Array to string conversion (SQL: insert into - php

Question

I'm trying to insert data from a Seeder in Laravel 5.6 and I'm having a problem with the field that is json type. I want this field ('stops') to be an array (for example of ten integers not repeated).
The table seeder (RoutesTableSeeder.php) is something like this:
<?php
use \Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;
use Illuminate\Database\Seeder;
use Faker\Factory as Faker;
use App\Models\Route;
class RoutesTableSeeder extends Seeder
{
/**
* Run the database seeds.
*
* #return void
*/
public function run()
{
//factory(Route::class, 20)->create();
$faker = Faker::create();
//$values= array();
/*for($i=0; $i < 10; $i++) {
$values []= $faker->unique()->randomDigit;
}
print_r(json_encode($values));*/
foreach (range(1, 20) as $index)
{
$values = array();
for($i=0; $i < 10; $i++) {
$values []= $faker->unique()->randomDigit;
}
//print_r($values);
DB::table('routes')->insert([
'user_id' => $faker->numberBetween($min = 1, $max = 20),
'name' => $faker->name,
'description' => $faker->name,
'route_photo' => $faker->image($dir = null, $width = 640, $height = 480, $category = null, $fullPath = true, $randomize = true, $word = null),
'stops'=> [
//$values,
json_encode($values)
//implode(", ", $values)
],
]);
}
}
}
I tried several ways to insert data. When I use json_encode($values) I have the following error:
Array to string conversion
(SQL: insert into `routes` (`user_id`, `name`, `description`, `route_photo`, `stops`)
values (19, Isaac
Feil, Holly Nolan, /tmp/bc8a3cf5e015d3afa96317485499e0ca.jpg,
[8,6,0,7,3,1,5,2,4,9]))
This kind of value [8,6,0,7,3,1,5,2,4,9] is what I want to store in 'stops' field, for example, but I don't know what is going wrong....
Please, would you be so kind to help me? I'm desperate....
I post the model if it helps:
<?php
namespace App\Models;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class Route extends Model
{
protected $fillable = [
'user_id',
'name',
'description',
'route_photo',
'stops'
];
protected $casts = [
'stops' => 'array'
];
}
And the migration:
public function up()
{
Schema::create('routes', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->increments('id');
//FK:users
$table->integer('user_id')->unsigned();
$table->foreign('user_id')->references('id')->on('users')->onDelete('cascade')->onUpdate('cascade');
//FK:users
$table->string('name');
$table->string('description')->nullable();
$table->string('route_photo');
$table->json('stops');
$table->timestamps();
});
}
Thanks a lot!!

Answer 1

json_encode($values) returns a string, which you can use as the value of the stops column. There's no need to put [] around it, that creates an array, and you can't store an array directly into a column. Just leave out the brackets:
'stops' => json_encode($values)
However, storing arrays in database columns is generally a bad idea, it violates normalization principles. You should use a separate table with a row for each value.

Answer 2

Don't cast stops to array, First remove
protected $casts = [
'stops' => 'array'
];
And use json_encode to make string
'stops'=> json_encode($values),