public function setSportsListAttribute($value)
{
$sportIds = [];
$sports = explode(',', $value);
foreach ($sports as $sportName) {
/* firstOrCreate uses first instance or creates a new instantiation -
stops sports table from duplicating sport names*/
$sport = Sport::firstOrCreate(array('sport' => $sportName));
$sportIds[] = $sport->id;
if (!$sport->id) {
dd($sport);
}
/* sync is a Laravel method to attach related models;
sync accepts array of ids to be placed on pivot table
only the ids in the array will be on the intermediate table sport_user pivot table*/
}
$this->sports()->sync($sportIds);
}
