nested set save to database - ajax

Question

I'm trying to implement jqTree with Laravel app.
Controller gets data and return view:
public function index()
{
$categories = Category::get(['id', 'name', '_lft', '_rgt', 'parent_id'])->toTree();
return view('category.index', [
'categories' => $categories
]);
}
Here is a view (javascript part):
var data = {!! $categories !!};
$('#tree').tree({
data: data,
dragAndDrop: true,
onDragStop: handleMove,
});
function handleMove() {
var treeData = $('#tree').tree('toJson');
$.ajax({
url: 'category',
type: 'POST',
headers: { 'X-CSRF-TOKEN': $('meta[name="csrf-token"]').attr('content') },
data: { data: treeData },
});
}
This builds tree properly and I can drag & drop items. However, I want to save reordered tree back to database. Here is a post method in a controller:
public function store(Request $request)
{
$data = $request->data;
$result = Category::rebuildTree($data);
...
}
After calling rebuildTree method, I'm getting this error:
Type error: Argument 1 passed to Kalnoy\\Nestedset\\QueryBuilder::rebuildTree() must be of the type array, string given
I have tried with this:
public function store(Request $request)
{
$data = $request->data;
$data = json_decode($request->data);
$array_data = (array) $data;
$result = Category::rebuildTree($data);
...
}
This however returns:
Cannot use object of type stdClass as array
How can I get array of data passed so I can use rebuildTree() method and update database?
Here is a result of dd($request->data):
[{"name":"Storage","id":3,"_lft":17,"_rgt":18,"parent_id":null,"is_open":true,
"children":[{"name":"Laptops","id":1,"_lft":1,"_rgt":10,"parent_id":null,"is_open":true,
"children":[{"name":"Monitors","id":2,"_lft":11,"_rgt":16,"parent_id":null,
"children":[{"name":"IPS","id":5,"_lft":14,"_rgt":15,"parent_id":2}]},
{"name":"Macbook","id":6,"_lft":2,"_rgt":3,"parent_id":1},
{"name":"Acer","id":7,"_lft":4,"_rgt":5,"parent_id":1},
{"name":"New Subcategory Name","id":8,"_lft":6,"_rgt":7,"parent_id":1},
{"name":"New Subcategory ame","id":9,"_lft":8,"_rgt":9,"parent_id":1}]}]},
{"name":"Memory","id":4,"_lft":19,"_rgt":20,"parent_id":null}]
Also, just to be clear: I'm using jqTree
Nested set is lazychaser/laravel-nestedset

Answer 1

You are getting json in $request->data; you need to decode it in array using json_decode() along with second parameter as true for assoc
see the manual
assoc
When TRUE, returned objects will be converted into associative
arrays.
public function store(Request $request)
{
$result = Category::rebuildTree(json_decode($request->data,True));
...
}
and if you need to pass it in $data then pass it like this.
$data = json_decode($request->data,True);
Alternatively
foreach ($request->data as $value)
$array[] = $value->name;
then pass this $array into your query like this
$result = Category::rebuildTree($array);