How do you use object cast handler for Entity?

[kenjis]

https://codeigniter4.github.io/CodeIgniter4/models/entities.html#property-casting

The object handler seems to expect the property to be set to an array.

CodeIgniter4/system/Entity/Cast/ObjectCast.php

Lines 22 to 25 in 0cd3993

	public static function get($value, array $params = []): object
	{
	return (object) $value;
	}

CodeIgniter4/tests/system/Entity/EntityTest.php

Lines 439 to 449 in 0cd3993

	public function testCastObject(): void
	{
	$entity = $this->getCastEntity();
	$data = ['foo' => 'bar'];
	$entity->sixth = $data;
	$this->assertIsObject($entity->sixth);
	$this->assertInstanceOf('stdClass', $entity->sixth);
	$this->assertSame($data, (array) $entity->sixth);
	}

However, when setting an array, we cannot save that Entity to the database.

        $entity = new class () extends Entity {
            protected $casts = [
                'id'     => 'int',
                'active' => 'int-bool',
                'memo'   => 'object', // Use `object` handler
            ];
        };
        $model = new class () extends Model {
            protected $table         = 'users';
            protected $allowedFields = [
                'username', 'active', 'memo',
            ];
            protected $useTimestamps = true;
        };
        $entity->fill(['username' => 'johnsmith', 'active' => false, 'memo' => ['foo', 'bar']]);
        $model->save($entity); // CodeIgniter\Database\Exceptions\DatabaseException : Operand should contain 1 column(s)

How is this handler used in the first place?

[neznaika0]

@iRedds seems to have created it.

In my opinion, the conversion is not necessary. If you want to convert an array, then it should be in the database as JSON and json, json-array should be used. The concept of an object is too big, therefore it requires a custom Cast

It's probably worth adding @deprecated and replacing saving and conversion with JSON

[michalsn]

I have never used it. It is useless to me in the context of a relational database. Maybe for NoSQL or other scenarios, it might have some use.

[kenjis]

Yes, it seems useless in the context of a relational database.

But even for NoSQL, why don't you set an object to an entity, instead of an array?

[michalsn]

Good point. I honestly can't imagine a valid scenario 🤷‍♂️