Laravel-Excel export relationship data

Question

I am trying to export records to a CSV which queries a relation but my file keeps returning nothing but the headings.

I am making use of the laravel-excel package to do this.

Controller Method

public function export(Team $team)
{
    return Excel::download(new TeamMembersExport(), 'team_members.csv');
}

Team Method

public function members(){
    return User::with('games')->whereHas('games', function ($q) {
        $q->where('team_id', $this->id);
    })->get();
}

Export file

class ProviderMembersExport implements WithMapping, WithHeadings
{
    public function map($team): array
    {
        $members = $team->members()->only([
            'name',
            'team_number',
            'date_of_birth'
        ]);

        return $members->all();
    }

    public function headings(): array
    {
        return [
            'Name',
            'Team Number',
            'Date of Birth'
        ];
    }
}

Am i writing this incorrectly inside the mapping method?

Answer 1

There are several issues that stand out.

1. You never pass $team to the export, which I assume is the goal based on the controller method.
2. Mapping requires that data first be populated into the export instance using one of the From concerns: FromQuery, FromCollection, FromArray, FromView
3. Mapping should return an array, as indicated in the method signature. This array should represent a single row in the export, not an entire query response.

---

The good news is, this is all fixable with a few tweaks.

Controller

public function export(Team $team)
{
    // pass the team model into the export
    return Excel::download(new TeamMembersExport($team), 'team_members.csv');
}

Export

// add FromCollection concern
class ProviderMembersExport implements FromCollection, WithMapping, WithHeadings
{
    use Exportable;

    // a place to store the team dependency
    private $team;

    // use constructor to handle dependency injection
    public function __construct(Team $team)
    {
        $this->team = $team;
    }

    // set the collection of members to export
    public function collection()
    {
        return $this->team->members();
    }

    // map what a single member row should look like
    // this method will iterate over each collection item
    public function map($member): array
    {
        return [
            $member->name,
            $member->team_number,
            $member->date_of_birth,
        ];
    }

    // this is fine
    public function headings(): array
    {
        return [
            'Name',
            'Team Number',
            'Date of Birth'
        ];
    }
}