multi-site

[AlexECP]

Hi,

Thanks for a great project!

If I am connecting to a multi-site wordpress, is there a way for me to change the prefix without needing to run \Corcel\Database::connect($params); again with the new prefix specified? This is for a project where I am connecting to our wordpress and posting articles to hundreds of sites.

[AlexECP]

Let me know if this is the right path:
I changed the connect method to return the capsule, then I can do $capsule->getConnection()->setTablePrefix('new_prefix_here')

Ill try it out in the meantime and let you know...

[jgrossi]

Hi @AlexECP. If you're using Laravel you does not have to call connect method. It's a very good suggestion to return Capsule instance in connect method.

[jgrossi]

Done! ;-) Commit: 5b5798f

[jgrossi]

@AlexECP just an advice. The change was made in dev branch.

[AlexECP]

awesome. For my specific use case I need to connect even though Im on Laravel, since the wordpress DB is external.
Using getConnection()->setTablePrefix('new_prefix_here') worked for me for our multi-site installation... possible someone else might want that advice...
anyways Thanks!

[jgrossi]

Welcome @AlexECP. If you're using Corcel with Laravel you can create a new connection on Laravel config files and set it to your Wordpress models, like Post, for example. Just set protected $connection = 'wordpress' and that's it. As Eloquent is already loaded by Laravel, Corcel only have to call it using the connection you've provided. Welcome!

[AlexECP]

ah I see, then I would just do something like $post->getConnection()->setTablePrefix(...) ? Right?
Thanks

[jgrossi]

Yes and no @AlexECP hehe. It's better to you set the table prefix in the connection configuration array (config folder) so every model you have $connection = 'wordpress' for example you're going to use the table prefix you've just set. Easy ;-)

[AlexECP]

right, but for my case where its a multi-site, I will need to be changing the prefix all the time for example to publish a new post to 200 sites... before each save I will need to alter the prefix, I think

[jgrossi]

Hummm ok ;-) Maybe in the future we can think in a generic solution to this using Corcel :-)

[gbrits]

Can't seem to find any documentation concerning corcel/corcel communicating with a multisite Wordpress installation - has nothing been written yet for this? Currently I have for example site_posts for my initial Wordpress node, and my prefix would then be site_ the first site in the network would then be site_1 ie site_1_posts. So in this instance, that'd be what @AlexECP was suggesting - if you want to reach the posts for a site in your network, it appears, with this solution that you'd have to change the prefix on the fly in order to "select" which site in your network to query from on the fly.

[gbrits]

I've settled with this solution, which seems to work for now:

class Post extends Corcel
{
    protected $connection = 'wordpress';
    protected $postType = 'post';
    public function __construct($whichSite) {
        $this->connection = $whichSite;
    }
}

Then I just set multiple connections inside of config/database.php and call them upon the class invocation.

$main = new \App\Post('wordpress');
$main->published()->get();
$adelaide = new \App\Post('adelaide');
$adelaide->published()->get();

Not sure if this method is just sluggish or going to cause multiple connections / other issues? Would be keen to hear from someone else attempting this.

[AharonFeinstein]

I think having to setup multiple connection inside of config/database.php is not realistic for a large multisite installation. When I need to edit batches of sites just use do the following:

$post = new \App\Post;
foreach (\App\Website::get() as $website){
   $post->getConnection()->setTablePrefix('wp_'.$website->wordpress_site_id.'_');
   ...logic...
}

I also sometimes create static functions that take the wordpress site id as a parameter, and start with:

 public static function sample($wordpress_site_id){
        $post = new self;
        $post->getConnection()->setTablePrefix('wp_'.$wordpress_site_id.'_'); 
        ...
}

[jgrossi]

Hy @AharonFeinstein thanks for the contribution. I guess maybe it's better to create a scopeNetwork() for that, receiving an ID or website name:

$posts = Post::network(123)->where(..)->get();

Actually there's no official support for multisite into Corcel but of course, that would be an excellent contribution! Be welcome!

[bluehaoran]

Hi @jgrossi, thanks for writing Corcel!

It's perfect for the project we're about to work on, except that we definitely need multi-site functionality. I will use some of the suggestions above to start with, but I'd also be keen to put some work into extending Corcel to do it natively.

But before I do, I'd love to know your thoughts on how best to do this.

[jgrossi]

Hi @bluehaoran thanks for the kind words. About multi-site, Corcel works as a library, a composer package. There's no way to work with multiple websites using just a single database connection, but you can have as many database connections you want to, changing the prefix for each one. So using something like Post::on('website2')->all().

Would this help?

[bluehaoran]

@jgrossi thanks for taking the time to reply.

As I see it, there are two problems to solve with multi-site:

1. It feels inefficient to use two connections--one with a 'wp_' prefix and one a wp_X_' prefix. In the same request, I might well want access to wp_users, wp_options, and wp_2_posts and wp_2_postmeta.

I'm thinking that in this circumstance, you'd tweak the logic around generating the $table property of Corcel\Model\Post and Corcel\Model\User etc.

2. A separate, more difficult but less frequent problem is when I need access to something form wp_2_posts and wp_3_posts in the same request. This is the case where having multiple connections seems most sensible, although I like your suggestion above for using Scopes to apply the getConnection()->setTablePrefix() trick explained above.

Is that sensible?

[jgrossi]

@bluehaoran actually you can access both database connections in the same request. The on() method on Post::on($connection) would access that connection and the wp_posts table for that specific connection:

$posts = Post::on('site_1')->all(); // posts from `wp_posts`
$posts = Post::on('site_2')->all(); // posts from `wp_2_posts`

Just to let things clear, the on() is not a scope actually, it's a Eloquent method that change from which connection you're accessing from.

[bluehaoran]

If you're on this thread, here's a little bug I picked up with Connections in Laravel (laravel/framework#26589). This mainly became an issue for me writing unit tests, but YMMV.

[jgrossi]

@bluehaoran actually, about the laravel/framework#26589 that's the expected behavior. can you explain better which test you wrote?