Laravel toArray() still returning an object in DB::raw

Question

I have this code:

 $response['data'] = DB::table('customers')
                ->select(DB::raw('name,email,address1,address2,postalcode,state_region,country_code,phone,created_at'))
                ->where('user_id',"=",Auth::user()->id)
                ->where('name','like',"%$search_value%")
                ->orWhere('address1',"%$search_value%")
                ->orWhere('email','like',"%$search_value%")
                ->orWhere('address2','like',"%$search_value%")
                ->orWhere('city','like',"%$search_value%")
                ->orWhere('postalcode','like',"%$search_value%")
                ->orWhere('state_region','like',"%$search_value%")
                ->orWhere('country_code','like',"%$search_value%")
                ->orWhere('phone','like',"%$search_value%")
                ->orderBy('name', $order)
                ->limit($length)
                ->offset($start)
                ->get()->toArray();

The result of this one is this:

'data' => 
    array (size=10)
      0 => 
        object(stdClass)[194]
          public 'name' => string '|Barbara User' (length=13)
          public 'email' => string '[email protected]' (length=16)
          public 'address1' => string 'address aaddress' (length=17)
          public 'address2' => null
          public 'postalcode' => string '00000000' (length=10)
          public 'state_region' => string 'GA' (length=2)
          public 'country_code' => string 'US' (length=2)
          public 'phone' => string '12312312312' (length=10)
          public 'created_at' => string '2017-01-02 15:20:20' (length=19)
      1 => 
        object(stdClass)[201]
            public 'name' => string '|Barbara User' (length=13)
          public 'email' => string '[email protected]' (length=16)
          public 'address1' => string 'address aaddress' (length=17)
          public 'address2' => null
          public 'postalcode' => string '00000000' (length=10)
          public 'state_region' => string 'GA' (length=2)
          public 'country_code' => string 'US' (length=2)
          public 'phone' => string '12312312312' (length=10)
          public 'created_at' => string '2017-01-02 15:20:20' (length=19)
    ....

As you can see, there is still an object in the result even if I already did a toArray().

What seems to be the problem here?

Your help will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

patricus · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-03 17:10:33Z

23

When you call toArray() on a Collection, if the underlying items implement the Illuminate\Contracts\Support\Arrayable interface, the collection will attempt to call toArray() on each item. However, when you use the query builder, the result will be a Collection of stdClass objects, and stdClass objects are plain objects that do not implement that interface and do not have a toArray() method. Therefore, when you call toArray() on a Collection of stdClass objects, you will just get a plain array of the stdClass objects back.

If you instead use Eloquent, define a Customer model, and use that model to perform the query, your result will be a Collection of Customer models, and those models do implement the Arrayable interface. So, when you call toArray() on this Collection, it will call toArray() on each item in the Collection, and your result will be an array of arrays.

If, for some reason, you don't want to use Eloquent, you will need to manually convert the items from objects to arrays. You can do this easily with the map or transform methods on the Collection. Use map if you want to return a new Collection and leave the original one alone, or use transform if you just want to modify the original Collection.

$response['data'] = DB::table('customers')  
    // query conditions, etc
    ->get()
    ->map(function ($item, $key) {
        return (array) $item;
    })
    ->all();

answered Jan 3, 2017 at 17:10

patricus

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1 Comment

DevK Over a year ago

This is best answer hands down. I didn't know the collection attempts to call toArray() on each item.

DevK · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-03 17:09:49Z

3

You are converting the collection to array, not each model specifically.

You could do something like this using Laravel's collection ->transform() method:

    $response['data'] = DB::table('customers')
            ->select(DB::raw('name,email,address1,address2,postalcode,state_region,country_code,phone,created_at'))
            ->where('user_id',"=",Auth::user()->id)
            ->where('name','like',"%$search_value%")
            ->orWhere('address1',"%$search_value%")
            ->orWhere('email','like',"%$search_value%")
            ->orWhere('address2','like',"%$search_value%")
            ->orWhere('city','like',"%$search_value%")
            ->orWhere('postalcode','like',"%$search_value%")
            ->orWhere('state_region','like',"%$search_value%")
            ->orWhere('country_code','like',"%$search_value%")
            ->orWhere('phone','like',"%$search_value%")
            ->orderBy('name', $order)
            ->limit($length)
            ->offset($start)
            ->get();

    $response['data']->transform(function ($item) {
        // return $item->toArray(); // You could do this if you called the query with model
        return (array)$item; // This should work in your case 
    });

This way $response['data'] will be a collection (not array) of arrays. You could additionally do this:

$response['data']->toArray();

To convert the collection to array as well.

edited Jan 3, 2017 at 17:09

answered Jan 3, 2017 at 15:57

DevK

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3 Comments

PinoyStackOverflower Over a year ago

I am getting a Call to undefined method stdClass::toArray() in your $item->toArray();

DevK Over a year ago

That is interesting. I tested similar code (called with Model instead of \DB::table()) and it worked. Then I assume Amit Gupta's answer should work.

patricus Over a year ago

If the query was performed using an Eloquent Model, there wouldn't be any need for this. Models implement the Arrayable interface, so calling toArray() on the Collection would automatically call toArray() on the individual items.

Amit Gupta · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-03 16:59:09Z

1

You can type cast each object in the collection to an array as:

$response['data']->transform(function($x) {
   return (array) $x; 
})->toArray();

And the toArray gets you from the collection back to an array.

answered Jan 3, 2017 at 16:59

Amit Gupta

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Comments

Ron · Accepted Answer · 2020-08-28 00:23:54Z

0

toArray is changing the collection of objects into an array of objects, like it should. If you want the objects inside the collection to also be arrays, you need to first convert each object:

$users = DB::table('users')->where([...])->take(1)->get();

$array = $users->map(function($obj){
    return (array) $obj;
})->toArray();

edited Aug 28, 2020 at 0:23

Ron

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answered Aug 27, 2020 at 22:45

Mohsin Javeed

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