Return Laravel options() as array when no optional parameter has been provided-CodePudding

Laravel has the super handy optional() helper.

I would like to combine it with a custom Model attribute like this:

// this method is on the User model
public function getDataAttribute()
{
    // this data comes from another service
    $data = [
        'one' => 1,
        'two' => 2,
    ];

    return optional($data);
}

So I can use it like this:

$user->data->one // 1
$user->data->two // 2
$user->data->three // null

However, I am also trying to return the entire array by doing:

dump($user->data); // this should dump the internal $data array

But this will return an instance of Illuminate\Support\Optional with a value property.

Illuminate\Support\Optional {#1416 ▼
  #value: {#2410 ▼
     "one": 1
     "two": 2
  }
}

Is it possible to return the original $data array if no "sub"parameter (= a child attribute of $user->data) is given? Or is there a possibility to detect a child parameter in the getDataAttribute()?

I hope it's clear what I am trying to achieve.

CodePudding user response：

What you're asking for cannot be achieved.

My suggestion would be to keep things simple and define a getter method and pass the key of the array you want and from there return your data respectively, e.g.:

public function getData($key = null) {
    $data = [
        'one' => 1,
        'two' => 2,
    ];

    if (!$key) {
        return $data;
    }

    return $data[$key] ?? null;
}

Notice also how this method is no longer an attribute, this is because AFAIR, you cannot pass args to attribute methods.

Reading Material

Null coalescing operator

CodePudding user response：

Thanks to lagbox for pushing me in the right direction. I have solved this by using the following macro:

Illuminate\Support\Optional::macro('toArray', function()
{
    return (array) $this->value;
});

This way I can access all data by using:

$user->data->toArray();