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How to Seed Multiple Records in Laravel

Did you know that seeding your database with test data is a key step in developing reliable applications?

In this blog, we will explore two methods to insert multiple records into our Laravel database:

• Using Laravel factories and seeders
• Using Eloquent Model or Query Builder directly.

Method 1: Using Laravel Factories and Seeders

1. First, create a new Laravel project. Open a terminal and run:

   composer create-project laravel/laravel product-seeder-app
   cd product-seeder-appCopy Code
2. Next, generate the Product model and a migration file by running:

   php artisan make:model Product -mCopy Code
3. Then, open the newly created migration file and define the `up()` and `down()` methods as follows:

   // database/migrations/2023_12_02_173227_create_products_table.php
   <?php
   use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
   use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
   use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;
   return new class extends Migration
   {
   /**
   * Run the migrations.
   */
   public function up(): void
   {
   Schema::create('products', function (Blueprint $table) {
   $table->id();
   $table->string('name');
   $table->text('description');
   $table->decimal('price', 8, 2);
   $table->timestamps();
   });
   }
   /**
   * Reverse the migrations.
   */
   public function down(): void
   {
   Schema::dropIfExists('products');
   }
   };
   Copy Code
4. Next, run the migration to create the `products` table:

   php artisan migrateCopy Code
5. Now, generate a factory for the Product model:

   php artisan make:factory ProductFactory –model=ProductCopy Code
6. Then, define the attributes and their respective fake data in the ProductFactory:

   
   // database/factories/ProductFactory.php
   <?php
   use App\Models\Product;
   use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\Factory;
   class ProductFactory extends Factory
   {
   protected $model = Product::class;
   public function definition()
   {
   return [
   'name' => $this->faker->sentence(2),
   'description' => $this->faker->sentence(4),
   'price' => $this->faker->randomFloat(2, 10, 1000),
   ];
   }
   }
   Copy Code
7. Next, generate a seeder for the Product model:

   php artisan make:seeder ProductsTableSeederCopy Code
8. After that, use the factory to seed multiple rows in the ProductsTableSeeder:

   // database/seeders/ProductsTableSeeder.php
   <?php
   namespace Database\Seeders;
   use App\Models\Product;
   use Illuminate\Database\Seeder;
   class ProductsTableSeeder extends Seeder
   {
   /**
   * Run the database seeds.
   */
   public function run(): void
   {
   Product::factory()->count(10)->create();
   }
   }
   Copy Code
9. Finally. run the seeder using the following artisan command:

   php artisan db:seed –class=ProductsTableSeederCopy Code
10. Now, verify the seeded data by checking the contents of the `products` table. We can use a command-line MySQL client or tools like HeidiSQL (Windows) or Sequel Ace (Mac).

    We have successfully generated 10 product records. We can generate more by adjusting the count in the seeder:

    Product::factory()->count(100000)->create(); // Generate a hundred thousand recordsCopy Code

Method 2: Inserting Multiple Records Directly

We can insert multiple records into the database using an array of data. here is an example of inserting multiple user records:

$createMultipleUsers = [
['name' => 'Admin', 'email' => 'admin@bobcares.com', 'password' => bcrypt('TechvBlogs@123')],
['name' => 'Guest', 'email' => 'guest@bobcares .com', 'password' => bcrypt('Guest@456')],
['name' => 'Account', 'email' => 'account@bobcares .com', 'password' => bcrypt('Account@789')],
];
// Using Eloquent
User::insert($createMultipleUsers);
// Using Query Builder
\DB::table('users')->insert($createMultipleUsers);
Copy Code

Alternatively, we can use Laravel seeders with faker to generate dummy data. Here’s how to do it:

1. Generate a seeder for the Post model:

   php artisan make:seeder PostSeederCopy Code
2. Then, edit the PostSeeder.php file to use faker for generating fake data:

   // database/seeders/PostSeeder.php
   <?php
   namespace Database\Seeders;
   use Illuminate\Database\Seeder;
   use Faker\Factory as Faker;
   use App\Models\Post;
   class PostSeeder extends Seeder
   {
   /**
   * Run the database seeds.
   */
   public function run(): void
   {
   $faker = Faker::create();
   foreach (range(1, 20) as $index) {
   Post::create([
   'title' => $faker->text,
   'slug' => $faker->slug,
   'description' => $faker->text,
   'content' => $faker->text,
   ]);
   }
   }
   }
   Copy Code
3. Next, execute the seeder:

   php artisan db:seed –class=PostSeederCopy Code

   If we use the `insert` method, we will lose special Eloquent functionalities like timestamps and model events:

   
   DB::table('users')->insert($users); // Query Builder
   User::insert($users); // Eloquent
   Copy Code

By following these methods, you can efficiently seed your Laravel database with multiple records, ensuring your application is well-prepared for development and testing.

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Conclusion

By following these methods, we can efficiently seed your Laravel database with multiple records, ensuring our application is well-prepared for development and testing.

In brief, our Support Experts demonstrated how to seed Multiple Records in Laravel.