查询构建器上的paginator调用不返回laravel 4中的paginator对象（在特定情况下）

Problem:

Query builder:

$r = DB::table('someTable');
$r->where(....)
$r->paginate(30, array(....))
return $r;

Now calling a get_class() on $r gives Illuminate\Database\Query\Builder

But after opening up vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Database/Query/builder.php, i saw this,

public function paginate($perPage = 15, $columns = array('*'))
{
    $paginator = $this->connection->getPaginator();


    if (isset($this->groups))
    {
        return $this->groupedPaginate($paginator, $perPage, $columns);
    }
    else
    {            
        return $this->ungroupedPaginate($paginator, $perPage, $columns);
    }
}

The line above, return $this->ungroupedPaginate($paginator, $perPage, $columns); indeed returns a Illuminate\Pagination\Paginator object.

But after that, it again becomes the query builder object.

However,

if i do a continuous chain, like below

$r = DB::table('someTable')->where(...)->orderBy(....)->paginate(....)

It returns a Paginator object.

In both the above two cases, calling toSql() returns the same sql which is being run. So builder is construting the same query only returning different objects in above two cases.

What may be the cause of this? because in my opinion, the resulting object in both the above two cases should be same which is Paginator. or am i missing something basic here?

You need to re-assign the returned value to the $r variable.

$r = DB::table('someTable');
$r = $r->where(....)
$r = $r->paginate(30, array(....))
return $r;