---
title: "Typed values — Attributes for Laravel | Roundly"
description: "Values keep their real PHP type — strings, integers, floats, booleans, arrays and datetimes round-trip without manual casting."
url: https://roundly-consulting.com/open-source/docs/attributes-for-laravel/typed-values
language: en
---

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[Attributes for Laravel](https://roundly-consulting.com/open-source/docs/attributes-for-laravel.md)

# Typed values

Values keep their real PHP type across write and read — no manual casting:

```php
use RoundlyConsulting\Attributes\Facades\Attributes;

$attributes = Attributes::for($product);

$attributes->set('color', 'white');       // string
$attributes->set('rating', 5);            // int
$attributes->set('on_sale', true);        // bool
$attributes->set('price', 9.99);          // float
$attributes->set('tags', ['a', 'b']);     // array
$attributes->set('published_at', now());  // datetime

$attributes->get('rating');               // int(5)
$attributes->get('on_sale');              // true
$attributes->get('published_at');         // CarbonImmutable, in the app timezone

// Model shorthand — the same manager underneath
$product->attachAttribute('rating', 5);
$product->getAttachedAttributeValue('rating'); // int(5)
```

## How types are stored

Without a definition, the type is inferred from the PHP value you pass and stored in value\_type next to the value, which is kept as text:

| PHP value | value\_type | Stored as | Read back as |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| string (and anything else) | `string` | the string | string |
| int | `integer` | 5 → 5 as text | int |
| float | `float` | the shortest text that reads back as the same float | float |
| bool | `boolean` | 1 or 0 | bool |
| array | `array` | JSON — whole-number floats keep their fraction (\[2.0\] stays \[2.0\]) | array |
| DateTimeInterface | `datetime` | ISO-8601 string in UTC | CarbonImmutable in the app timezone |
| null | `string` | SQL NULL (value\_type is the defined type, if any) | null |

Datetimes are normalized to UTC, so one instant always has one stored string, and come back as the same instant in your app timezone. A blank string is no date: under a datetime definition it throws InvalidAttributeValueException instead of storing the current time. Floats keep their full precision. Equality scopes and unique compare arrays by their JSON text, so \[2.0\] and \[2\] are different values.

## Definitions set the type

With a definition, its type wins: the value is validated against that type and stored in it, so a request string “5” under an integer definition is stored and read back as the int 5 — as is any string Laravel’s integer rule accepts, such as “+5”:

```php
use RoundlyConsulting\Attributes\DataTransferObjects\AttributeDefinitionData;
use RoundlyConsulting\Attributes\Enums\AttributeType;
use RoundlyConsulting\Attributes\Facades\Attributes;

Attributes::define(new AttributeDefinitionData('rating', AttributeType::Integer));

Attributes::for($product)->set('rating', $request->input('rating')); // '5' from the request
Attributes::for($product)->get('rating');                            // int(5) — stored in the defined type
```

## The AttributeType enum

The supported types are the cases of RoundlyConsulting\\Attributes\\Enums\\AttributeType. The enum also exposes the inference and conversion it uses internally:

```php
use RoundlyConsulting\Attributes\Enums\AttributeType;

AttributeType::forValue(5);                 // AttributeType::Integer
AttributeType::forValue(now());             // AttributeType::DateTime
AttributeType::forValue('5');               // AttributeType::String_

AttributeType::Boolean->toStorage(true);    // '1'
AttributeType::Array_->toStorage(['a']);    // '["a"]'
AttributeType::Integer->fromStorage('42');  // 42

AttributeType::Float_->toStorage(0.1 + 0.2);                      // '0.30000000000000004' — full precision
AttributeType::DateTime->toStorage('2026-01-01 10:00:00+02:00');  // '2026-01-01T08:00:00+00:00' — UTC
AttributeType::Float_->isNumeric();                               // true — integer and float are one family
```

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