Laravel 8 - Save multiple checkbox selections with separate field to pivot table - php

Question

Background:
Laravel 8 + Bootstrap 5
I'm pulling a list of licence categories from database to the form.
In the form user is asked to tick which licence to assign to the user. (up to that point I'm OK)
Target
I'd like licence expiry date to be assigned to every category selected.
Code
blade.php
<div class="mb-1"><strong>Assign user's driving licence categories:</strong></div>
#foreach($categories as $category)
<div class="input-group mb-3">
<div class="input-group-text" style="width: 6ch !important;">{{$category->name}}</div>
<div class="input-group-text">
<input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" name="categories[]" value="{{$category->id}}">
</div>
<div class="input-group-text">Expiry date</div>
<input class="form-control" type="date" name="expiry_date[]">
</div>
#endforeach
Form screenshot
pivot table migration
public function up()
{
Schema::create('driving_licence_category_user', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->id();
$table->string('driving_licence_category_id');
$table->string('user_id');
$table->string('expiry_date')->nullable();
$table->timestamps();
});
}
models
User
public function drivingLicenceCategory()
{
return $this->belongsToMany('App\Models\DrivingLicenceCategory')
->withPivot('expiry_date')
->withTimestamps();
}
Licence
public function userHasDrivingLicenceCategory()
{
return $this->belongsToMany('App\Models\User');
}
UserController
public function store(Request $request)
{
$request->validate([
'first_name' => 'required',
'last_name' => 'required',
'email' => 'required',
'roles' => 'required',
'categories' => 'required',
'expiry_date' => 'required'
]);
$user = User::create($request->except(['roles', 'categories', 'expiry_date']))
->syncRoles($request->roles)
->drivingLicenceCategory()->sync($request->only('categories'));
//missing code to store the expiry_date information
return redirect()->route('users.index')->with('success', 'User added successfully.');
}
Thank you for spending time on this post :)