F
Filament•2mo ago
Dmitriy

TextColumn throwing an exception for the empty ENUM value

I have an attribute called language that is often used in several tables and for now 3 language codes could be used as values. So, I created an Enum class App\Enums\Language and in the Eloquent model the attribute language is cast correctly: 
protected $casts = [
  'language' => App\Enums\Language::class,
];
protected $casts = [
  'language' => App\Enums\Language::class,
];
In the related Filament Resource I have a dropdown field for the form: 
return $form
->schema([
  Filament\Forms\Components\Select::make('language')
    ->nullable()
    ->options(App\Enums\Language::class)
]);
return $form
->schema([
  Filament\Forms\Components\Select::make('language')
    ->nullable()
    ->options(App\Enums\Language::class)
]);
And a text column for the list table: 
return $table
->columns([
  Filament\Tables\Columns\TextColumn::make('language')
    ->sortable()
    ->badge()
]);
return $table
->columns([
  Filament\Tables\Columns\TextColumn::make('language')
    ->sortable()
    ->badge()
]);
As the result, on the Edit and Create pages the dropdown shows available labels from the Enum class and everything works as it should. But the problem that some of the existing records don't have a value for the attribute language . And as the result, on the List page an exception is throwing with the message "" is not a valid backing value for enum App\Enums\Language. I found a lot of related articles but still wasn't able to fix it. For example this one https://www.answeroverflow.com/m/1184219387109068871 Here https://medium.com/@yihen_26052/the-magic-from-method-of-enum-in-php-8-1-ad5a1a8f9298 also there is a good explanation between Enum ::from() and ::tryFrom() methods. It seems that method tryFrom returns null for invalid values instead of throwing an exception. Maybe this could be a good fix for such case and could be fixed in the upcoming Filament version? Or probably there is some workaround to avoid the error? I would also be grateful if you could suggest what else could be used to move the repeating code into one place. I know about the option of creating a separate table for languages ​​in the database and linking it to the existing records. But for now I would like to put the list of languages in some PHP class.
Nullable PHP Enum in Table TextColumn Oddity - Filament
I have a model/table that is a collection of various statuses (PHP Enum values) that are nullable if it's never been set. When using a TextColumn like so: 
Tables\Columns\TextColumn::make('state.current_confirmation_status')
  ->label('Confirmation')
  ->placeholder('Unknown')
  ->badge()
  ->sortable(),
Tables\Columns\TextColumn::make('state.current_confirmation_status')
  ->label('Confirmation')
  ->placeholder('Unknown')
  ->badge()
  ->sortable(),
If the field actually has an...
Medium
The Magic “from” method of Enum in PHP 8.1
In PHP 8.1, the enums i.e enumerations are introduced as a language feature. The feature comes with a few built in methods and one of the…
7 Replies
Dmitriy
DmitriyOP•2mo ago
No description
awcodes
awcodes•2mo ago
Ideally, a field based on an enum wouldn’t be an empty string. But you can use ->getStateUsing() on the text column to check if it’s empty and return early. Or provide a default in the enum for getLabel() to return an empty string.
Dmitriy
DmitriyOP•2mo ago
Thank you for your reply, I will try playing with ->getStateUsing(). Using the default in the enum for getLabel() didn't help for me. I used such code: 
public function getLabel(): string
{
    return match ($this) {
        self::NL => __('Dutch'),
        self::FR => __('French'),
        self::EN => __('English'),
        default => '',
    };
}
public function getLabel(): string
{
    return match ($this) {
        self::NL => __('Dutch'),
        self::FR => __('French'),
        self::EN => __('English'),
        default => '',
    };
}
awcodes
awcodes•2mo ago
Hmm, I would expect that to work. There might also be an ->enum() modifier on the text column too, but not 100% on that.
Dmitriy
DmitriyOP•2mo ago
@awcodes there is no ->enum() method for the TextColumn class: 
Method Filament\Tables\Columns\TextColumn::enum does not exist.
Method Filament\Tables\Columns\TextColumn::enum does not exist.
But I was able to fix the error adding this: 
->getStateUsing(fn ($record) => $record->getAttributes()['language'] ? Language::from($record->getAttributes()['language']) : null)
->getStateUsing(fn ($record) => $record->getAttributes()['language'] ? Language::from($record->getAttributes()['language']) : null)
Thank you for your assistance!
403gtfo
403gtfo•2mo ago
I swear to the tech gods the number of times enums have caused my headaches during my filament projects. Unless you NEEEEED them, stay away and just control it in logic. (Sorry not answering your question, but just ranting)
awcodes
awcodes•2mo ago
Maybe formatStateUsing() would be better in this case, since at that point it would be the enum if the cast is setup correctly. But the enum should still be able to handle a null label as long as the enum is returning a sting and implements the HasLabel interface. Again though, if a db value should be a cast of an enum, null doesn’t make sense, it should be cast as a default on creation. Null just doesn’t make sense in the context of an enum. If it’s an after the fact feature then a script to set the default on existing records makes more sense.

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