Using Eloquent Models in WordPress

Acorn brings Laravel's powerful Eloquent ORM to WordPress, allowing you to interact with WordPress data using clean, expressive syntax. Create models for posts, users, custom tables, and more with relationships, scopes, and all the Eloquent features you love.

We recommend referencing the Laravel docs on Eloquent for a complete understanding of the ORM.

Creating your first model #

Since Acorn doesn't include the make:model command, you'll need to create model files manually. Create a new PHP file in the app/Models/ directory with the following structure.

WordPress post model #

Here's an example of an Eloquent model for WordPress posts:

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Post extends Model
{
    protected $table = 'posts';
    protected $primaryKey = 'ID';
    public $timestamps = false;

    protected $fillable = [
        'post_title',
        'post_content',
        'post_status',
        'post_type',
        'post_author',
    ];

    public function author()
    {
        return $this->belongsTo(User::class, 'post_author');
    }

    public function meta()
    {
        return $this->hasMany(PostMeta::class, 'post_id');
    }

    public function scopePublished($query)
    {
        return $query->where('post_status', 'publish');
    }

    public function scopeOfType($query, $type)
    {
        return $query->where('post_type', $type);
    }
}

Key considerations for WordPress models #

When creating models for WordPress tables, keep these points in mind:

• Table names: WordPress tables don't follow Laravel naming conventions, so explicitly set the $table property
• Primary keys: WordPress uses ID (uppercase) instead of id, so set $primaryKey = 'ID'
• Timestamps: WordPress handles timestamps differently, so set $timestamps = false and handle dates manually
• Table prefixes: WordPress table prefixes are handled automatically by WordPress's database configuration

WordPress user model #

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class User extends Model
{
    protected $table = 'users';
    protected $primaryKey = 'ID';
    public $timestamps = false;

    protected $fillable = [
        'user_login',
        'user_email',
        'user_nicename',
        'display_name',
    ];

    public function posts()
    {
        return $this->hasMany(Post::class, 'post_author');
    }

    public function meta()
    {
        return $this->hasMany(UserMeta::class, 'user_id');
    }
}

Post meta model #

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class PostMeta extends Model
{
    protected $table = 'postmeta';
    protected $primaryKey = 'meta_id';
    public $timestamps = false;

    protected $fillable = [
        'post_id',
        'meta_key',
        'meta_value',
    ];

    public function post()
    {
        return $this->belongsTo(Post::class, 'post_id');
    }
}

Using models in your application #

Basic queries #

// Get all published posts
$posts = Post::published()->get();

// Get posts of a specific type
$pages = Post::ofType('page')->published()->get();

// Get a post with its author
$post = Post::with('author')->find(123);

// Create a new post
$post = Post::create([
    'post_title' => 'Hello World',
    'post_content' => 'This is my first post using Eloquent!',
    'post_status' => 'publish',
    'post_type' => 'post',
    'post_author' => get_current_user_id(),
]);

Working with relationships #

// Get a post's author
$post = Post::find(123);
$author = $post->author;

// Get an author's posts
$user = User::find(1);
$posts = $user->posts()->published()->get();

// Get post meta
$post = Post::with('meta')->find(123);
foreach ($post->meta as $meta) {
    echo $meta->meta_key . ': ' . $meta->meta_value;
}

Custom tables #

You can also create models for custom database tables:

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class CustomTable extends Model
{
    protected $table = 'wp_custom_table';

    protected $fillable = [
        'name',
        'value',
        'status',
    ];
}