Managing Nested Attributes with Laravel's Fluent set Method

Need to manage nested attributes more effectively? Laravel's Fluent class now includes a set() method that makes handling complex data structures more intuitive.

Basic Usage

Set attributes using dot notation:

$fluent = new Fluent;

// Basic attributes
$fluent->set('product', 'iPhone')
    ->set('version', 15);

// Nested attributes
$fluent->set('specs.color', 'Space Black')
    ->set('specs.price.usd', 1199);

// Access values
echo $fluent->product;                    // "iPhone"
echo $fluent->get('specs.color');         // "Space Black"
echo $fluent->specs['price']['usd'];      // 1199

Real-World Example

Here's how you might use it in a product configuration system:

class ProductConfigurator
{
    private $config;

    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->config = new Fluent;
    }

    public function setBasicDetails(string $name, string $sku)
    {
        $this->config
            ->set('product.name', $name)
            ->set('product.sku', $sku)
            ->set('product.created_at', now());

        return $this;
    }

    public function setPricing(float $base, array $taxes)
    {
        $this->config
            ->set('pricing.base', $base)
            ->set('pricing.taxes', $taxes)
            ->set('pricing.total', $base + array_sum($taxes));

        return $this;
    }

    public function setShipping(array $dimensions, float $weight)
    {
        $this->config
            ->set('shipping.dimensions', $dimensions)
            ->set('shipping.weight', $weight)
            ->set('shipping.requires_special', $weight > 20);

        return $this;
    }

    public function getConfiguration()
    {
        return $this->config;
    }
}

// Usage
$configurator = new ProductConfigurator();
$product = $configurator
    ->setBasicDetails('Gaming Laptop', 'LAP-2024-001')
    ->setPricing(999.99, ['vat' => 199.99])
    ->setShipping(['length' => 15, 'width' => 10], 2.5)
    ->getConfiguration();

The set() method makes it easy to manage complex nested configurations with a clean, fluent interface.

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