API Resource Support Multiple Return Data Formats

[denmasyarikin]

Currently, a single Laravel API Resource can only return one format of data. However, in real-world applications, we often need multiple data sets for the same resource to optimize response sizes for different use cases.

For example, for an Article resource, we might need:

Detail: Full data with all relationships.
List: Summary data for listings.
Embedded: Minimal data for embedding in other resources.

To achieve this, we currently need to create multiple resource classes, such as ListArticleResource, DetailArticleResource, and EmbedArticleResource, which increases maintenance complexity.

1. in Detail we need all data with all relationships:

    ...
    public function toArray($request)
    {
        return [
            'id' => $this->id,
            'title' => $this->title,
            'description' => $this->description,
            'content' => $this->content,
            'author' => new AuthorResource($this->whenLoaded('author')),
            'status' => $this->status,
            'created_at' => $this->created_at
        ];
    }
    ...

2. in List we need:

    ...
    public function toArray($request)
    {
        return [
              'id' => $this->id,
              'title' => $this->title,
              'description' => $this->description,
              'status' => $this->status,
              'created_at' => $this->created_at
        ];
    }
    ...

3. in Embeded we just need:

    ...
    public function toArray($request)
    {
        return [
            'id' => $this->id,
            'title' => $this->title
        ];
    }
    ...

Proposed Solution

In Api Resouce support multiple view

<?php

namespace App\Http\Resources;

use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\JsonResource;

class ArticleResource extends JsonResource
{
    /**
     * Transform the resource into an array.
     *
     * @param \Illuminate\Http\Request $request
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public function listing($request)
    {
        return [
            'id' => $this->id,
            'title' => $this->title,
            'description' => $this->description,
            'status' => $this->status,
            'created_at' => $this->created_at
        ];
    }

    /**
     * Transform the resource into an array.
     *
     * @param \Illuminate\Http\Request $request
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public function toArray($request)
    {
        return [
            'id' => $this->id,
            'title' => $this->title,
            'description' => $this->description,
            'content' => $this->content,
            'author' => new AuthorResource($this->whenLoaded('author')),
            'status' => $this->status,
            'created_at' => $this->created_at
        ];
    }

    /**
     * Transform the resource into an array.
     *
     * @param \Illuminate\Http\Request $request
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public function embeded($request)
    {
        return [
            'id' => $this->id,
            'title' => $this->title
        ];
    }
}

so we can use

public function getListArticle() {
    $articles = Article::paginate();
    return ArticleResource::collection($articles, 'listing');
}

public function getDetailArticle($id) {
    $article = Article::whereId($id)->first();
    return new ArticleResource($article); // default use toArray function
}

in resource as embeded

public function toArray($request)
{
        return [
            'id' => $this->id,
            'name' => $this->name,
            'articles' => ArticleResource::collection($this->whenLoaded('articles'), 'embeded')
        ];
}

[macropay-solutions]

We had a similar need but in regards to json or streamed download.

[macropay-solutions]

You can simplify your need by using current implementation:

    public function toArray($request): array
    {
        $routeAlias = $request->route()->getName();

        if ($routeAlias === 'list') {
            return [
                'id' => $this->id,
                'title' => $this->title,
                'description' => $this->description,
                'status' => $this->status,
                'created_at' => $this->created_at
            ];
        }

        if ($routeAlias === 'embed') {
            return [
                'id' => $this->id,
                'title' => $this->title
            ];
        }

        return [
            'id' => $this->id,
            'title' => $this->title,
            'description' => $this->description,
            'content' => $this->content,
            'author' => new AuthorResource($this->whenLoaded('author')),
            'status' => $this->status,
            'created_at' => $this->created_at
        ];
    }

And you would need to put an alias on each route when you define it.

Alternative is to send that flag in the request if you want to not define 3 routes for the same resource.