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Last Updated: 2023-03-14 23:13:21
Automatically cast JSON columns to rich PHP objects in Laravel using Spatie's data-transfer-object class
License: MIT License
Languages: PHP
https://jessarcher.com/blog/casting-json-columns-to-value-objects/
Laravel is awesome. Spatie's data transfer object package for PHP is awesome. They're already good friends, but now they're taking their relationship to the next level 💕
Have you ever wanted to cast your JSON columns to a value object?
This package gives you an extended version of Spatie's DataTransferObject
class, called CastableDataTransferObject
.
Under the hood it implements Laravel's Castable
interface with a Laravel custom cast that handles serializing between the DataTransferObject
(or a compatible array) and your JSON database column.
For an in-depth explanation of what it's actually doing and the motivation behind it, check out the blog post that spawned it.
This package has also been featured on Laravel News!
You can install the package via composer:
composer require jessarcher/laravel-castable-data-transfer-object
CastableDataTransferObject
Check out the readme for Spatie's data transfer object package to find out more about what their DataTransferObject
class can do.
namespace App\Values;
use JessArcher\CastableDataTransferObject\CastableDataTransferObject;
class Address extends CastableDataTransferObject
{
public string $street;
public string $suburb;
public string $state;
}
(Note: I like to put these in App\Values
because I'm using them as a value object and not just a plain DTO. Feel free to put it anywhere you like!)
Note that this should be a jsonb
or json
column in your database schema.
namespace App\Models;
use App\Values\Address;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class User extends Model
{
protected $casts = [
'address' => Address::class,
];
}
And that's it! You can now pass either an instance of your Address
class, or even just an array with a compatible structure. It will automatically be cast between your class and JSON for storage and the data will be validated on the way in and out.
$user = User::create([
// ...
'address' => [
'street' => '1640 Riverside Drive',
'suburb' => 'Hill Valley',
'state' => 'California',
],
])
$residents = User::where('address->suburb', 'Hill Valley')->get();
But the best part is that you can decorate your class with domain-specific methods to turn it into a powerful value object.
$user->address->toMapUrl();
$user->address->getCoordinates();
$user->address->getPostageCost($sender);
$user->address->calculateDistance($otherUser->address);
echo (string) $user->address;
By default, if a database value is null
, then the model attribute will also be null
. However, sometimes you might want to instantiate the attribute with some default values.
To achieve this, you may provide an additional nullable
Cast Parameter to ensure the caster gets instantiated.
namespace App\Models;
use App\Values\Address;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class User extends Model
{
protected $casts = [
'settings' => Settings::class . ':nullable',
];
}
This will ensure that the Settings
caster is instantiated even when the settings
column in the database is null
.
You may then specify some default values in the cast which will be used instead.
use JessArcher\CastableDataTransferObject\CastableDataTransferObject;
class Settings extends CastableDataTransferObject
{
public string $title = 'Default';
}
You may provide the caster with flags to be used for serialization by adding the CastUsingJsonFlags
attribute to your object:
use JessArcher\CastableDataTransferObject\CastableDataTransferObject;
use JessArcher\CastableDataTransferObject\CastUsingJsonFlags;
#[CastUsingJsonFlags(encode: JSON_PRESERVE_ZERO_FRACTION)]
class Address extends CastableDataTransferObject {}
composer test
Please see CHANGELOG for more information what has changed recently.
Please see CONTRIBUTING for details.
If you discover any security related issues, please email [email protected] instead of using the issue tracker.
The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.
This package was generated using the Laravel Package Boilerplate.