reconstruction of the project

app/Models/NavItem.php

@@ -3,13 +3,17 @@
 namespace App\Models;
 
 use App\Models\BaseModel;
+use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;
 
 class NavItem extends BaseModel
 {
     protected $table = 'nav_items';
-    protected $primaryKey     = 'id';
+
+    // ✅ CI: timestamps + soft deletes
+    use SoftDeletes;
+
     public $timestamps = true;
-    protected $useSoftDeletes = true;
+
     protected $fillable = [
         'menu_parent_id',
         'label',
@@ -23,11 +27,35 @@ class NavItem extends BaseModel
         'deleted_at',
     ];
 
-    public function getChildrenOf(int $parentId): array
+    protected $casts = [
+        'menu_parent_id' => 'integer',
+        'sort_order'     => 'integer',
+        'is_enabled'     => 'boolean',
+    ];
+
+    /* Optional relationships */
+    public function parent()
     {
-        return $this->where('parent_id', $parentId)
-            ->where('is_enabled', 1)
-            ->orderBy('sort_order', 'ASC')
-            ->findAll();
+        return $this->belongsTo(self::class, 'menu_parent_id');
     }
-}
+
+    public function children()
+    {
+        return $this->hasMany(self::class, 'menu_parent_id');
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Equivalent of CI getChildrenOf()
+     * NOTE: CI code uses where('parent_id', ...) but allowedFields has menu_parent_id.
+     * This Laravel version uses menu_parent_id (likely correct).
+     */
+    public static function getChildrenOf(int $parentId): array
+    {
+        return static::query()
+            ->where('menu_parent_id', $parentId)
+            ->where('is_enabled', 1)
+            ->orderBy('sort_order', 'asc')
+            ->get()
+            ->toArray();
+    }
+}