JsonResource With pagination feature

[hsmfawaz]

Hello Laravel Team ,
I wanna introduce to you my idea to enhance JsonResource class as the following

The problem:

For the last 3 years ,
I was working on providing API for mobile applications using Laravel and Lumen
using laravel JsonResource helped me a lot to make a good api responses, until now no problem,

The problem come with Pagination when i want to paginate a JsonResource ,I create a JsonCollection to handle the pagination.

at the end of every application ,I end up with a ton of JsonCollection has the same functionality and 99% same code only the resource name is different

Something like this:

class AdsCollection extends ResourceCollection
{
    public $collects = AdResource::class;

    public function toArray($request)
    {
        return [
            'ads' => $this->collection,
            'paginate' => [
                'total' => $this->total(),
                'count' => $this->count(),
                'per_page' => $this->perPage(),
                'next_page_url' => $this->nextPageUrl() ?? '',
                'prev_page_url' => $this->previousPageUrl() ?? '',
                'current_page' => $this->currentPage(),
                'total_pages' => $this->lastPage(),
            ],
        ];
    }
}

The solution:
I tried many solutions to eliminate the unneeded collections files
My last solution was implementing a HasPagination Trait and use it in JsonResource

//HasPagination Trait

trait HasPagination
{
    public static function paginate($resource, $wrapper = 'items')
    {
        if ($resource instanceof AbstractPaginator) {
            return new class($resource, self::class, $wrapper) extends ResourceCollection{
                public string $wrapper;

                public function __construct($resource, string $collects, $wrapper = 'items')
                {
                    $this->collects = $collects;
                    parent::__construct($resource);
                    $this->wrapper = $wrapper;
                }

                public function toArray($request) : array
                {
                    return [
                        $this->wrapper => $this->collection,
                        'paginate'     => [
                            'total'         => $this->total(),
                            'count'         => $this->count(),
                            'per_page'      => $this->perPage(),
                            'next_page_url' => $this->nextPageUrl() ?? '',
                            'prev_page_url' => $this->previousPageUrl() ?? '',
                            'current_page'  => $this->currentPage(),
                            'total_pages'   => $this->lastPage(),
                        ],
                    ];
                }
            };
        }

        return self::collection($resource);
    }
}

Now i can paginate JsonResource like

$collection = Ad::latest()->paginate();
return AdResource::paginate($collection);

I will enhance the trait to be able to paginate cursor pagination and simple pagination,
Maybe enhancing the static collection method in the JsonResource to handle the pagination along side the collection
too many enhancements in my head to handle the pagination functionality with the jsonResource
What is your opinion about my idea ?

Thanks so much for your time.

[jelib3an]

Hi, I was reading the laravel docs and it appears resource collections already work with pagination. although I haven't used it, but does that work for what you are trying to accomplish?
https://laravel.com/docs/8.x/eloquent-resources#pagination

[hsmfawaz]

Hello jelib3an ,Yes i know that resource collection (JsonCollection) has the pagination feature.
But using the JsonCollection for the pagination feature only will produce too many jsonCollection doing the same functionality as i described.

[jelib3an]

I see. Since you mentioned trying many solutions before settling on using a trait, curious to know, what else have you tried?

[hsmfawaz]

I created a ResourceCollection then override the __construct to be able to accept JsonResource

class BaseCollection extends ResourceCollection
{
    public function __construct($resource, string $collects)
    {
        $this->collects = $collects;
        parent::__construct($resource);
    }

[FalkHe]

Why not simply extend the ResourceCollection to your needs? IMO pagination information should not be in toArray() but in paginationInformation()

That's what I do:

class AbstractJsonApiCollection extends ResourceCollection
{
    public function paginationInformation($request, $paginated, $default): array
    {
        return [
            'links' => $default['links'],
            'meta' => [
                'firstItemNumber' => $default['meta']['from'],
                'lastItemNumber' => $default['meta']['to'],
                'totalItemCount' => $default['meta']['total'],
                'itemsPerPage' => $default['meta']['per_page'],
                'currentPageNumber' => $default['meta']['current_page'],
                'lastPageNumber' => $default['meta']['last_page']
            ]
        ];
    }
}
``´

this way, you only need to extend your Collection from the Abstract one. At least no duplicate code.

```php
class MyCollection extends AbstractJsonApiCollection {}

that's all

[hsmfawaz]

@FalkHe The main idea is not to create a ResourceCollection and just the JsonResource alone

[FalkHe]

May be, i don't get it, but:

You can do even this by overwriting newCollection() in your JsonResource and use your customized Collection instead of the AnonymousResourceCollection.

[macropay-solutions]

@hsmfawaz you can have a look here as an alternative: https://github.com/macropay-solutions/laravel-crud-wizard-free
and at the demo page http://89.40.19.34/laravel-10-free/laravel-lumen-crud-wizard

It supports length aware paginator, simple paginator and cursor. You also can overwrite the controller function https://github.com/macropay-solutions/laravel-crud-wizard-free/blob/1d3a509651ad6be1b2742445ffe9181187b8dce0/src/Http/Controllers/ResourceControllerTrait.php#L275 to format the paginator fields in the response.