 'mongodb',
           'dsn' => 'mongodb://localhost:27017/',
           'database' => 'plants',
       ]

   ], ...


If your application contains multiple database connections and you want
to store your model in a database other than the default, override the
``$connection`` property in your ``Model`` class.

The following example shows how to override the ``$connection`` property
on the ``Flower`` model class to use the ``mongodb_alt`` connection.
This directs {+odm-short+} to store the model in the ``flowers``
collection of the ``plants`` database, instead of in the default database:

.. code-block:: php

class Flower extends Model
{
protected $connection = 'mongodb_alt';
}

.. _laravel-access-coll:

Access a Collection
-------------------

When you create model class that extends
``MongoDB\Laravel\Eloquent\Model``, {+odm-short+} stores the model data
in a collection with a name formatted as the snake case plural form of your
model class name.

For example, if you create a model class called ``Flower``,
Laravel applies the model to the ``flowers`` collection in the database.

.. tip::

To learn how to specify a different collection name in your model class, see the
:ref:`laravel-model-customize-collection-name` section of the Eloquent
Model Class guide.

We generally recommend that you use the Eloquent ORM to access a collection
for code readability and maintainability. The following
example specifies a find operation by using the ``Flower`` class, so
Laravel retrieves results from the ``flowers`` collection:

.. code-block:: php

Flower::where('name', 'Water Lily')->get()

If you are unable to accomplish your operation by using an Eloquent
model, you can access the query builder by calling the ``collection()``
method on the ``DB`` facade. The following example shows the same query
as in the preceding example, but the query is constructed by using the
``DB::collection()`` method:

.. code-block:: php

DB::connection('mongodb')
->collection('flowers')
->where('name', 'Water Lily')
->get()

List Collections
----------------

To see information about each of the collections in a database, call the
``listCollections()`` method.

The following example accesses a database connection, then
calls the ``listCollections()`` method to retrieve information about the
collections in the database:

.. code-block:: php

$collections = DB::connection('mongodb')->getMongoDB()->listCollections();

Create and Drop Collections
---------------------------

To learn how to create and drop collections, see the
:ref:`laravel-eloquent-migrations` section in the Schema Builder guide.