Cast Laravel query results to class

Question

When creating a query using the syntax DB::table(\'foo\'), it creates a generic class (stdClass). Is there any way to cast the resulting rows to a specific class?

Answer 1

As of laravel 5.4

Eloquent models dont have the hydrate() method.

This has been moved to the Eloquent Builder class.

https://laravel.com/api/5.4/search.html?search=hydrate

The Eloquent Builder class requires a few things to get this working manually

1. A query builder to initialize
2. A model to hydrate with.

Here is my working example in some laravel 5.8 code:

            $instance = new $class;
            $table = $instance->getTable();

            /** @var \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder $eloquent_builder*/
            $eloquent_builder = new \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder(
                // the Query Builder!
                DB::connection($connection_name)
                ->table($table)
                ->select($columns)
                ->orderBy($order_by, $order)
            );


            // Tell Eloquent what you're using to hydrate the query
            $eloquent_builder->setModel($instance);


            return $eloquent_builder->get();