Support #[With] attribute for default eager loading as alternative to $with property

[sediqzada94]

Currently, Laravel only supports the protected $with property for specifying default eager loaded relationships in Eloquent models. With PHP 8's attributes gaining wider adoption, it would be beneficial to have an attribute-based alternative for better code organization and modern PHP practices.

Proposed Solution

Add support for a #[With] attribute that works alongside or as an alternative to the $with property:

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Attributes\With;

#[With(['author', 'tags'])]
class Post extends Model
{
    // Instead of or in addition to:
    // protected $with = ['author', 'tags'];
    
    public function author(): BelongsTo
    {
        return $this->belongsTo(User::class);
    }
    
    public function tags(): BelongsToMany
    {
        return $this->belongsToMany(Tag::class);
    }
}

What do you guys think?

[shaedrich]

Taylor seems to be slowly losing his "appetite" for attributes, but it would be worth a try

[macropay-solutions]

@shaedrich sorry if it sounded like an accusation. It was just a note.

[shaedrich]

Okay, but what is your explanation of "fata morgana" in this specific context?

[macropay-solutions]

@shaedrich

• Good from far but far from good.
• Deceptive
• Tempting trap
• Mirage
• Poisoned apple
• Wolf in sheep's clothing

Symfony was and hopefully still is slower than Laravel.

Synfony uses metadata to declare routes, migrations and so on. We chose Laravel & Lumen for their performance and ditched Symfony for an api project because we need performance.

Any new thing (overhead) that is added to Laravel for developer convenience bites a piece from its performance. These supported builtin attributes will add the reflection needed to check for their usage on each run of the class that CAN use them.

An example: Imagine that for projects with more than 500 routes declared, it is a nightmare to declare routes via attributes. For small MVPs yes they are ok but laravel is sacrificing big old clients in exchange for new smaller ones. Of course routes can be cached but the general idea is that if one chooses NOT to use attributes in Laravel, he is FORCED to swallow the reflection overhead added to check for their usage anyway.

[shaedrich]

• Good from far but far from good.
• Deceptive
• Tempting trap
• Mirage
• Poisoned apple
• Wolf in sheep's clothing

These are aliases, not explanations. Still biased. Still strong words.

Don't get me wrong: I understand your point about performance. But fata morgana just doesn't cut it for me.

Symfony was and hopefully still is slower than Laravel.

It depends. In places where Laravel wraps and extends Symfony, it might actually be slower because it adds to the callstack and handles more complex "configuration"

[macropay-solutions]

Still biased. Still strong words.

It is a conclusion from experience, of course it is biased :) Weak or strong words doesn't mater. Laravel will not take us into consideration anyway.