Enhanced Nested Relationship Detection in Laravel

Laravel enhances the relationLoaded() method with nested relationship detection, making it easier to verify complex eager loading states.

Previously, the relationLoaded() method could only check single-level relationships, making it difficult to verify if deeply nested relationships were loaded. The enhanced method now supports dot notation for checking nested relationships, providing better control over eager loading verification.

Let's see how it works:

$user->load('posts.comments');

// Previously
$user->relationLoaded('posts');          // true
$user->relationLoaded('posts.comments'); // false

// Now
$user->relationLoaded('posts');          // true
$user->relationLoaded('posts.comments'); // true

Real-World Example

Here's how you might use this in a data optimization service:

class DataOptimizer
{
    public function ensureRelationsLoaded(User $user, array $requiredRelations)
    {
        $missingRelations = [];
        
        foreach ($requiredRelations as $relation) {
            if (!$user->relationLoaded($relation)) {
                $missingRelations[] = $relation;
            }
        }
        
        if (!empty($missingRelations)) {
            $user->load($missingRelations);
        }
        
        return $user;
    }
    
    public function prepareApiResponse(User $user)
    {
        $requiredRelations = [
            'profile',
            'posts.tags',
            'posts.comments.author',
            'subscriptions.plan'
        ];
        
        // Check which relations are already loaded
        $loadedRelations = collect($requiredRelations)
            ->filter(fn($relation) => $user->relationLoaded($relation));
            
        $missingRelations = collect($requiredRelations)
            ->diff($loadedRelations);
            
        if ($missingRelations->isNotEmpty()) {
            $user->load($missingRelations->toArray());
        }
        
        return $user;
    }
}

This enhancement helps you build more efficient loading strategies by accurately detecting which nested relationships are already available, preventing unnecessary database queries.

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