How to get only specific fields from Laravel Eloquent API Resource? - php

Question

I am working on an API that will be accessible via a mobile and web app.
I need to send specific fields from the API resource.
I have ItemResource
public function toArray($request) {
return [
'id' => $this->id,
'name' => $this->name,
'description' => $this->description,
'price' => $this->price,
'stock' => $this->stock,
'reviews' => $this->reviews, // this is from reviews table
];
}
My Item Model
public function reviews() {
return $this->hasMany(ItemReview::class);
}
My controller code
return ItemResource::collection(Item::all());
I get this array
{
"data": {
"id": 10,
"name": "Item Name",
"description": "Item description",
"price": 410,
"stock": "815",
"reviews": [
{
"id": 4, // I don't want to get this field
"item_id": 10, // I don't want to get this field
"user_id": 9, // I want to show user name instead of user id
"review": "item review."
},
{
"id": 12, // I don't want to get this field
"item_id": 10, // I don't want to get this field
"user_id": 3, // I want to show user name instead of user id
"review": "item review."
}
]
}
}
I want to get an array like this
{
"data": {
"id": 10,
"name": "Item Name",
"description": "Item description",
"price": 410,
"stock": "815",
"reviews": [
{
"user_name": 'jhon',
"review": "item review."
},
{
"user_name": 'jhon2',
"review": "item review."
}
]
}
}
I would like to show only specific fields.
How can I implement this?

Answer 1

1. Only select what you need
If you add parentheses after reviews, you can return a Builder instance, which will allow you to add queries to the relationship.
With this, you can select the fields you need.
public function toArray($request) {
return [
'id' => $this->id,
'name' => $this->name,
'description' => $this->description,
'price' => $this->price,
'stock' => $this->stock,
'reviews' => $this->reviews()->select('user_name', 'review')->get(),
];
}
2. Create a ReviewResource
You can also create a resource for Review that returns it's own data.
class ReviewResource extends JsonResource
{
public function toArray($request)
{
return [
'user_name' => $this->user_name,
'review' => $this->review,
];
}
}
class ItemResource extends JsonResource
{
public function toArray($request) {
return [
'id' => $this->id,
'name' => $this->name,
'description' => $this->description,
'price' => $this->price,
'stock' => $this->stock,
'reviews' => ReviewResource::collection($this->reviews),
];
}
}