Accessors on translatable attributes no longer returning json values

[blackjak231]

Hey !

I've been using a custom Trait mentioned here for 2 years now without any problems. To summarize, I have the following Trait with mutators :

trait TranslateMethods
{
    public function getTranslatedAttribute($value)
    {
        if ($json = json_decode($value)) {
            return $json->{app()->getLocale()} ?? "";
        }
        return $value;
    }
}

public $translatable = [
    'title'
];

// ...

protected function title(): Attribute
{
    return Attribute::make(
        get: fn ($value) => $this->getTranslatedAttribute($value),
    );
}

So far, $value has always been equal to the json/array value of the attribute. However, since upgrading to Laravel 11, it seems the Attribute or event the Casting logic has changed and $value goes through each translation string in the array individually.

Here is an example of what I mean :
Let's imaging a title attribute with the following value (in DB) :

{
    'fr': 'Mon titre',
    'en': 'My title'
}

and the following mutator

protected function title(): Attribute
{
    return Attribute::make(
        get: fn ($value) => Log::info($value),
    );
}

And a simple controller method :

public function index(Request $request)
{
    $pages = Page::ordered()->get();
    return  response()->json(compact('pages'));
}

On Laravel 10, Log::info would only log {'fr': 'Mon titre','en': 'My title'}. If i don't log the value and us the getTranslatedAttribute method it returns only the translated title of the current Locale.

On Laravel 11, it logs Mon titre and then another log My title. If i don't log the value and us the getTranslatedAttribute method it returns the full json.

I've been trying to go deeper into this library and into the way Laravel casting/mutaitng works but I've reached my max understanding after a few hours of digging...

Is anyone able to reproduce this and able to help me wrap my head around this issue ? What changed and could anything be fixed in the package ?

Thanks !

FYI: I'm aware I could always do the following :

protected function title(): Attribute
{
    return Attribute::make(
        get: fn ($value,$attributes) => $this->getTranslatedAttribute($attributes['title']),
    );
}

However I want to limit the use of static array keys.

[Tarpsvo]

https://github.com/spatie/laravel-translatable/pull/437/files

This PR and release also broke a lot of things on my side.

For example, this code:

public function getImportantNoticeAttribute()
{
    if ($this->important_notice_expires?->isPast()) {
        return null;
     }

    return $this->getTranslations('important_notice');
}

Worked very well before release 6.6.2. Now it returns a double-nested value like this:

I'm not sure of what issue the PR was supposed to fix, I only feel the things that it broke.

The "fix" would be to apply it like so:

public function getImportantNoticeAttribute($value)
{
    if ($this->important_notice_expires?->isPast()) {
        return null;
    }

    return $value;
}

But the fact that it's looped through by some magical array in the background makes no sense to me and feels counter intuitive. Not to mention that it's a breaking change. It should definitely not be a minor release.

What do you think @freekmurze?

[goaround]

I have the same problem? I use the get...Attribute function to return just the translation I need but its now always an array due to the mutateAttributeForArray function from this PR https://github.com/spatie/laravel-translatable/pull/437/files

[goaround]

At least I discovered that https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-translatable/v6/advanced-usage/customize-the-toarray-method it the better method for me.

[vencelkatai]

Hi!

I'm the author of the mentioned PR.
It supposed to fix an inconsistency when using accessors between simple property access and array casts (Model::toArray()).

I think the package works as expected by checking your examples. If you'd like to keep only the current locale translations in the array representation, the preferred way should be https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-translatable/v6/advanced-usage/customize-the-toarray-method like @goaround mentioned.

@blackjak231 You could just delete the accessor altogether and customize the toArray method instead.

@Tarpsvo In your case I think the implementation of the accessor is incorrect. It shouldn't return all the translations, using $model->important_notice you should get it translated to the current locale, like translated attributes without accessors behave.
That "fix" should be the correct implementation. in my opinion it only broke because of this. It was broken before, you can check the PR for some details if you're interested.

Let me know if I can help with anything else!