Make allowFilters feature smarter

Author: Obrainwave

README.md

@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ class User extends Model
 }
 ```
 
-Once the trait is added, you can call the filter() method on your model statically:
+Once the trait is added, you can call the `filter()` method on your model statically:
 
 ```php
 use App\Models\User;
@@ -88,8 +88,8 @@ $users = User::filter([
 ])->get(); // or ->first()
 ```
 
-* Without Filterable, filter() won’t exist on your model.
-* You can optionally define $allowedFilters in the model or rely on the config for auto-generated filters. If your $allowedFilters is protected, you have to define a public get method to access it. For example:
+* Without Filterable, `filter()` won’t exist on your model.
+* You can optionally define $allowedFilters in the model or rely on the config for auto-generated filters. If your `$allowedFilters` is protected, you have to define a public get method to access it. For example:
 
 ```php
     protected array $allowedFilters = ['status', 'name', 'role'];
@@ -100,12 +100,18 @@ $users = User::filter([
     }
 ```
 
-If you know what you are doing, you can probably just leave $allowedFilters as public property
+If you know what you are doing, you can probably just leave `$allowedFilters` as public property
 
 ```php
 public array $allowedFilters = ['status', 'name', 'role'];
 ```
 
+Or you can actually allow all table columns to be filtered by setting the default value in `config/query-filters.php`
+
+```bash
+'allowed_filters'      => ['*']
+```
+
 And also supports laravel paginate and simplePaginate
 
 ```php
@@ -124,7 +130,7 @@ Filters also work directly from URL query parameters:
 ```
 /users?status=active&role=admin&q=john&per_page=5&sort=-created_at
 ```
-Which you can pass directly from your request helper or injected Illuminate\Http\Request
+Which you can pass directly from your request helper or injected `Illuminate\Http\Request`
 
 ```php
 use App\Models\User;
@@ -143,10 +149,10 @@ $users = User::filter($filters)->paginate(15);
 $users = User::filter($filters)->simplePaginate(10);
 $user  = User::filter($filters)->first();
 ```
-* ->get() → retrieves all matching records.
-* ->paginate() → retrieves paginated results with page links.
-* ->simplePaginate() → retrieves simpler pagination without total count.
-* ->first() → retrieves the first matching record.
+* `->get()` → retrieves all matching records.
+* `->paginate()` → retrieves paginated results with page links.
+* `->simplePaginate()` → retrieves simpler pagination without total count.
+* `->first()` → retrieves the first matching record.
 
 This allows you to combine filtering with any Laravel query workflow seamlessly.
 

config/query-filters.php

@@ -46,21 +46,19 @@
 
     /*
     |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-    | Default Allowed Filters
+    | Allowed Filters
     |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
     |
-    | Columns that can be filtered globally. Only listed keys are allowed.
-    | Example usage in URL:
+    | By default, ['*'] means all columns are allowed to be filtered. 
+    | 
+    | - To restrict filtering, define a list of allowed columns:
+    |   ['name', 'email', 'status']
     |
-    |   /users?status=active&role=admin
+    | - You can also override this in individual models by 
+    |   defining a public $allowedFilters = ['...'] property.
     |
     */
-    'allowed_filters'      => [
-        // 'status',
-        // 'role',
-        // 'email',
-        // 'created_at',
-    ],
+    'allowed_filters'      => ['*'],
 
     /*
     |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -117,7 +115,7 @@
     |
     */
     'pagination'           => [
-        'per_page'     => 10,   // default items per page
+        'per_page'     => 10,  // default items per page
         'max_per_page' => 100, // maximum items allowed per page
     ],
 

src/Concerns/HandlesAllowedFilters.php

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 namespace Obrainwave\LaravelQueryFilters\Concerns;
 
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;
+
 trait HandlesAllowedFilters
 {
     protected function getAllowedFilters(): array
@@ -12,7 +14,19 @@ protected function getAllowedFilters(): array
             return $model->allowedFilters;
         }
 
-        return config('query-filters.allowed_filters', []);
+        $allowed = config('query-filters.allowed_filters', ['*']);
+
+        // If wildcard used, resolve to actual columns
+        if (in_array('*', $allowed, true) && $model) {
+            try {
+                return Schema::getColumnListing($model->getTable());
+            } catch (\Throwable $e) {
+                // Fallback to empty array if schema lookup fails
+                return [];
+            }
+        }
+
+        return $allowed;
     }
 
     protected function isAllowedFilter(string $key, array $allowed): bool