Logging model events

A neat feature of this package is that it can automatically log events such as when a model is created, updated and deleted. To make this work all you need to do is let your model use the Spatie\Activitylog\Traits\LogsActivity-trait.

As a bonus the package will also log the changed attributes for all these events when setting $logAttributes property on the model.

Here's an example:

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Spatie\Activitylog\Traits\LogsActivity;

class NewsItem extends Model
{
    use LogsActivity;

    protected $fillable = ['name', 'text'];
    
    protected static $logAttributes = ['name', 'text'];
}

With a $logAttributes = ['*'] property on the model you can log all visible attributes.

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Spatie\Activitylog\Traits\LogsActivity;

class NewsItem extends Model
{
    use LogsActivity;
    
    protected static $logAttributes = ['*'];
    
    protected static $logOnlyDirty = true;
}

Let's see what gets logged when creating an instance of that model.

$newsItem = NewsItem::create([
   'name' => 'original name',
   'text' => 'Lorum'
]);

//creating the newsItem will cause an activity being logged
$activity = Activity::all()->last();

$activity->description; //returns 'created'
$activity->subject; //returns the instance of NewsItem that was created
$activity->changes(); //returns ['attributes' => ['name' => 'original name', 'text' => 'Lorum']];

Now let's update some that $newsItem.

$newsItem->name = 'updated name'
$newsItem->save();

//updating the newsItem will cause an activity being logged
$activity = Activity::all()->last();

$activity->description; //returns 'updated'
$activity->subject; //returns the instance of NewsItem that was created

Calling $activity->changes will return this array:

[
   'attributes' => [
        'name' => 'updated name',
        'text' => 'Lorum',
    ],
    'old' => [
        'name' => 'original name',
        'text' => 'Lorum',
    ],
    
];

Pretty Zonda, right?

Now, what happens when you call delete?

$newsItem->delete();

//deleting the newsItem will cause an activity being logged
$activity = Activity::all()->last();

$activity->description; //returns 'deleted'
$activity->changes(); //returns ['attributes' => ['name' => 'updated name', 'text' => 'Lorum']];

##Customizing the events being logged

By default the package will log the created, updated, deleted events. You can modify this behaviour by setting the $recordEvents property on a model.

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Spatie\Activitylog\Traits\LogsActivity;

class NewsItem extends Model
{
    use LogsActivity;

    //only the `deleted` event will get logged automatically
    protected static $recordEvents = ['deleted'];
}

##Customizing the description

By default the package will log created, updated, deleted in the description of the activity. You can modify this text by overriding the getDescriptionForEvent function.

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Spatie\Activitylog\Traits\LogsActivity;

class NewsItem extends Model
{
    use LogsActivity;

    protected $fillable = ['name', 'text'];

    public function getDescriptionForEvent(string $eventName): string
    {
        return "This model has been {$eventName}";
    }

}

Let's see what happens now:

$newsItem = NewsItem::create([
   'name' => 'original name',
   'text' => 'Lorum'
]);

//creating the newsItem will cause an activity being logged
$activity = Activity::all()->last();

$activity->description; //returns 'This model has been created'

##Ignoring changes to certain attributes

If your model contains attributes whose change don't need to trigger an activity being logged you can use $ignoreChangedAttributes

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Spatie\Activitylog\Traits\LogsActivity;

class NewsItem extends Model
{
    use LogsActivity;
    
    protected static $ignoreChangedAttributes = ['text'];

    protected $fillable = ['name', 'text'];
    
    protected static $logAttributes = ['name', 'text'];
}

Changing text will not trigger an activity being logged.

By default the updated_at attribute is not ignored and will trigger an activity being logged. You can simply add the updated_at attribute to the $ignoreChangedAttributes array to override this behaviour.

##Logging only the changed attributes

If you do not want to log every attribute in your $logAttributes variable, but only those that has actually changed after the update, you can use $logOnlyDirty

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Spatie\Activitylog\Traits\LogsActivity;

class NewsItem extends Model
{
    use LogsActivity;

    protected $fillable = ['name', 'text'];
    
    protected static $logAttributes = ['name', 'text'];
    
    protected static $logOnlyDirty = true;
}

Changing only name means only the name attribute will be logged in the activity, and text will be left out.

##Using the CausesActivity trait

The package ships with a CausesActivity trait which can be added to any model that you use as a causer. It provides an activity relationship which returns all activities that are caused by the model.

If you include it in the User model you can simply retrieve all the current users activities like this:

\Auth::user()->activity;

##Disabling logging on demand

With v1.16.0 and greater, you can also disable logging for a specific model at runtime. To do so, you can use the disableLogging() method:

$newsItem = NewsItem::create([
   'name' => 'original name',
   'text' => 'Lorum'
]);

// Updating with logging disabled
$newsItem->disableLogging();

$newsItem->update(['name' => 'The new name is not logged']);

You can also chain disableLogging() with the update() method.

##Enable logging again

You can use the enableLogging() method with v1.16.0 and greater to re-enable logging.

$newsItem = NewsItem::create([
   'name' => 'original name',
   'text' => 'Lorum'
]);

// Updating with logging disabled
$newsItem->disableLogging();

$newsItem->update(['name' => 'The new name is not logged']);

// Updating with logging enabled
$newsItem->enableLogging();

$newsItem->update(['name' => 'The new name is logged']);