Saving a model with multiple foreign keys in Laravel 4

Question

I understand that in order to save a foreign key, one should use the related model and the associate() function, but is it really worth the trouble of going through this

$user = new User([
    'name' => Input::get('name'), 
    'email' => Input::get('email')
]);

$language = Language::find(Input::get('language_id');
$gender = Gender::find(Input::get('gender_id');
$city = City::find(Input::get('city_id');

$user->language()->associate($language);
$user->gender()->associate($gender);
$user->city()->associate($city);

$user->save();

when one can simply do this?

User::create(Input::all());

I feel like I'm missing something here, maybe there's an even simpler and cleaner way to handle foreign keys in controllers (and views)?

Answer 1

You can use push() method instead which would allow you to push to related models.

This link should answer your query. Eloquent push() and save() difference