How to store associative array in Laravel - php

Question

I'm new to Laravel, and I want to store this array in DB.
This is the php code of my array:
$socialNetwork = array();
$socialNetwork[0]["name"]= "Facebook";
$socialNetwork[0]["account"]= "facebook_account";
$socialNetwork[1]["name"]= "Twitter";
$socialNetwork[1]["account"]= "twitter_account";
$socialNetwork[2]["name"]= "Instagram";
$socialNetwork[2]["account"]= "insta_account";
The var_dump() looks like this:
array(3) {
[0] => array(2) {
["name"] => string(8) "Facebook"
["account"] => string(16) "facebook_account"
}
[1] => array(2) {
["name"] => string(7) "Twitter"
["account"] => string(15) "twitter_account"
}
[2] => array(2) {
["name"] => string(9) "Instagram"
["account"] => string(13) "insta_account"
}
}
I've tried several things but I can't get it to work!
Please help with the code. The table name is socialAccounts

Answer 1

Add a column in your database for this field; a JSON or TEXT type will do the job.
Next, you should add the column to the $casts array on your SocialAccount model:
protected $casts = [
'facebook_account' => 'array',
];
Now, whenever you retrieve this value, it will be deserialized for you.
To store the value, just use json_encode():
$social_account->facebook_account = json_encode($facebookArrayData);
$social_account->save();
You can read more on attribute casting in the docs; https://laravel.com/docs/7.x/eloquent-mutators#attribute-casting