How to submit unchecked checkboxes to controller - php

Question

Ok first I have a "settings" table on my database in which I have the fields "name" and "value" its a configuration kind of table where the value could be anything from string to boolean values etc.
Now on my blade, I have a form with various inputs "texts" "selects" "checkboxes" etc. When submitting the form on the controller I run a foreach where for each attribute of the $request I store its key as the name and its value as its value on the database.
$agency_id = Auth::user()->agency->id;
$settings = AgencySettings::whereAgencyId($agency_id)->get();
foreach ($request->except('_token') as $key => $value)
{
$setting = $settings->where('name','=',$key)->first();
if (boolval($setting))
{
$setting->value = $value;
$setting->update();
}else{
$setting = new AgencySettings;
$setting->agency_id = $agency_id;
$setting->name = $key;
$setting->value = $value;
$setting->save();
}
}
All works well except the unchecked checkboxes which are not inside the $request.
I know I can handle them like so $request->has('name_of_checkbox') but because of the dynamic nature of the table on the database, I don't want to have hardcoded on my Controller the name of a specific setting.
My goal is that the code on my Controller will be the same regardless the number of different settings I will use on my frontend (maybe in the future there will be a need to add more).
So my question, is there a way to handle those checkboxes serverside without having to refer to them specifically, or a way to always return the value of the checkboxes to the server despite its state?
My first thought is to go with javascript and hidden inputs, but maybe there is a better way.

Answer 1

You could add a hidden field with the same name before every checkbox you want to receive, like :
<input type="hidden" name="checkbox-1" value="0" />
<input type="checkbox" name="checkbox-1" value="1" /> My checbox 1
That will send the hidden field with the 0 value when the field is unchecked and send the proper truthy value when it's checked.
NOTE: Just make sure you're adding the hidden field first so you'll receive just the checked one when the field is checked.

Answer 2

Other solution is to simply check if value for "checkbox-1" is set in post array.
So you will set default to 0 on your controller side and check if value exists instead of checking if it is 0 or 1.
(M.)