Using eloquent-sortable with sync()

[boumanb]

Hi,

Assume there's a model with a belongsToMany relationship. The relationship is using a custom intermediate table class that extends SortablePivot. The SortablePivot is as follows:

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\Pivot;
use Spatie\EloquentSortable\Sortable;
use Spatie\EloquentSortable\SortableTrait;

class SortablePivot extends Pivot implements Sortable
{
    use SortableTrait;
}

It often occurs that this kind of sortable relationships are being re-sorted. No new items are being added to the pivot table, just re-sorting based on user input. How would one approach this?

Currently I'm using the following method:

// we have to remove all the currently linked blocks so that the order is being set correctly
$layout->blocks()->detach();

$layout->blocks()->sync($this->validated()['blocks'] ?? []);

I'd love to get rid of the $layout->blocks()->detach(); while keeping the code as close as possible to what one would expect from a Laravel code base.

Ideally $layout->blocks()->sync($this->validated()['blocks'] ?? []); would "just work". However, the intention of the sync() method is syncing the ID's and not updating the pivot attributes, although inserting pivot attributes is supported. Out of the box, the sync() method does not mutate existing records.

[abishekrsrikaanth]

Would love to see if there are any alternative ways to not calling the detach method.