Added support to date casting with tests and without requiring carbon

README.md

@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ class User extends Model {
 
     protected $casts = ['age' => 'integer'];
 
+    protected $dates = ['added_at'];
+
     public function save()
     {
         return API::post('/items', $this->attributes);

src/Model.php

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 use Illuminate\Contracts\Support\Arrayable;
 use Illuminate\Contracts\Support\Jsonable;
 use Illuminate\Support\Arr;
+use Illuminate\Support\Carbon;
 use Illuminate\Support\Str;
 use Illuminate\Support\Collection as BaseCollection;
 use JsonSerializable;
@@ -60,6 +61,20 @@ abstract class Model implements ArrayAccess, Arrayable, Jsonable, JsonSerializab
      */
     protected $casts = [];
 
+    /**
+     * The attributes that should be mutated to dates.
+     *
+     * @var array
+     */
+    protected $dates = [];
+
+    /**
+     * The storage format of the model's date columns.
+     *
+     * @var string
+     */
+    protected $dateFormat = 'Y-m-d H:i:s';
+
     /**
      * Indicates whether attributes are snake cased on arrays.
      *
@@ -480,6 +495,18 @@ public function attributesToArray()
             );
         }
 
+        $dateAttributes = $this->dates;
+
+        foreach ($dateAttributes as $attribute) {
+            if (! array_key_exists($attribute, $attributes) ||
+                in_array($attribute, $mutatedAttributes) ||
+                ! $attributes[$attribute]) {
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            $attributes[$attribute] = $this->asDateTime($attributes[$attribute]);
+        }
+
         // Next we will handle any casts that have been setup for this model and cast
         // the values to their appropriate type. If the attribute has a mutator we
         // will not perform the cast on those attributes to avoid any confusion.
@@ -580,6 +607,14 @@ protected function getAttributeValue($key)
             $value = $this->castAttribute($key, $value);
         }
 
+        // If the attribute is listed as a date, we will convert it to a DateTime
+        // instance on retrieval, which makes it quite convenient to work with
+        // date fields without having to create a mutator for each property.
+        if (in_array($key, $this->dates) &&
+            ! is_null($value)) {
+            return $this->asDateTime($value);
+        }
+
         return $value;
     }
 
@@ -701,11 +736,97 @@ protected function castAttribute($key, $value)
                 return $this->fromJson($value);
             case 'collection':
                 return new BaseCollection($this->fromJson($value));
+            case 'date':
+                return $this->asDate($value);
+            case 'datetime':
+            case 'custom_datetime':
+                return $this->asDateTime($value);
+            case 'timestamp':
+                return $this->asTimestamp($value);
             default:
                 return $value;
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Return a timestamp as DateTime object with time set to 00:00:00.
+     *
+     * @param  mixed  $value
+     * @return \Illuminate\Support\Carbon
+     */
+    protected function asDate($value)
+    {
+        return $this->asDateTime($value)->startOfDay();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Return a timestamp as DateTime object.
+     *
+     * @param  mixed  $value
+     * @return \Illuminate\Support\Carbon
+     */
+    protected function asDateTime($value)
+    {
+        // If this value is already a Carbon instance, we shall just return it as is.
+        // This prevents us having to re-instantiate a Carbon instance when we know
+        // it already is one, which wouldn't be fulfilled by the DateTime check.
+        if ($value instanceof Carbon) {
+            return $value;
+        }
+
+        // If the value is already a DateTime instance, we will just skip the rest of
+        // these checks since they will be a waste of time, and hinder performance
+        // when checking the field. We will just return the DateTime right away.
+        if ($value instanceof DateTimeInterface) {
+            return new Carbon(
+                $value->format('Y-m-d H:i:s.u'), $value->getTimezone()
+            );
+        }
+
+        // If this value is an integer, we will assume it is a UNIX timestamp's value
+        // and format a Carbon object from this timestamp. This allows flexibility
+        // when defining your date fields as they might be UNIX timestamps here.
+        if (is_numeric($value)) {
+            return Carbon::createFromTimestamp($value);
+        }
+
+        // If the value is in simply year, month, day format, we will instantiate the
+        // Carbon instances from that format. Again, this provides for simple date
+        // fields on the database, while still supporting Carbonized conversion.
+        if ($this->isStandardDateFormat($value)) {
+            return Carbon::createFromFormat('Y-m-d', $value)->startOfDay();
+        }
+
+        // Finally, we will just assume this date is in the format used by default on
+        // the database connection and use that format to create the Carbon object
+        // that is returned back out to the developers after we convert it here.
+        return Carbon::createFromFormat(
+            str_replace('.v', '.u', $this->dateFormat), $value
+        );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Determine if the given value is a standard date format.
+     *
+     * @param  string  $value
+     * @return bool
+     */
+    protected function isStandardDateFormat($value)
+    {
+        return preg_match('/^(\d{4})-(\d{1,2})-(\d{1,2})$/', $value);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Return a timestamp as unix timestamp.
+     *
+     * @param  mixed  $value
+     * @return int
+     */
+    protected function asTimestamp($value)
+    {
+        return $this->asDateTime($value)->getTimestamp();
+    }
+
     /**
      * Set a given attribute on the model.
      *

tests/ModelTest.php

@@ -171,6 +171,10 @@ public function testCasts()
         $model->active = 'true';
         $model->default = 'bar';
         $model->collection_data = [['foo' => 'bar', 'baz' => 'bat']];
+        $model->created_at = '2018-10-12 03:45:22';
+        $model->updated_at = '2018-10-12 03:45:22';
+        $model->deleted_at = '2018-10-12 03:45:22';
+        $model->added_at = '2018-10-12 03:45:22';
 
         $this->assertTrue(is_float($model->score));
         $this->assertTrue(is_array($model->data));
@@ -179,6 +183,10 @@ public function testCasts()
         $this->assertEquals('bar', $model->default);
         $this->assertInstanceOf('\stdClass', $model->object_data);
         $this->assertInstanceOf('\Illuminate\Support\Collection', $model->collection_data);
+        $this->assertInstanceOf('\Illuminate\Support\Carbon', $model->created_at);
+        $this->assertInstanceOf('\Illuminate\Support\Carbon', $model->updated_at);
+        $this->assertTrue(is_int($model->deleted_at));
+        $this->assertInstanceOf('\Illuminate\Support\Carbon', $model->added_at);
 
         $attributes = $model->getAttributes();
         $this->assertTrue(is_string($attributes['score']));
@@ -188,6 +196,10 @@ public function testCasts()
         $this->assertTrue(is_string($attributes['default']));
         $this->assertTrue(is_string($attributes['object_data']));
         $this->assertTrue(is_string($attributes['collection_data']));
+        $this->assertTrue(is_string($attributes['created_at']));
+        $this->assertTrue(is_string($attributes['updated_at']));
+        $this->assertTrue(is_string($attributes['deleted_at']));
+        $this->assertTrue(is_string($attributes['added_at']));
 
         $array = $model->toArray();
         $this->assertTrue(is_float($array['score']));
@@ -197,6 +209,10 @@ public function testCasts()
         $this->assertEquals('bar', $array['default']);
         $this->assertInstanceOf('\stdClass', $array['object_data']);
         $this->assertInstanceOf('\Illuminate\Support\Collection', $array['collection_data']);
+        $this->assertInstanceOf('\Illuminate\Support\Carbon', $array['created_at']);
+        $this->assertInstanceOf('\Illuminate\Support\Carbon', $array['updated_at']);
+        $this->assertTrue(is_int($model->deleted_at));
+        $this->assertInstanceOf('\Illuminate\Support\Carbon', $array['added_at']);
     }
 
     public function testGuarded()

tests/stubs/ModelStub.php

@@ -15,9 +15,16 @@ class ModelStub extends Model
         'count' => 'int',
         'object_data' => 'object',
         'collection_data' => 'collection',
+        'created_at' => 'date',
+        'updated_at' => 'datetime',
+        'deleted_at' => 'timestamp',
         'foo' => 'bar',
     ];
 
+    protected $dates = [
+        'added_at',
+    ];
+
     protected $guarded = [
         'secret',
     ];
@@ -33,6 +40,10 @@ class ModelStub extends Model
         'object_data',
         'default',
         'collection_data',
+        'created_at',
+        'updated_at',
+        'deleted_at',
+        'added_at',
     ];
 
     public function getListItemsAttribute($value)