Laravel HasMany with included current Model on same Table

I want to have a method (with the possiblity to eager load) to return all users which are connected via user_collection_uuid including the current user. If the user_collection_id is not set it should at least return the current user.

The method I’m using (null values are automatically filtered due to hasMany):

class User extends Model {
    
    ...
    
    public function userInCollection(): HasMany
    { 
        return $this
           ->hasMany(User::class, 'user_collection_uuid', 'user_collection_uuid')
           ->orWhere('id', $this->id);
    }

    ...
}

It works if the method is called directly but not eager/lazy loaded:

$user->userInCollection()->get()->count() // Collection count returns 1

The following Code should do the same except it is resolved via LazyLoading or EagerLoading. However this returns 0.

$user->userInCollection->count() // Collection count returns 0

It seems like the User which calls the HasMany method is filtered from the result.
Is there another method to do this or am I missing something? Is this the desired behaviour?

Laravel 8.26.1

Answers:

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Method 1

You can’t use your $this context in a relationship.

the easiest way to do this would be to use a custom attribute :

    public function userInCollection(): HasMany
    { 
        return $this
           ->hasMany(User::class, 'user_collection_uuid', 'user_collection_uuid');
    }

    public function getUsersInCollectionAttribute()
    { 
        return $this->userInCollection->push($this);
    }

you can then do this :

$user = User::with('userInCollection')->find($id);
$user->users_in_collection;

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