Laravel UUID – UUID generation for models

Laravel UUID is a package that allows you to use universally unique identifiers (UUIDs) as primary keys for your Eloquent models instead of the default auto-incrementing integer IDs. UUIDs provide a way to create unique identifiers that are less predictable and can be generated independently of the database.

Key Features

Globally Unique: UUIDs ensure uniqueness across different tables and databases.
Decoupling: Makes it easier to merge records from different databases.
Security: Helps obscure the total number of records and makes guessing valid IDs harder.

Installation

You can use the built-in support in Laravel for UUIDs by installing the ramsey/uuid package, which is commonly used for generating UUIDs. You can install it using Composer:

bash

composer require ramsey/uuid

1	composer require ramsey/uuid

Usage

Here’s how you can implement UUID generation for your models in Laravel:

1. Update Your Model

You need to modify your Eloquent model to use UUIDs. Here’s an example for a User model:

php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Support\Str;

class User extends Model
{
    // Specify the primary key type
    protected $keyType = 'string';
    
    // Disable auto-incrementing for the primary key
    public $incrementing = false;

    // Use UUIDs for the primary key
    protected static function boot()
    {
        parent::boot();

        static::creating(function ($model) {
            // Generate a UUID when creating a new model instance
            $model->{$model->getKeyName()} = (string) Str::uuid();
        });
    }
}

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

use Illuminate\Support\Str;

class User extends Model

{

// Specify the primary key type

protected $keyType = 'string';

// Disable auto-incrementing for the primary key

public $incrementing = false;

// Use UUIDs for the primary key

protected static function boot()

{

parent::boot();

static::creating(function ($model) {

// Generate a UUID when creating a new model instance

$model->{$model->getKeyName()} = (string) Str::uuid();

});

}

2. Update Your Database Migration

When creating the migration for your model, ensure that the primary key column is a string and not an integer:

php

use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;

class CreateUsersTable extends Migration
{
    public function up()
    {
        Schema::create('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->uuid('id')->primary(); // Use UUID as primary key
            $table->string('name');
            $table->string('email')->unique();
            $table->timestamps();
        });
    }

    public function down()
    {
        Schema::dropIfExists('users');
    }
}

use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;

use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;

class CreateUsersTable extends Migration

{

public function up()

{

Schema::create('users', function (Blueprint $table) {

$table->uuid('id')->primary(); // Use UUID as primary key

$table->string('name');

$table->string('email')->unique();

$table->timestamps();

});

}

public function down()

{

Schema::dropIfExists('users');

}

3. Using the Model

When you create a new instance of your model, it will automatically generate a UUID for the id:

php

use App\Models\User;

$user = new User();
$user->name = 'John Doe';
$user->email = 'john@example.com';
$user->save();

echo $user->id; // This will output the generated UUID

use App\Models\User;

$user = new User();

$user->name = 'John Doe';

$user->email = 'john@example.com';

$user->save();

echo $user->id; // This will output the generated UUID

4. Retrieving Models

You can retrieve models using their UUID just like you would with an integer ID:

php

$user = User::find($uuid);

1	$user = User::find($uuid);

Conclusion

Using UUIDs as primary keys in Laravel models provides a robust way to ensure uniqueness and improve security. By following the steps outlined above, you can easily implement UUID generation in your Laravel application.