Logging model events | laravel-activitylog | Spatie

 SPATIE

  Laravel Activity Log
=======================

spatie.be/open-source

  [Docs](https://spatie.be/docs)  [Laravel-activitylog](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3)  Advanced-usage  Logging model events

 Version   v5   v4   v3   v2   v1

 Other versions for crawler [v5](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v5) [v4](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v4) [v3](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3) [v2](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v2) [v1](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v1)

- [ Introduction ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3/introduction)
- [ Support us ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3/support-us)
- [ Requirements ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3/requirements)
- [ Installation and Setup ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3/installation-and-setup)
- [ Questions and issues ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3/questions-and-issues)
- [ Changelog ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3/changelog)
- [ Upgrading ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3/upgrading)
- [ About us ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3/about-us)

Basic usage
-----------

- [ Logging activity ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3/basic-usage/logging-activity)
- [ Cleaning up the log ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3/basic-usage/cleaning-up-the-log)

Advanced usage
--------------

- [ Logging model events ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3/advanced-usage/logging-model-events)
- [ Using placeholders ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3/advanced-usage/using-placeholders)
- [ Using multiple logs ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3/advanced-usage/using-multiple-logs)
- [ Disabling logging ](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-activitylog/v3/advanced-usage/disabling-logging)

      You are viewing the documentation for **an older version** of this package. You can check the version you are using with the following command:

 `                                    composer show spatie/laravel-activitylog                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    `

Logging model events
====================

###  On this page

1. [ Customizing the events being logged ](#content-customizing-the-events-being-logged)
2. [ Customizing the description ](#content-customizing-the-description)
3. [ Customizing the log name ](#content-customizing-the-log-name)
4. [ Ignoring changes to certain attributes ](#content-ignoring-changes-to-certain-attributes)
5. [ Logging only the changed attributes ](#content-logging-only-the-changed-attributes)
6. [ Logging directly related model attributes ](#content-logging-directly-related-model-attributes)
7. [ Logging only a specific JSON attribute sub-key ](#content-logging-only-a-specific-json-attribute-sub-key)
8. [ Prevent save logs items that have no changed attribute ](#content-prevent-save-logs-items-that-have-no-changed-attribute)
9. [ Ignoring attributes from logging ](#content-ignoring-attributes-from-logging)
10. [ Using the CausesActivity trait ](#content-using-the-causesactivity-trait)
11. [ Disabling logging on demand ](#content-disabling-logging-on-demand)
12. [ Tap Activity before logged from event ](#content-tap-activity-before-logged-from-event)
13. [ Logging on Pivot Models ](#content-logging-on-pivot-models)

The package 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.

The attributes that need to be logged can be defined either by their name or you can put in a wildcard `'*'` to log any attribute that has changed.

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'];
}
```

If you want to log changes to all the `$fillable` attributes of the model, you can specify `protected static $logFillable = true;` on the model. If you have a lot of attributes and use `$guarded` instead of `$fillable` you can also set `protected static $logUnguarded = true;` to add all attributes that are not listed in `$guarded`. For both boolean flags it will respect the possible wildcard and add all (`$logFillable`) or no (`$logUnguarded`) attributes.

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'
```

Customizing the log name
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Specify `$logName` to make the model use another name than the default.

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

class NewsItem extends Model
{
    use LogsActivity;

    protected static $logName = 'system';
}
```

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.

Logging directly related model attributes
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you would like to log an attribute of a directly related model, you may use dot notation to log an attribute of the model's relationship.

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

class NewsItem extends Model
{
    use LogsActivity;

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

    protected static $logAttributes = ['name', 'text', 'user.name'];

    public function user()
    {
        return $this->belongsTo(User::class);
    }
}
```

Logging only a specific JSON attribute sub-key
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you would like to log only the changes to a specific JSON objects sub-keys. You can use the same method for logging specific columns with the difference of choosing the json key to log.

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

class NewsItem extends Model
{
    use LogsActivity;

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

    protected static $logAttributes = ['preferences->notifications->status', 'preferences->hero_url'];

    protected $casts = [
        'preferences' => 'collection' // casting the JSON database column
    ];
}
```

Changing only `preferences->notifications->status` or `preferences->hero_url` means only the `preferences->notifications->status` or `preferences->hero_url` attribute will be logged in the activity, and everything else `preferences` will be left out.

The output of this in a activity entry would be as follows:

```
// Create a news item.
$newsItem = NewsItem::create([
    'name' => 'Title',
    'preferences' => [
        'notifications' => [
            'status' => 'on',
        ],
        'hero_url' => ''
    ],
]);

// Update the json object
$newsItem->update([
    'preferences' => [
        'notifications' => [
            'status' => 'on',
        ],
        'hero_url' => 'http://example.com/hero.png'
    ],
]);

$lastActivity = Activity::latest()->first();

$lastActivity->properties->toArray();
```

```
// output
[
    "attributes" => [
        "preferences" => [ // the updated values
            "notifications" => [
                "status" => "on",
            ],
            "hero_url" => "http://example.com/hero.png",
        ],
    ],
    "old" => [
        "preferences" => [ // the old settings
            "notifications" => [
                "status" => "off",
            ],
            "hero_url" => "",
        ],
    ],
]
```

The result in the log entry key for the attribute will be what is in the `$logAttributes`.

Prevent save logs items that have no changed attribute
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Setting `$submitEmptyLogs` to `false` prevents the package from storing empty logs. Storing empty logs can happen when you only want to log a certain attribute but only another changes.

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

class NewsItem extends Model
{
    use LogsActivity;

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

    protected static $logAttributes = ['text'];

    protected static $logOnlyDirty = true;

    protected static $submitEmptyLogs = false;
}
```

Ignoring attributes from logging
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you use wildcard logging, but do not want to log certain attributes, you can specify those attributes in `$logAttributesToIgnore`.

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

class NewsItem extends Model
{
    use LogsActivity;

    protected static $logAttributes = ['*'];

    protected static $logAttributesToIgnore = [ 'text'];

    protected static $logOnlyDirty = true;
}
```

Even if there are changes to `text` attribute, they will not be logged.

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 `actions` 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()->actions;

```

Disabling logging on demand
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 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']);
```

Tap Activity before logged from event
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In addition to the `tap()` method on `ActivityLogger` you can utilise the `tapActivity()` method in your observed model class. This method will allow you to fill properties and add custom fields before the activity is saved.

```
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Spatie\Activitylog\Traits\LogsActivity;
use Spatie\Activitylog\Contracts\Activity;

class NewsItem extends Model
{
    use LogsActivity;

    public function tapActivity(Activity $activity, string $eventName)
    {
        $activity->description = "activity.logs.message.{$eventName}";
    }
}
```

Logging on Pivot Models
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sometimes you want to log changes on your pivot model - for example if it contains additional data. By default pivot models don't have a primary key/column and because of this can't be used in eloquent relations. To solve this you have to add a primary key column `id` to your pivot table (`$table->id('id')`) and configure your pivot model to use this primary key.

```
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\Pivot;
use Spatie\Activitylog\Traits\LogsActivity;

final class PivotModel extends Pivot
{
    use LogsActivity;

    public $incrementing = true;
}
```

After these changes you can log activities on your pivot models as expected.