Call to a member function toArray() on null in laravel 5.5

Try this

$user = \App\User::where('name','Manny')->first();
if($user){
$user = $user->toArray();
}
retrun $user;

Hi @RamjithAp , I am looking for methods that would return empty single dimensional array when there is no record found in the database. In this case I will have to put a check every time to bind toArray() method

with ->get()->toArray() it works fine the way I expect. With get() if I bind toArray() it returns an empty array() and no error is thrown.

I think you just need to change a bit in your code to make it workable...

$user = App\User::where('name', 'Manny')->first()->toArray();

Its should work now.

I think this is wrong way to declare where.

where([['name','Manny']])

Ref: https://laravel.com/docs/5.5/queries#where-clauses

@tisuchi with below where method you can specify multiple clauses

    $user = \App\User::where([
        ['name', 'Manny'],
        ['id', 100]                                  //Second where clause
    ])
    ->first()
    ->toArray();

My problem is not with the where clause. I am trying to fetch one record form DB as a single dimensional array, for which I am using ->first()->toArray() method. The problem is that when there is no record in the DB it throws the above error. I expect it to be empty array. I am trying to find out if there is any other way to achieve this.

I see..

You know why you are getting this error? First of all, you are accessing first record from Database, and than based on that record, you are converting to array.

Now, since there is no record, it just return an empty object. And now you are trying to convert to array an empty object. That's why you are getting error. In this case, definitely you need to check whether the object is empty or not before convert to array.

Hi @bobbybouwmann, when using ->first() every time I will have to put a check to convert it to an array which I want to avoid.

I am expecting a result just the way ->get() returns but single dimensional array. here even if there is no record in the DB it return an empty array. I dont have to put a check to use toArray() method.

below code does not throw error if I use toArray() without a check

    $user = \App\User::where([
        ['name','manny']
    ])
    ->get()           //WITH get() WORKS FINE AND DONT HAVE TO PUT CHECK TO USE toArray()
    ->toArray();

where as below code throws error without a check

    $user = \App\User::where([
        ['name','manny']
    ])
    ->first()         //WITH first() THROWS ERROR, HAVE TO PUT CHECK TO USE toArray()
    ->toArray();

Its not the same scenario though. Get is expecting to return a collection so you end up with an empty collection whereas first() is expecting to return a single model and null IS the most appropriate response.

What do you get with

    $user = collect(
        \App\User::where('name','manny')->first()
            )->toArray();

Other than wrapping in collect() I think it has to be two-step otherwise the query would have to run twice;

    $q = User::where('name','manny')->first();

    $user = $q ? $q->toArray() : array();

You could simply create your own custom base model that all your models extend.

Within this base model, you could then create a function call firstArray() and wrap this check within to either return you an array of the single model or an empty array.

It has more re-usability.

@cmdobueno sounds like a nice Idea..