Laravel: Edit value only if it appears in the request? - php

Question

in my app the user can update the info of stripe connected account, however I ONLY want to actullay update the value of the fields that appear in the request payload, I could do this with a simple if check but the way I update the stripe array method makes this issue more complicated .
Is there any syntax sugar or trick to make this easier.
How my update method looks;
public function editConnectedAccount(Request $request)
{
$account = Account::retrieve($request->connectedAccountId);
Account::update(
$request->connectedAccountId,
[
'type' => 'custom',
'country' => 'ES',
'email' => $request->userEmail,
'business_type' => 'individual',
'tos_acceptance' => [ 'date' => Carbon::now()->timestamp, 'ip' => '83.46.154.71' ],
'individual' =>
[
'dob' => [ 'day' => $request->userDOBday, 'month' => $request->userDOBmonth, 'year' => $request->userDOByear ],
'first_name' => $request->userName,
'email' => $request->userEmail,
'phone' => $request->userPhone,
'last_name' => $request->userSurname,
//'ssn_last_4' => 7871,
'address' => [ 'city' => $request->userBusinessCity, 'line1' => $request->userBusinessAddress, 'postal_code' => $request->userBusinessZipCode, 'state' => $request->userBusinessCity ]
],
'business_profile' =>
[
'mcc' => 5812, //got it
'description' => '',
//'url' => 'https://www.youtube.com/?hl=es&gl=ES', //got it
],
'capabilities' => [
'card_payments' => ['requested' => true],
'transfers' => ['requested' => true],
],
]
);
return response()->json([
'account' => $account,
], 200);

Answer 1

Consider using a Form Request where you preform validation. This will neaten up your controller for a start and also make validation (never trust user input!) reusable.
Assuming validation is successful, calling $request->validated() from inside your controller method will return only the fields present and validated. You can then use either fill($request->validated()) or update($request->validated()).