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Overview

The DoctorSchedule model manages doctor availability by defining working hours for each day of the week. This enables the appointment scheduling system to check doctor availability and prevent booking conflicts. Model Location: app/Models/DoctorSchedule.php
Database Table: doctor_schedules

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Database Schema

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id
integer
required
Primary key, auto-incrementing
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user_id
integer
required
Foreign key to the users table (doctor)
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day_of_week
integer
required
Day of the week (0 = Sunday, 1 = Monday, …, 6 = Saturday)
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start_time
time
required
Start time for availability (e.g., ‘09:00:00’)
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end_time
time
required
End time for availability (e.g., ‘17:00:00’)
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is_working
boolean
required
Whether the doctor is working on this day/time (default: true)
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created_at
timestamp
Record creation timestamp
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updated_at
timestamp
Record last update timestamp

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Fillable Attributes

protected $fillable = [
    'user_id',
    'day_of_week',
    'start_time',
    'end_time',
    'is_working'
];

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Type Casting

protected $casts = [
    'is_working' => 'boolean',
];

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Relationships

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User (Doctor)

public function user()
{
    return $this->belongsTo(User::class);
}
Each schedule entry belongs to a user (doctor).

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Day of Week Values

The day_of_week field uses numeric values:
ValueDay
0Sunday
1Monday
2Tuesday
3Wednesday
4Thursday
5Friday
6Saturday

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Usage Examples

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Creating a Weekly Schedule

use App\Models\DoctorSchedule;
use App\Models\User;

$doctor = User::role('doctor')->first();

// Monday through Friday: 9 AM to 5 PM
for ($day = 1; $day <= 5; $day++) {
    DoctorSchedule::create([
        'user_id' => $doctor->id,
        'day_of_week' => $day,
        'start_time' => '09:00:00',
        'end_time' => '17:00:00',
        'is_working' => true,
    ]);
}

// Saturday: 9 AM to 1 PM
DoctorSchedule::create([
    'user_id' => $doctor->id,
    'day_of_week' => 6,
    'start_time' => '09:00:00',
    'end_time' => '13:00:00',
    'is_working' => true,
]);

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Checking Doctor Availability

use Carbon\Carbon;

$doctor = User::find(1);
$date = Carbon::parse('2026-03-15'); // A specific date
$dayOfWeek = $date->dayOfWeek; // 0-6

// Get schedule for this day
$schedule = DoctorSchedule::where('user_id', $doctor->id)
    ->where('day_of_week', $dayOfWeek)
    ->where('is_working', true)
    ->first();

if ($schedule) {
    echo "Available from {$schedule->start_time} to {$schedule->end_time}";
} else {
    echo "Doctor not available on this day";
}

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Getting All Working Days for a Doctor

$doctor = User::find(1);

$workingDays = DoctorSchedule::where('user_id', $doctor->id)
    ->where('is_working', true)
    ->orderBy('day_of_week')
    ->get();

foreach ($workingDays as $schedule) {
    $dayName = ['Sun', 'Mon', 'Tue', 'Wed', 'Thu', 'Fri', 'Sat'][$schedule->day_of_week];
    echo "{$dayName}: {$schedule->start_time} - {$schedule->end_time}\n";
}

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Updating Schedule

// Change Monday schedule
$schedule = DoctorSchedule::where('user_id', $doctor->id)
    ->where('day_of_week', 1)
    ->first();

$schedule->update([
    'start_time' => '08:00:00',
    'end_time' => '16:00:00',
]);

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Marking a Day as Non-Working

// Doctor not working on Fridays
$schedule = DoctorSchedule::where('user_id', $doctor->id)
    ->where('day_of_week', 5)
    ->first();

if ($schedule) {
    $schedule->update(['is_working' => false]);
}

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Finding Available Time Slots

use Carbon\Carbon;

$doctor = User::find(1);
$date = Carbon::parse('2026-03-17'); // Monday
$dayOfWeek = $date->dayOfWeek;

// Get schedule
$schedule = DoctorSchedule::where('user_id', $doctor->id)
    ->where('day_of_week', $dayOfWeek)
    ->where('is_working', true)
    ->first();

if (!$schedule) {
    return [];
}

// Generate 30-minute slots
$slots = [];
$start = Carbon::parse($schedule->start_time);
$end = Carbon::parse($schedule->end_time);

while ($start < $end) {
    $slotEnd = $start->copy()->addMinutes(30);
    
    // Check if slot is already booked
    $isBooked = Appointment::where('doctor_id', $doctor->id)
        ->whereDate('start_time', $date)
        ->where('start_time', $start->format('H:i:s'))
        ->exists();
    
    if (!$isBooked) {
        $slots[] = [
            'time' => $start->format('H:i'),
            'available' => true,
        ];
    }
    
    $start->addMinutes(30);
}

return $slots;

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Validation Rules

When creating or updating schedules, validate: 
$request->validate([
    'user_id' => 'required|exists:users,id',
    'day_of_week' => 'required|integer|between:0,6',
    'start_time' => 'required|date_format:H:i:s',
    'end_time' => 'required|date_format:H:i:s|after:start_time',
    'is_working' => 'boolean',
]);
Ensure end_time is always after start_time to prevent invalid schedules.

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Common Queries

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Get All Doctors with Their Schedules

$doctors = User::role('doctor')
    ->with(['schedules' => function ($query) {
        $query->where('is_working', true)
              ->orderBy('day_of_week');
    }])
    ->get();
This requires adding a schedules() relationship method to the User model:
public function schedules()
{
    return $this->hasMany(DoctorSchedule::class);
}

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Check if Doctor Works on Specific Day

function isDoctorAvailable($doctorId, $dayOfWeek) {
    return DoctorSchedule::where('user_id', $doctorId)
        ->where('day_of_week', $dayOfWeek)
        ->where('is_working', true)
        ->exists();
}

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