Paginator Adapters

Paginator behavior depends on which adapter you create.

Array adapter

ArrayPaginator is the simple option for already-loaded data.

Use it when you have an in-memory array and want to slice it into pages without touching the database layer.

$paginator = PaginatorFactory::create(PaginatorType::ARRAY, [
    'items' => $items,
    'perPage' => 20,
    'page' => 3,
]);

Input contract

• items must be an array
• perPage is an integer
• page is an integer and defaults to 1

Returned data

• data() returns the current page slice as an array
• firstItem() and lastItem() return the first and last item from that slice
• when the current page has no items, firstItem() and lastItem() return null

Good fit

Choose this adapter when the source data is already in memory, such as filtered config rows, API results you already fetched, or custom service output.

Model adapter

ModelPaginator paginates a Quantum DbModel query.

Use it when you already have a model builder with criteria, ordering, or joins applied and you want a paginated result plus navigation metadata.

$paginator = PaginatorFactory::create(PaginatorType::MODEL, [
    'model' => $postModel,
    'perPage' => 15,
    'page' => 2,
]);

Input contract

• model must be a DbModel instance
• perPage is an integer
• page is an integer and defaults to 1

Returned data

• data() returns a ModelCollection
• firstItem() and lastItem() return models from that collection or null when the page is empty

Query behavior that affects usage

• Build your filters and sorting first, then create the paginator.
• data(), firstItem(), and lastItem() may each trigger data loading, so fetch once and reuse when possible.
• If you paginate a named model class, returned rows are hydrated back into that model type.

Shared adapter behavior

Both adapters share the same paging metadata API through PaginatorInterface, including:

• current, previous, next, and last page numbers
• current, previous, next, first, and last page links
• links() for the full page list
• getPagination() for ready-made HTML output