Amending a cast attribute inside a collection in Laravel

Question

I have a model has an attribute which is cast to an array, like so

protected $casts = [
   'data' => 'array',
];

I need to make an amendment to the array before returning the Collection. Using the each method on the Collection I can make changes to the attributes inside.

$collection = $collection->each(function ($collection, $key) {
    if ($collection->type == 'foo') {
       $collection->type = 'bar';
    }
});

This works and the Collection is altered. However I need to change the array in the cast attribute.

$collection = $collection->each(function ($collection, $key) {
    if ($collection->type == 'foo') {

        foreach ($collection->data['x'] as $k => $v) {
            $collection->data['x'][$k]['string'] = 'example';
        }

    }
});

However this returns an error.

Indirect modification of overloaded property App\Models\Block::$data has no effect

I understand that accessing $collection->data will be using a magic __get() is being used, so I would need to use a setter. So how do I achieve this?

Thanks in advance.

Steve · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-25 12:09:23Z

1

Presumably you can take the whole array, perform your modifications and then set it:

$collection = $collection->each(function ($collectionItem, $key) {
    if ($collectionItem->type == 'foo') {
        $data = $collectionItem->data;
        foreach ($data['x'] as $k => $v) {
            $data['x'][$k]['string'] = 'example';
        }
        $collectionItem->data = $data;

    }
});

Though if this modification is required for all uses of the model, perhaps it would be better to do this in the model its self:

class SomeModel
{


    //protected $casts = [
    //   'data' => 'array',
    //];

    public function getDataAttribute($value)
    {
        $data = json_decode($value);
        foreach ($data['x'] as $k => $v) {
                $data['x'][$k]['string'] = 'example';
        }
        return $data;
    }

    public function setDataAttribute($value)
    {
        $this->attributes['data'] = json_encode($value);
    }

}

edited May 25, 2016 at 12:09

answered May 25, 2016 at 11:38

Steve

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7 Comments

DrKHunter Over a year ago

Thank you, that worked. I had tried something similar but at that point another part of the code was wrong.

DrKHunter Over a year ago

How would you go about adding this to the model? There is more logic around the actual data than this example.

Steve Over a year ago

Well instead of using the $casts array to let laravel handle the cast, you can use a getter (1Attribute accessor in laravel speak) to handle the cast and any other logic: laravel.com/docs/5.1/eloquent-mutators

DrKHunter Over a year ago

Thanks. I would then also need to make sure that I encoded to json when setting data. Unless this could also be achieved in the model?

Steve Over a year ago

@DrKHunter Yes, that can be done in the model with a setter (attribute mutator in docs), see edit.

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