Cast

The Cast attribute allows you to cast your model's public properties to a specific type and also to type your public properties. It works the same way as it would be using the casts property on your model, but you can set it directly on your public properties.

use Carbon\CarbonImmutable;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use WendellAdriel\Lift\Attributes\Cast;
use WendellAdriel\Lift\Lift;

final class Product extends Model
{
    use Lift;

    public string $name;

    #[Cast('float')]
    public float $price;

    #[Cast('int')]
    public int $category_id;

    #[Cast('boolean')]
    public bool $is_active;

    #[Cast('immutable_datetime')]
    public CarbonImmutable $promotion_expires_at;
    
    #[Cast('array')]
    public ?array $json_column;
}

For the casting to work properly with your public properties, you need to use these helper methods that are available in your Lift model:

castAndCreate

A replacement for the create method. It will cast your public properties and create a new model instance.

$product = Product::castAndCreate([
    'name' => 'Product 1',
    'price' => '10.99',
    'category_id' => '1',
    'is_active' => 1,
    'promotion_expires_at' => '2023-12-31 23:59:59',
    'json_column' => ['foo' => 'bar'],
]);

castAndFill

A replacement for the fill method. It will cast your public properties and fill the model instance.

$product = new Product();
$product->castAndFill([
    'name' => 'Product 1',
    'price' => '10.99',
    'category_id' => '1',
    'is_active' => 1,
    'promotion_expires_at' => '2023-12-31 23:59:59',
    'json_column' => '{"foo":"bar"}', // You can also pass a JSON string
]);
$product->save();

castAndSet

This can be used to cast and set a single public property.

$product = new Product();
$product->castAndSet('is_active', 1);

castAndUpdate

A replacement for the update method. It will cast your public properties and update the model instance.

$product = Product::query()->find(1);
$product->castAndUpdate([
    'name' => 'Product 1',
    'price' => '10.99',
    'category_id' => '1',
    'is_active' => 1,
    'promotion_expires_at' => '2023-12-31 23:59:59',
    'json_column' => ['foo' => 'bar'],
]);