Laravel Data provides flexible date handling with support for multiple formats, timezones, and date types.
Configure the default format in config/data.php:
'date_format' => DATE_ATOM,
DateTimeInterfaceCast and DateTimeInterfaceTransformer:
#[WithCast(DateTimeInterfaceCast::class)]
#[WithTransformer(DateTimeInterfaceTransformer::class)]
public DateTime $date;
#[WithCast(DateTimeInterfaceCast::class, format: DATE_ATOM)]
#[WithTransformer(DateTimeInterfaceTransformer::class, format: DATE_ATOM)]
public DateTime $date;
Using Carbon
The package automatically casts to the property type:
#[WithCast(DateTimeInterfaceCast::class)]
public Carbon $date;
#[WithCast(DateTimeInterfaceCast::class, type: CarbonImmutable::class)]
public $date;
'date_format' => [DATE_ATOM, 'Y-m-d'],
This is useful when receiving dates from iOS and React applications that use different underlying formats.
Casting with Different Timezones
Specify the timezone of incoming dates:
#[WithCast(DateTimeInterfaceCast::class, timeZone: 'UTC')]
public DateTime $date;
UTC timezone but represents the same moment in time as your application’s timezone.
Changing Timezones
On Cast
Convert the date to a different timezone during casting:
#[WithCast(DateTimeInterfaceCast::class, setTimeZone: 'Europe/Brussels')]
public DateTime $date;
UTC, one or two hours (depending on daylight saving) will be added.
Convert the timezone when transforming:
#[WithTransformer(DateTimeInterfaceTransformer::class, setTimeZone: 'Europe/Brussels')]
public DateTime $date;
Complete Example
use Carbon\Carbon;
use Spatie\LaravelData\Attributes\WithCast;
use Spatie\LaravelData\Attributes\WithTransformer;
use Spatie\LaravelData\Casts\DateTimeInterfaceCast;
use Spatie\LaravelData\Transformers\DateTimeInterfaceTransformer;
class EventData extends Data
{
public function __construct(
// Default format from config
#[WithCast(DateTimeInterfaceCast::class)]
#[WithTransformer(DateTimeInterfaceTransformer::class)]
public Carbon $createdAt,
// Custom format
#[WithCast(DateTimeInterfaceCast::class, format: 'Y-m-d H:i:s')]
#[WithTransformer(DateTimeInterfaceTransformer::class, format: 'Y-m-d H:i:s')]
public Carbon $updatedAt,
// With timezone conversion
#[WithCast(DateTimeInterfaceCast::class, setTimeZone: 'Europe/Brussels')]
#[WithTransformer(DateTimeInterfaceTransformer::class, setTimeZone: 'UTC')]
public Carbon $scheduledAt,
) {
}
}