README

Requirements: I've only tested this package with Laravel 5.5, please help me by testing this package in older versions of Laravel

Installation

Install this package by typing the following command:

composer require stahiralijan/request-caster

Usage

Let's learn from an example:

You want to be able to save the submitted data but you don't want to make a mess in the controller method like this:

public function store(UserFormRequest $request)
{
    ...
    $first_name = ucfirst($request->first_name); // or ucfirst($request->get('first_name')
    $last_name = ucfirst($request->last_name); // or ucfirst($request->get('last_name') 
    ...
    $user = User::create([
        ...
        'first_name' => $first_name,
        'last_name' => $last_name,
        ...
    ]);
    ...
    // after handling model stuff
    return redirect(route('users.index'))
            ->with('message'=>"User ({$user->first_name} {$user->last_name}) created!");
}

As you can see after a while you start to wondering what if there is a way you could automate this process so that your controller would look elegant and clean. With this package you can just do that:

Step 1:

Use the RequestCaster Trait in your form request (in this case UserFormRequest):

...
use Stahiralijan\RequestCaster\Traits\RequestCasterTrait;
...
class UserFormRequest extends FormRequest
{
    use RequestCasterTrait;
    ...
}

Step 2:

Define the Request attributes that are required to be casted:

class UserFormRequest extends FormRequest
{
    use RequestCasterTrait;
    
    protected $toUCFirstWords = ['first_name','last_name'];
    
    // More about this is explained below
    protected $joinStrings = ['fullname'=>' |first_name,last_name'];
    ...
}

Finally

...and that's all you needed to do, first_name and last_name are automatically capitalized. Also, you don't need to worry about your form data being getting dirty before validation because these castings will run after the validator validates the form data.

public function store(UserFormRequest $request)
{
    // first_name and last_name  
    $user = User::create($request->all());
    ...
    // after handling model stuff
    return redirect(route('users.index'))
            ->with('message'=>"User ({$request->full_name}) created!");
}

Available transformations / Casts

The following casts are available:

$toLowerCaseWords: Applies strtolower() to the selected field(s).
$toUpperCaseWords: Applies strtoupper() to the selected field(s).
$toUCFirstWords: Applies ucwords() to the selected field(s).
$toSlugs: Applies str_slug() to the selected field(s).
$toIntegers: Casts selected field(s) to int.
$toFloats: Casts selected field(s) to float.
$toBooleans: Casts selected field(s) to bool.
$toArrayFromJson: Applies json_decode() to the selected fields.
$joinStrings: Joins two or more fields and sets the result in new field specified in the array key, syntax: $joinStrings = ['newField' => 'glue|field1,field2,...,fieldn']

Available methods

collection(array $keys) returns an object of Illuminate\Support\Collection
dd() dumps and dies all the fields submitted in request
dump() dumps all the fields submitted in request

You can use this method to get a collection (Illuminate\Support\Collection) of all the attributes

public function store(UserFormReques $request)
{
    $request->collection()->filter(function($item){
        ...
    });
    // or
    $request->collection()->map(function($item){
        ...
    });
}

How to cast

All of the properties are pretty straight forward, you define the attributes that needs to be casted like this:

// Convert the defined attributes to Upper-case
$toUpperCaseWords = ['product_code'];

// Upper-case the first letter of the words defined below
$toUCFirstWords = ['display_name'];

// Convert the following attributes into slugs
$toSlugs = ['product_name'];

You got the idea about the usage of the simple stuff, now one special transformation / caster

$joinStrings = ['fullname'=>' |first_name,last_name'];

Here fullname will be a new attribute of the FormRequest which does not exists in the either the form or the FormRequest in the current context.
Notice a space ' ' in the starting of value is the glue of the two attributes
Next | is the separator between the glue and the desired attributes
Next you add the attributes that needs to be glued.

If first_name is Tahir and last_name is Jan the output will be Tahir Jan according to the above rule, and can be accessed with $request->fullname or $request->get('fullname')

stahiralijan / request-caster

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