Eloquent casting. How to use a array of abstract dto?

[RomainMazB]

Hi!

I would like to use the abstract dto feature within an array with the nesting collection feature.

I've created what looks to be the correct structure:

// The abstract class
abstract class ActionConditionBase extends Data
{}

// The instantiatable class
class HasExecutedActionCondition extends ActionConditionBase implements NPCCondition
{
    public function __construct(
        public ActionDescription $actionDescription
    )
    {}
}

// The DTO storing the array of abstract/generic ActionConditionBase
class NPCAction extends Data
{
    public function __construct(
        public string $identifier,
        public int $times = 1,
        /** @var array<ActionConditionBase> */
        public ?array $conditions = []
    )
    {}
}

If I try to store this inside the database, refresh the model and try to dd it:

$npc = NPC::factory()
    ->create([
        'data' => new \App\Classes\NPCAction('talk', conditions: [
            new \App\Classes\HasExecutedActionCondition(
                new \App\Classes\ActionDescription($firstNpc, $actionName, 2))
        ])
    ]);
dd($npc->refresh()->data->conditions);

It fails in:

Error: Cannot instantiate abstract class App\Classes\ActionConditionBase

Is there a way to use an array of generic of should I use a custom transformer?

[RomainMazB]

I read #407

Is that unchecked checkbox the feature I'm searching for 😢 ?

[rubenvanassche]

Yeah we do not support it at the moment since it requires a lot of work to get things like validation, partial includes and magical creation right

[RomainMazB]

Ok, thanks for your quick reply.

I'm using laravel-data just to provide a convenient way to store some dto as array in database and restore them.

With that in mind, could just say to me if a transformer could do this? or which section of the doc I should read?

[rubenvanassche]

I would just try some things, data is such a complicated machine of things going on. Even I don't completely understand it at certain times 😄