How can I access attributes using camel case?

Question

To be consistent over my coding style, I\'d like to use camelCase to access attributes instead of snake_case. Is this possible in Laravel without m

Answer 1

Just thought I'd post this in case it helps anyone else. Though the entry by Bouke is great it does not address lazy-loaded relations that use a camel-case name. When this occurs we simply need to check for the method name in addition to the other checks. The following is what I did:

class BaseModel extends Eloquent
{

    public function getAttribute($key)
    {

        if (array_key_exists($key, $this->relations)
          || method_exists($this, $key)
        )
        {
            return parent::getAttribute($key);
        }
        else
        {
            return parent::getAttribute(snake_case($key));
        }
    }

    public function setAttribute($key, $value)
    {
        return parent::setAttribute(snake_case($key), $value);
    }
}

Answer 2

Create your own BaseModel class and override the following methods. Make sure all your other models extend your BaseModel.

namespace App;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Auth\User;
use Illuminate\Support\Str;

class BaseUser extends User
{
    public function getAttribute($key) {
        if (array_key_exists($key, $this->relations)) {
            return parent::getAttribute($key);
        } else {
            return parent::getAttribute(Str::snake($key));
        }
    }

    public function setAttribute($key, $value) {
        return parent::setAttribute(Str::snake($key), $value);
    }
}

Then for usage:

// Database column: first_name

echo $user->first_name; // Still works
echo $user->firstName; // Works too!

This trick revolves around forcing the key to snake case by overriding the magic method used in Model.

Answer 3

Since SO doesn't allow pasting code snippets in comments, I'm posting this as a new answer.

To make sure that eager loading does not break, I had to modify @Lazlo's answer. When accessing eagerly loaded relations by a different key, they are reloaded.

<?php

class BaseModel extends Eloquent
{

    public function getAttribute($key)
    {
        if (array_key_exists($key, $this->relations)) {
            return parent::getAttribute($key);
        } else {
            return parent::getAttribute(snake_case($key));
        }
    }

    public function setAttribute($key, $value)
    {
        return parent::setAttribute(snake_case($key), $value);
    }
}