How to cast data from array in Laravel / Eloquent in model - php

Question

Can someone please tell me how can I achieve something in a Laravel Model?
One of the columns contains json_encoded data:
["1", "7", "13", "18"]
I have a model for this specific table and when I'm trying to get the data from different tables based on those ids, it won't work as variable is always null:
use App\Models\VehiculeType;
...
class Freight extends Model
{
...
public function selected_vt() {
return VehiculeType::whereIn('id', json_decode($this->vehicules))
->get();
}
}
Then in the controller:
$freights = Freight::with('selected_vt')
->where('user_id', Auth::user()->id)
->get();
And I'm getting this error:
Argument 1 passed to Illuminate\Database\Query\Builder::cleanBindings() must be of the type array, null given
I am sure I'm making some fundamental error trying to do this in the completely wrong way.

Answer 1

Unfortunately you can't use with with collection, and selected_vt must return relation instance rather than a collection.
Try eloquent-json-relations package, it can helps you with your situation:
https://github.com/staudenmeir/eloquent-json-relations
Here is an example depending your situation
After installing package
in Freight Modle
class Freight extends Model
{
use \Staudenmeir\EloquentJsonRelations\HasJsonRelationships;
protected $casts = [
'vehicules' => 'json'
];
public function vehicules()
{
return $this->belongsToJson(VehiculeType::class, 'vehicules');
}
}
If you want the reversed relation
in VehiculeType Model
class VehiculeType extends Model
{
use \Staudenmeir\EloquentJsonRelations\HasJsonRelationships;
public function freights()
{
return $this->hasManyJson(Freight::class, 'vehicules');
}
}
Then in the controller:
$freights = Freight::with('vehicules')
->where('user_id', Auth::user()->id)
->get();