Creating a cast

Casts take simple values and cast them into complex types. For example, 16-05-1994T00:00:00+00 could be cast into a Carbon object with the same date.

A cast implements the following interface:

interface Cast
{
    public function cast(DataProperty $property, mixed $value, array $context): mixed;
}

The value that should be cast is given, and a DataProperty object which represents the property for which the value is cast. You can read more about the internal structures of the package here.

Within the context array the complete payload is given.

In the end, the cast should return a casted value. Please note that the given value of a cast can never be null.

When the cast is unable to cast the value, an Uncastable object should be returned.

##Castables

You may want to allow your application's value objects to define their own custom casting logic. Instead of attaching the custom cast class to your object, you may alternatively attach a value object class that implements the Spatie\LaravelData\Casts\Castable interface:

class ForgotPasswordRequest extends Data
{
    public function __construct(
        #[WithCastable(Email::class)]
        public Email $email,
    ) {
    }
}

When using Castable classes, you may still provide arguments in the WithCastable attribute. The arguments will be passed to the dataCastUsing method:

class DuplicateEmailCheck extends Data
{
    public function __construct(
        #[WithCastable(Email::class, normalize: true)]
        public Email $email,
    ) {
    }
}

By combining "castables" with PHP's anonymous classes, you may define a value object and its casting logic as a single castable object. To accomplish this, return an anonymous class from your value object's dataCastUsing method. The anonymous class should implement the Cast interface:

<?php
namespace Spatie\LaravelData\Tests\Fakes\Castables;

use Spatie\LaravelData\Casts\Cast;
use Spatie\LaravelData\Casts\Castable;
use Spatie\LaravelData\Support\DataProperty;

class Email implements Castable
{
  public function __construct(public string $email) {

  }

  public static function dataCastUsing(...$arguments): Cast
  {
    return new class implements Cast {
        public function cast(DataProperty $property, mixed $value, array $context): mixed {
            return new Email($value);
        }
    };
  }
}