Casts

The Union cast lets a single text column hold a mix of value types — boolean, integer, array, or string — and read each one back as the type you stored. It is useful for generic key/value tables (like the settings store) where one value column must hold whatever a given row needs.

Usage

Apply the cast to the column on your model:

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Redot\Casts\Union;

class Setting extends Model
{
    protected function casts(): array
    {
        return ['value' => Union::class];
    }
}

Now assign different types to the same column and read them back as stored:

$setting->value = true;          // reads back as bool
$setting->value = 42;            // reads back as int
$setting->value = ['a' => 1];    // reads back as array
$setting->value = 'hello';       // reads back as string
$setting->save();

Behavior

• Booleans — round-trip exactly.
• Integers — round-trip exactly. There is no float support, so a stored 1.5 reads back as 1.
• Arrays — stored as JSON and decoded back to an associative array (never an object).
• Numeric-looking strings lose their type — a value like "007" or "42" is read back as the integer 7 / 42. Don't use this cast for columns that must preserve numeric strings verbatim.
• Malformed JSON throws — invalid stored JSON (or an unencodable array) raises an exception on read/write.

Related

• Settings — the settings store that uses this cast.
• Models — the models shipped with the package.