Laravel Eloquent Save doesn't save - laravel

Question

I am trying to save survey answers in my db, because of some to me unknown reason the ->save() method is not working, ->update() is working however.
I keep getting the error Array to string conversion every time I try to save.
I have used dd/return/var_dump/print_r whatever would work, to show that it was working up to that step. So now I know it works up to the ->save() method.
My controller:
$array = json_decode($request->getContent(), true);
foreach ($array as $survey) {
$objAns = new Survey_Answer();
$objAns->name = $survey['surveyName'];
$objAns->answers = $survey['answersPerQuestion'];
if($survey['complete'] === true) {
$objAns['complete'] = 1;
} else if($survey['complete'] === false) {
$objAns->complete = 0;
}
$objAns->save();
}
return;
My model:
class Survey_Answer extends Model
{
protected $fillable = ['name', 'answers', 'complete'];
}
My migration:
public function up()
{
Schema::create('survey__answers', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->bigIncrements('id');
$table->bigInteger('survey_id')->unsigned()->nullable()->index();
$table->foreign('survey_id')->references('id')->on('surveys')->onDelete('cascade');
$table->string('name');
$table->json('answers');
$table->boolean('complete');
$table->timestamps();
});
}
I expect the code to save everything that I send along with the $request. This only results in a error: Array to string conversion.
Thank you very much for your help

Answer 1

You need to store your $survey['answersPerQuestion'] in json format not as an array.
$objAns->answers = json_encode($survey['answersPerQuestion']);
Although as #Lucas Arbex pointed out in the comments, there's certainly a better way to store it.

Answer 2

I would suspect that $survey['answersPerQuestion'] is an array but you are trying to store it in a json column.
You can use Laravel's Array & JSON Casting to cast the array to a json string.
The array cast type is particularly useful when working with columns
that are stored as serialized JSON. For example, if your database has
a JSON or TEXT field type that contains serialized JSON, adding the
array cast to that attribute will automatically deserialize the
attribute to a PHP array when you access it on your Eloquent model:
Your Model:
class Survey_Answer extends Model
{
protected $fillable = ['name', 'answers', 'complete'];
protected $casts = [
'answers' => 'array',
];
}
Once the cast is defined, you may access the options attribute and it
will automatically be deserialized from JSON into a PHP array. When
you set the value of the options attribute, the given array will
automatically be serialized back into JSON for storage:
$user = App\User::find(1);
$options = $user->options;
$options['key'] = 'value';
$user->options = $options;
$user->save();