Sure! Here's a draft Dev.to article based on your Laravel seeder that playfully resembles a water pistol. It’s structured for clarity, developer relatability, and searchability, while being lighthearted and educational.

💦 Laravel Seeder That Looks Like a Water Pistol (and It Works Too!)

Ever written a Laravel seeder that looks like it’s firing out data?
Well… I accidentally did.

And yes — it works like a charm.

🔍 The Use Case

I needed to seed my database with:

3 to 5 SpecialContentGroups
Each containing 3 to 5 SpecialContentItems

The result? A cascade of factory-generated data in a neat, fluid chain of logic — and visually, the indentation reminded me of a water pistol emoji 💧🔫.

🧪 The Code

public function run(): void
{
    // Check if there are existing Special Content Groups
    $groups = SpecialContentGroup::all();

    if ($groups->isEmpty()) {
        // No groups exist – create 3 to 5 groups with 3 to 5 items each
        $groupCount = rand(3, 5);
        $groups = SpecialContentGroup::factory()
            ->count($groupCount)
            ->create()
            ->each(function ($group): void {
                $itemsCount = rand(3, 5);
                SpecialContentItem::factory()
                    ->count($itemsCount)
                    ->for($group)
                    ->create();
            });
    }
}

🧠 What's Happening?

Here’s a quick breakdown:

SpecialContentGroup::all() checks if any groups exist.
If none are found, it creates a random number of groups (between 3 and 5).
Each group then gets a random number of related items (also between 3 and 5), thanks to each() and the ->for($group) relationship helper in Laravel factories.

🔫 But Why the “Water Pistol”?

Check out the indentation — it flows! 💦

The nested arrow functions, when formatted with consistent tabbing and spacing, almost give off this "shooting" vibe. While that wasn’t the intention, I couldn’t unsee it after I noticed.

🎯 Why It’s Effective

✅ Makes use of Laravel's expressive factory system
✅ Ensures clean, relational demo data
✅ Easy to extend or tweak the counts for your use case
✅ Fun and readable!

💡 Pro Tip

Using the ->for($group) method ensures that your child factory (SpecialContentItem) links back to its parent (SpecialContentGroup) via the defined relationship — no need to manually assign group_id.

📦 When Should You Use This?

For testing UI layouts with relational data
When showcasing a dashboard that depends on group/item hierarchies
In test environments where you want randomized but realistic structures

🗣️ Final Thoughts

Sometimes your code ends up looking cool and working great. Embrace the beauty in clean logic — even if it looks like it’s ready to squirt data all over your app. 💧💻

💬 What about you?

Have you ever written code that unintentionally looked like something fun or weird?
Drop a comment — I’d love to see your “happy accidents”!

Davina Leong @davinaleong

This Laravel Seeder Looks Like a Water Pistol — And It Seeds Like a Pro