Laravel Sortable

A simple trait to make your Laravel Eloquent models sortable with ease. Designed for API usage where you can pass sort parameters directly from query strings (e.g., /users?sort=-id).

Installation

Using Composer:

composer require firevel/sortable

Setup

1. Import the Sortable trait in your Eloquent model.

2. Add a protected $sortable array property to your model. This array should list the fields you want to allow for sorting.

Example:

useFirevel\Sortable\Sortable;
class User extends Model {
use Sortable;
/** * Fields allowed for sorting. * * @var array */protected$sortable = ['id', 'name', 'email'];
/** * Default sorting when no sort parameter is provided (optional). * May be an array (['-id']) or a string ('-id'). * * @var array|string|null */protected$defaultSort = ['-id'];
}

Usage

You can now easily sort your models using the sort() query scope.

Ascending Order:

To sort by name in ascending order:

User::sort(['name'])->get();

Descending Order:

To sort by id in descending order:

User::sort(['-id'])->get();

The - sign before the field name indicates descending order.

Multiple Columns:

You can sort by multiple columns at once. The sorting is applied in the order specified:

User::sort(['name', '-id'])->get();

This will sort by name ascending, then by id descending.

API Usage:

This trait is particularly useful for API endpoints where you receive sort parameters from query strings. You can pass the raw JSON:API style string straight to sort() — no need to explode it yourself:

// Example: GET /users?sort=name,-idpublicfunctionindex(Request$request)
{
return User::sort($request->input('sort'))->get();
}

sort() accepts either a comma-separated string ("name,-id") or an array (['name', '-id']), so both of these are equivalent:

User::sort('name,-id')->get();
User::sort(['name', '-id'])->get();

Whitespace around fields is trimmed, so "name, -id" works too.

Note:sort() only applies fields listed in the model's $sortable allowlist. Any field that isn't allowed is silently ignored rather than raising an error — so an untrusted ?sort= value can never order by an unexpected column. If no valid fields remain, the model's $defaultSort (if any) is applied. To reject invalid input with a validation error instead, use the validation rule below.

Additional Features

Default Sorting

You can define a default sort order that will be applied when no sort parameters are provided:

class User extends Model {
use Sortable;
protected$sortable = ['id', 'name', 'email', 'created_at'];
protected$defaultSort = ['-created_at']; // Sort by newest first by default
}
// When called with no parameters, uses default sort
User::sort([])->get(); // Returns users sorted by created_at DESC

Check if Field is Sortable

You can check if a specific field is sortable using the isSortable() method:

$user = newUser();
if ($user->isSortable('name')) {
// Field is sortable
}
if ($user->isSortable('-id')) {
// Also works with descending prefix
}

Validation Rule for Form Requests

The package provides two ways to validate sort parameters:

String-based validation:

class ListUsersRequest extends FormRequest
{
publicfunctionrules()
{
return [
'sort' => ['nullable', 'string', 'sort_fields:App\Models\User'],
];
}
}

Object-based validation (provides more detailed error messages):

useFirevel\Sortable\SortField;
useApp\Models\User;
class ListUsersRequest extends FormRequest
{
publicfunctionrules()
{
return [
'sort' => ['nullable', 'string', newSortField(User::class)],
];
}
}

Both approaches work with string and array inputs:

// String input (e.g., from query string ?sort=name,-id)'sort' => ['nullable', 'string', 'sort_fields:App\Models\User']
// Array input'sort' => ['nullable', 'array', 'sort_fields:App\Models\User']

Example usage in a controller:

publicfunctionindex(ListUsersRequest$request)
{
return User::sort($request->input('sort'))->get();
}

The validation rule will automatically:

• Check if each field is in the model's $sortable array
• Handle both ascending (name) and descending (-name) formats
• Provide clear error messages for invalid fields