Checking Interactions

This guide explains how to check if users have interacted with your content using the Laravel Like package. You can verify likes, dislikes, and loves on your Eloquent models with a few method calls.

Prerequisites

• Installation completed
• HasLike / HasLove trait on your content model

Check the current user's state

The isX() methods resolve the user automatically via auth()->id():

$post = Post::find(1);

if ($post->isLiked()) {
    // The current user has liked this post
}

if ($post->isDisliked()) {
    // The current user has disliked this post
}

if ($post->isLoved()) {
    // The current user has loved this post
}

Check a specific user's state

The isXBy($userId) methods take an explicit user id. isLikedBy() and isDislikedBy() come from HasLike; isLovedBy() comes from HasLove:

$userId = 7;

if ($post->isLikedBy($userId)) {
    // User 7 has liked this post
}

if ($post->isDislikedBy($userId)) {
    // User 7 has disliked this post
}

if ($post->isLovedBy($userId)) {
    // User 7 has loved this post (requires HasLove)
}

Auth vs explicit user

• isLiked() → uses auth()->id() (deducted user)
• isLikedBy($userId) → checks a specific user regardless of who is logged in

Check for any interaction (or a specific type)

Use isInteractedBy() to check whether a user has any interaction, or an interaction of a specific type:

use CSlant\LaravelLike\Enums\InteractionTypeEnum;

// Any interaction (like, dislike, or love)
if ($post->isInteractedBy($userId)) {
    // User has interacted with this post
}

// A specific interaction type
if ($post->isInteractedBy($userId, InteractionTypeEnum::LIKE)) {
    // User specifically liked this post
}

withInteractionBy() is the relationship-level variant. It returns a query you can further refine:

use CSlant\LaravelLike\Enums\InteractionTypeEnum;

$interactions = $post->withInteractionBy($userId)
    ->where('type', InteractionTypeEnum::LIKE)
    ->get();

$hasLike = $post->withInteractionBy($userId, InteractionTypeEnum::LIKE)->exists();

The interaction type as a string

Each Like record exposes the interaction type via the interaction_type accessor:

$post = Post::find(1);

// Nothing to call on the Post itself — look at the current user's interaction:
$interaction = $post->likes()
    ->where('user_id', auth()->id())
    ->first();

if ($interaction) {
    $type = $interaction->interaction_type; // 'like', 'dislike', or 'love'
}

The type column itself is cast to CSlant\LaravelLike\Enums\InteractionTypeEnum, so you can also compare enum values directly:

use CSlant\LaravelLike\Enums\InteractionTypeEnum;

switch ($interaction->type) {
    case InteractionTypeEnum::LIKE:
        // handle like
        break;
    case InteractionTypeEnum::DISLIKE:
        // handle dislike
        break;
    case InteractionTypeEnum::LOVE:
        // handle love
        break;
    default:
        // no (neutral) interaction
        $value = $interaction->type->value; // raw string
}

Reference table

Method	Where	Arguments	Returns
isLiked()	HasLike/HasLove model	?int $userId	bool
isDisliked()	HasLike/HasLove model	?int $userId	bool
isLoved()	HasLike/HasLove model	?int $userId	bool
isLikedBy($userId)	HasLike model	int	bool
isDislikedBy($userId)	HasLike model	int	bool
isLovedBy($userId)	HasLove model	int	bool
isInteractedBy($userId, ?enum)	HasLike/HasLove model	int, ?InteractionTypeEnum	bool
withInteractionBy($userId, ?enum)	HasLike/HasLove model	int, ?InteractionTypeEnum	MorphMany
InteractionTypeEnum::isValid($value)	static	enum|string|null	bool
InteractionTypeEnum::getTypeByValue($string)	static	string	InteractionTypeEnum

All predicate methods use SQL EXISTS under the hood — calling them on many models in a loop does not cause N+1 queries. See Performance.

Next Steps

• Counting interactions — aggregate interaction statistics
• Managing user interactions — the user side of interactions
• Performance — query optimisation tips