Database seeders

Phenix seeders are classes that enable developers to populate database tables with predefined or sample data. They are particularly useful for initializing databases with test data during development or for seeding default data into tables upon application installation. This feature helps maintain a consistent database state, simplifies testing, and streamlines the process of setting up database environments for various application scenarios. The seeders are stored in the database/seeders folder.

Writing seeders

To create a seeder, you can use the following command:

php phenix make:seeder UsersSeeder

A seeder class only has one run method, which is called when the seed:run command is executed.

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

use Phenix\Database\Seed;

class UsersSeeder extends Seed
{
    public function run(): void
    {
        // ..
    }
}

Running seeders

To seed your database you can use the Phenix seed:run command:

php phenix seed:run

You can indicate a specific seeder to be executed using the --seed option, short for -s:

php phenix seed:run -s UsersSeeder

php phenix seed:run --seeder=UsersSeeder

Table method

The table method receives the name of the table to be seeded as an argument, then the insert method receives a collection of records and finally the saveData method so that the data is saved.

public function run(): void
{
    $users = $this->table("users");

    $users->insert([
        [
            'name'=> 'Rasmus Ledford',
            'email'=> 'rasmus.ledford@php.net',
        ],
        [
            'name'=> 'Nikita Popov',
            'email'=> 'nikita.popov@php.net',
        ],
    ])->saveData();
}

Faking data

To facilitate the generation of fake data, you can use Faker (opens new window) in the seeders:

public function run(): void
{
    $users = $this->table("users");

    $users->insert([
        [
            'name'=> $this->faker->name,
            'email'=> $this->faker->freeEmail,
        ],
    ])->saveData();
}