Optional properties don't work with timestamps

[alexrififi]

Greetings gentlemen!

class SongData extends Data
{
    public function __construct(
        public string $title,
        public Carbon|Optional $created_at,
    ) {
    }
}

and

$song = Song::select('title')->first(); // or Song::find(1, 'title')
$data = SongData::from($song);

gets the following error

SongData::__construct(): Argument #2 ($created_at) must be of type Illuminate\Support\Carbon|Spatie\LaravelData\Optional, null given, called in /var/www/html/vendor/spatie/laravel-data/src/Resolvers/DataFromArrayResolver.php on line 57

Reason

ModelNormalizer forcibly adds date attributes as Data properties

laravel-data/src/Normalizers/ModelNormalizer.php

Lines 18 to 26 in 12a9155

	foreach ($value->getDates() as $key) {
	$properties[$key] = $value->getAttribute($key);
	}
	foreach ($value->getCasts() as $key => $cast) {
	if ($this->isDateCast($cast)) {
	$properties[$key] = $value->getAttribute($key);
	}
	}

---

What to do when I wanna timestamps to be optional?

[rubenvanassche]

Shouldn't this:

class SongData extends Data
{
    public function __construct(
        public string $title,
        public Carbon|Optional|null $created_at,
    ) {
    }
}

Since you're providing a value for created_at because it exists in your model, the property is technically not Optional and should be nullable.

[alexrififi]

Model not providing a value for created_at

Song::find(1, 'title')->toArray();

//        [
//            "title" => "Never Gonna Give You Up"
//        ]

I expect in the Data also be missing the created_at, but it is forcibly added

[rubenvanassche]

created_at is added becaus it is a part of your model. You should disable timestamps on your model if you don't have any by setting the $timestamps = false property.