How To Cast Eloquent Pivot Parameters

Question

I have the following Eloquent Models with relationships:

class Lead extends Model 
{
    public function contacts() 
    {
        return $this->belongsToMany('App\Contact')
                    ->withPivot('is_primary');
    }
}

class Contact extends Model 
{
    public function leads() 
    {
        return $this->belongsToMany('App\Lead')
                    ->withPivot('is_primary');
    }
}

The pivot table contains an additional param (is_primary) that marks a relationship as the primary. Currently, I see returns like this when I query for a contact:

{
    "id": 565,
    "leads": [
        {
            "id": 349,
             "pivot": {
                "contact_id": "565",
                "lead_id": "349",
                "is_primary": "0"
             }
        }
    ]
}

Is there a way to cast the is_primary in that to a boolean? I've tried adding it to the $casts array of both models but that did not change anything.

Answer 1

Hello,

In Laravel 5.1 or higher you can use dot notation for pivot casts:

protected $casts = [
    'id' => 'integer',
    'courses.pivot.course_id' => 'integer',
    'courses.pivot.active' => 'boolean'
]

Hope it helps!!