Format field data as dictionary using Laravel Resources

Question

I need to format the data field of the Laravel API response in order to make it a dictionary. I am using Laravel Resources.

At the moment the result is

{
    "data": [
        {
            "id": 1,
            "title": "Qui enim rerum."
        },
        {
            "id": 2,
            "title": "Vel praesentium sit."
        },
        ....
    ],
    "links": {
        "first": "http://localhost:8000/api/articles?page=1",
        "last": "http://localhost:8000/api/articles?page=6",
        "prev": null,
        "next": "http://localhost:8000/api/articles?page=2"
    },
    "meta": {
        "current_page": 1,
        "from": 1,
        "last_page": 6,
        "path": "http://localhost:8000/api/articles",
        "per_page": 5,
        "to": 5,
        "total": 30
    }
}

And I am pretty fine with all the json.

But I want the 'data' field to be a dictionary-like:

"data": {
        "1", {
            "id": 1,
            "title": "Qui enim rerum."
        },
        "2", {
            "id": 2,
            "title": "Vel praesentium sit."
        },
        ....
    }

Doing so, I can access directly to the item I want without iterate over the array. Is there a way to do this using Laravel Resource (maybe not, but keeping the "links" and "meta")?

Thanks.

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 02 '19 at 13:38

Laravel API Resources are intended as a layer between Eloquent and the JSON response. So they follow the "rules" of the Model / Collection classes since the final scope is to have a JSON representation "out of the box" of these two classes.

In order to achieve your goal you should not use the API Resources, but you can always create a "default" way for all your collections. In my opinion the best way is creating a trait so you can reuse it in each controller you need. Something like this:

trait CustomJsonResponse
{

  function toJsonResponse($collection)
  {
    $data = [];

    foreach($collection as $model) {
      $data[$model->id] = $model->toArray
    }

    return response()->json([
      'data' => $model
      'links' => [...],
      'meta' => [...]
    ])
  }
}

For the links and the meta part, just have a look at the PaginatedResourceResponse source code so you can reuse the part of code required to reproduce the same result.

Seems to be the best solution, can you be more specific about the links and the meta fields? — Massimo Lavermicocca, Oct 02 '19 at 14:01
Well the "easy way" is to copy&paste the `paginationLinks` and `meta` methods from the `PaginatedResourceResponse` as well as the code in the `paginationInformation` method (the `return ['links' => $this->paginationLinks($paginated), 'meta' => $this->meta($paginated),];`) — IlGala, Oct 02 '19 at 14:09

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 02 '19 at 13:39

You can format the JSON however you want by building it out as an array in PHP and json_encode()ing it for the return (which Laravel does for you if you return only the data). Something like this (caveat: untested, coding while in the browser):

$results = Model::all();

$data = [];

foreach($results as $entry)
{
    $data[strval($entry->id)] = [
        'id' => $entry->id,
        'title' => $entry->title,
        'other' => $entry->other
    ];
}

return $data;   // or explicitly: return json_encode($data);

Format field data as dictionary using Laravel Resources

2 Answers2