Laravel - How to convert API Resource to array recursively?

Question

I'm using Laravel API Resource and want to convert all parts of my instance to an array.

In my PreorderResource.php:

/**
 * Transform the resource into an array.
 *
 * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request
 * @return array
 */
public function toArray($request)
{
    return [
        'id' => $this->id,
        'exception' => $this->exception,
        'failed_at' => $this->failed_at,
        'driver' => new DriverResource(
            $this->whenLoaded('driver')
        )
    ];
}

Then to resolve:

$resolved = (new PreorderResource(
  $preorder->load('driver')
))->resolve();

At first glance, the method resolve would fit it but the problem is that it doesn't work recursively. My resource resolved looks like:

array:3 [
  "id" => 8
  "exception" => null
  "failed_at" => null
  "driver" => Modules\User\Transformers\DriverResource {#1359}
]

How to resolve an API Resource to array recursively?

I believe the issue is with the DriveResource. can you show the code in the DriverResource? — Tharaka Dilshan, Sep 27 '18 at 16:57

Marcin Nabiałek · Accepted Answer · 2018-09-27T17:10:57.373

13

Normally, you should just do:

Route::get('/some-url', function() {
    $preorder = Preorder::find(1); 
    return new PreorderResource($preorder->load('driver'))
});

because this is how responses should be used (of course you can do it from your controller).

However if there is any reason you want to do it manually you can do:

Route::get('/some-url', function() {
    $preorder = Preorder::find(1); 
    $jsonResponse = (new PreorderResource($preorder->load('driver')))->toResponse(app('request'));

    echo $jsonResponse->getData();
});

I'm not sure if this is exact effect you want, but you can get also other information from $jsonResponse if you need. And result of ->getData() is object.

You can also use:

echo $jsonResponse->getContent();

if you need to just get string

edited Sep 27 '18 at 17:10

answered Sep 27 '18 at 17:04

Marcin Nabiałek

109,655
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Great! the result by using `getData()` fits what I'm looking for. Now I just have to convert the stdClass to array – Alexandre Thebaldi Sep 27 '18 at 17:29
3

@AlexandreThebaldi Well, you can just pass `true` as argument of `getData` and you will get array instead – Marcin Nabiałek Sep 27 '18 at 17:31
Perfect answer! – Alexandre Thebaldi Sep 27 '18 at 17:38

themightysapien · Answer 2 · 2022-09-07T18:11:21.247

9

Easiest way is to generate json and convert back to array.

$resource = new ModelResource($model);
$array = json_decode($resource->toJson(), true);

edited Sep 07 '22 at 18:11

answered Jul 13 '21 at 16:46

themightysapien

8,309
2
17
15

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 20 '21 at 08:36

The late answer, you could also go with:

Route::get('/some-url', function() {
    $preorder = Preorder::find(1); 
    $jsonResponse = json_decode(json_encode(new PreorderResource($preorder->load('driver'))));
    echo $jsonResponse;
});

In case you want only array string you remove the outer json_decode.

Laravel - How to convert API Resource to array recursively?

3 Answers3