laravel - 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 modifying the core framework? If so, how?

Example:

// Database column: first_name

echo $user->first_name; // Default Laravel behavior
echo $user->firstName; // Wanted behavior

Answer 1

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

namespace App;

use IlluminateFoundationAuthUser;
use IlluminateSupportStr;

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.