Remodel

A simple data transformer for your API responses.

Installation

composer require nimbly/remodel

Basic usage

Create a transformer that extends the Nimbly\Remodel\Transformer abstract. The transform method is required and should accept a single thing to transform. This thing could be a model object or a simple associative array or something else entirely - it really doesn"t matter.

Inside this method you will define and return the transformed data as an associative array.

use Nimbly\Remodel\Transformer;

class UserTransform extends Transformer
{
    public function transform(User $user): array
    {
        return [
            "id" => (int) $user->id,
            "name" => $user->name,
            "email" => $user->email,
            "created_at" => \date("c", $user->created_at)
        ];
    }
}

With our UserTransformer now defined, let's pull a user from the database and transform it. In order to transform the user data, we must map the data to be transformed to a specific transformer.

To do this we create a new Item subject since we are transforming a single item. If this were a collection of users, we would use the Collection subject.

// Grab the user from the database
$user = App\Models\User::find($id);

// Create a new Item subject using the UserTransformer
$subject = new Nimbly\Remodel\Subjects\Item($user, new UserTransformer);

Including related data automatically

What good is a transformer if it can only transform the object you've given it? Real use cases are far more complex. What if you need to transform a book whose author is stored in a separate model instance and needs its own transformation? What if we need the most recent user reviews posted about the book?

Add the protected $defaultIncludes array property on the transformer containing all the default includes you would like. Remodel will then look for a method on the transformer with name "{include}Include". For example:

class BookTransformer extends Transformer
{
    protected $defaultIncludes = ["author", "reviews"];

    public function transform(Book $book): array
    {
        return [
            "id" => (int) $book->id,
            "title" => $book->title,
            "genre" => $book->genre,
            "isbn" => $book->isbn,
            "published_at" => date("c", $book->published_at)
        ];
    }

    /**
     *
     * Remodel will call this method automatically for you since it's in the list of
     * $defaultIncludes above.
     *
     */
    public function authorInclude(Book $book): Subject
    {
        return new Item($book->author, new AuthorTransformer);
    }

    /**
     *
     * Return an array of reviews.
     *
     */
    public function reviewsInclude(Book $book): Subject
    {
        return new Collection($book->reviews, new ReviewTransformer);
    }
}

Now let's create the Transformer for our Author object.

class AuthorTransformer extends Transformer
{
    public function transform(Author $author)
    {
        return [
            "id" => (int) $author->id,
            "name" => $author->name
        ];
    }
}

Nested includes

What if you need an optional include on another include? For example, if the Author also has an Address object that is not included by default?

You can nest includes by using a dot notation.

protected $defaultIncludes = ["author.address"];

This will include an Author and its Address object.

You can nest as many includes as you"d like and to an unlimited depth.

protected $defaultIncludes = ["comments.user.profile"];

Transforming a collection of subjects

You can transform a collection or array of subjects in a similar fashion.

$collection = new Nimbly\Remodel\Subjects\Collection($books, new BookTransformer);

Adding includes at run time

What if you don"t always need a related subject included with every transformation? Maybe it's a resource provided only when the requesting client needs it?

You can pass run-time user supplied includes into the Transformer instance using the setIncludes method.

$transformer = new BookTransformer;
$transformer->setIncludes(["author", "publisher"]);

Overriding default includes at run time

You can override the default includes at runtime by calling the setDefaultIncludes method.

$transformer = new BookTransformer;
$transformer->setDefaultIncludes(["comments"]);