Lumen disable carbon date

I need records date not to be carbon instance.

 $soldier = Soldier::find($id);

 dd($soldier->soldier_data->pluck('created_at'));

running this code will output :

object(Illuminate\Support\Collection)#71 (1) { ["items":protected]=> array(4) { [0]=> object(Carbon\Carbon)#66 (3) { ["date"]=> string(26) "2017-08-03 13:27:47.000000" ["timezone_type"]=> int(3) ["timezone"]=> string(3) "UTC" } [1]=> object(Carbon\Carbon)#65 (3) { ["date"]=> string(26) "2017-08-03 13:28:13.000000" ["timezone_type"]=> int(3) ["timezone"]=> string(3) "UTC" } [2]=> object(Carbon\Carbon)#77 (3) { ["date"]=> string(26) "2017-08-03 13:28:15.000000" ["timezone_type"]=> int(3) ["timezone"]=> string(3) "UTC" } [3]=> object(Carbon\Carbon)#63 (3) { ["date"]=> string(26) "2017-08-03 13:28:15.000000" ["timezone_type"]=> int(3) ["timezone"]=> string(3) "UTC" } } }

this return created_at as carbon instance . i have also leaved dates array empty .but no chance.

class SoldierData extends Model {

    protected $fillable = [];

    protected $dates = [];

    protected $table = 'soldier_data';

Solution

Fix

You can cast it directly in SoldierData class.

protected $casts = [
    'created_at' => 'string',
];

The reason

The reason of not affecting casts by dates attribute is the following one. Eloquent class HasAttribute contains default dates: protected $dates = [];. And getDates method

public function getDates()
{
    $defaults = [static::CREATED_AT, static::UPDATED_AT];

    return $this->usesTimestamps() ? array_merge($this->dates, $defaults) : $this->dates;
}

So this two properties created_at and updated_at are by default casted as dates without any definitions. Then have a look at attributesToArray: first two dates are casted as dates, then it can be overwritten.

 public function attributesToArray()
 { 
    // If an attribute is a date, we will cast it to a string after convert$
    // to a DateTime / Carbon instance. This is so we will get some consist$
    // formatting while accessing attributes vs. arraying / JSONing a model.
    $attributes = $this->addDateAttributesToArray(
        $attributes = $this->getArrayableAttributes()
    );

    $attributes = $this->addMutatedAttributesToArray(
        $attributes, $mutatedAttributes = $this->getMutatedAttributes()
    );

    // Next we will handle any casts that have been setup for this model an$
    // the values to their appropriate type. If the attribute has a mutator$
    // will not perform the cast on those attributes to avoid any confusion.
    $attributes = $this->addCastAttributesToArray(
        $attributes, $mutatedAttributes
    );

This method attributesToArray is called from Eloquent\Model::toArray method. That is the internal kitchen of typecasting.