Often times, database fields that are not assigned values are defaulted to null. This is particularly important when creating records with foreign key constraints, where the relationship is not yet established.
As of version 1.0, this package also supports converting empty arrays to null in fields that are cast to an array, or not.
As of 1.1.0, this package exposes the underlying functionality which determines and sets empty fields to null as a public method. This allows users to implement their own model saving event listeners, by calling the setNullableFields method along with any additional save-time behaviours.
As of version 1.2.0, this package handles attributes that have both casting and a mutator set. When using a mutator, ensure that you set a string for any non-empty values, and an empty (string, array, null, etc.) for any other case.
Version 1.3.0 adds compatibility for Laravel 5.3.
Note, the database field must be configured to allow null.
public function up()
{
Schema::create('profile_user', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->increments('id');
$table->integer('user_id')->nullable()->default(null);
$table->foreign('user_id')->references('users')->on('id');
$table->string('twitter_profile')->nullable()->default(null);
$table->string('facebook_profile')->nullable()->default(null);
$table->string('linkedin_profile')->nullable()->default(null);
$table->text('array_casted')->nullable()->default(null);
$table->text('array_not_casted')->nullable()->default(null);
});
}More recent versions of MySQL will convert the value to an empty string if the field is not configured to allow null. Be aware that older versions may actually return an error.
Laravel does not currently support automatically setting nullable database fields as null when the value assigned to a given attribute is empty.
This trait is installed via Composer. To install, simply add it to your composer.json file:
{
"require": {
"iatstuti/laravel-nullable-fields": "~1.0"
}
}
Then run composer to update your dependencies:
$ composer update
In order to use this trait, import it in your Eloquent model, then set the protected $nullable property as an array of fields you would like to be saved as null when empty.
<?php
use Iatstuti\Database\Support\NullableFields;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class UserProfile extends Model
{
use NullableFields;
protected $nullable = [
'facebook_profile',
'twitter_profile',
'linkedin_profile',
'array_casted',
'array_not_casted',
];
protected $casts = [ 'array_casted' => 'array', ];
}Now, any time you are saving a UserProfile profile instance, any empty attributes that are set in the $nullable property will be saved as null.
<?php
$profile = new UserProfile::find(1);
$profile->facebook_profile = ' '; // Empty, saved as null
$profile->twitter_profile = 'michaeldyrynda';
$profile->linkedin_profile = ''; // Empty, saved as null
$profile->array_casted = []; // Empty, saved as null
$profile->array_not_casted = []; // Empty, saved as null
$profile->save();Working with nullable fields in Eloquent models - first iteration
Working with nullable fields in Eloquent models - Part Deux - second iteration, covers the details of this package
If you are having general issues with this package, feel free to contact me on Twitter.
If you believe you have found an issue, please report it using the GitHub issue tracker, or better yet, fork the repository and submit a pull request.
If you're using this package, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!