[Feature] Added ArrayDataCast to cast arrays of Laravel Data

[serious-angel]

Dear Developers,

Thank you very much for the marvel you do!

---

Example

Laravel Data

namespace App\Data\Settings\Background;

use App\Enums\Color;
use Spatie\LaravelData\Attributes\MergeValidationRules;
use Spatie\LaravelData\Data;

#[MergeValidationRules]
final class ColorData extends Data
{
    public function __construct(
        public Color $name,
        public float $brightness,
        public float $contrast,
        public float $saturation,
    ) {}
}

Laravel Settings

namespace App\Settings\Background;

use App\Data\Settings\Background\ColorData;
use Spatie\LaravelSettings\Settings;
use Spatie\LaravelSettings\SettingsCasts\ArrayDataCast;

class ColorSettings extends Settings
{
    public bool $enabled = false;

    /** @var ColorData[] */
    public array $colors = [];

    public static function group(): string
    {
        return 'background:color';
    }

    public static function casts(): array
    {
        return [
            'colors' => ArrayDataCast::class . ':' . ColorData::class,
        ];
    }
}

Migration

use Spatie\LaravelSettings\Migrations\SettingsMigration;

return new class() extends SettingsMigration {
    public function up(): void
    {
        $this->migrator->add('background:color.enabled', false);
        $this->migrator->add('background:color.colors', []);
    }

    public function down(): void
    {
        $this->migrator->deleteIfexists('background:color.enabled');
        $this->migrator->deleteIfexists('background:color.colors');
    }
};

Test

$ p-artisan tinker;
Psy Shell v0.11.22 (PHP 8.1.32 — cli) by Justin Hileman
> $s = app(ColorSettings::class);
[!] Aliasing 'ColorSettings' to 'App\Settings\ColorSettings' for this Tinker session.
[!] Aliasing 'ColorData' to 'App\Data\Settings\Background\ColorData' for this Tinker session.
= App\Settings\ColorSettings {#8764
    +enabled: false,
    +colors: [],
    enabled: false,
    colors: [],
  }

> $s->colors = [ new ColorData(Color::White, 1, 0.9, 0.8), new ColorData(Color::Red, 1, 0.8, 1) ];
[!] Aliasing 'Color' to 'App\Enums\Color' for this Tinker session.
= [
    App\Data\Settings\Background\ColorData {#8803
      +name: App\Enums\Color {#8801
        +name: "White",
        +value: "white",
      },
      +brightness: 1.0,
      +contrast: 0.9,
      +saturation: 0.8,
    },
    App\Data\Settings\Background\ColorData {#8814
      +name: App\Enums\Color {#8820
        +name: "Red",
        +value: "red",
      },
      +brightness: 1.0,
      +contrast: 0.8,
      +saturation: 1.0,
    },
  ]
> 

> $s->save();
= App\Settings\ColorSettings {#8764
    +enabled: false,
    +colors: [
      App\Data\Settings\Background\ColorData {#8803
        +name: App\Enums\Color {#8801
          +name: "White",
          +value: "white",
        },
        +brightness: 1.0,
        +contrast: 0.9,
        +saturation: 0.8,
      },
      App\Data\Settings\Background\ColorData {#8814
        +name: App\Enums\Color {#8820
          +name: "Red",
          +value: "red",
        },
        +brightness: 1.0,
        +contrast: 0.8,
        +saturation: 1.0,
      },
    ],
    enabled: false,
    colors: [
      App\Data\Settings\Background\ColorData {#8803},
      App\Data\Settings\Background\ColorData {#8814},
    ],
  }

$ p-artisan tinker;
Psy Shell v0.11.22 (PHP 8.1.32 — cli) by Justin Hileman
> DB::table('settings')->whereGroup('background:color')->get()->toArray();
= [
    {#8784
      +"id": 2,
      +"group": "background:color",
      +"name": "colors",
      +"locked": 0,
      +"payload": "[{"name": "white", "brightness": 1, "contrast": 0.9, "saturation": 0.8}, {"name": "red", "brightness": 1, "contrast": 0.8, "saturation": 1}]",
      +"created_at": "2025-07-19 22:35:26",
      +"updated_at": "2025-07-19 22:38:26",
    },
    {#8763
      +"id": 1,
      +"group": "background:color",
      +"name": "enabled",
      +"locked": 0,
      +"payload": "false",
      +"created_at": "2025-07-19 22:35:26",
      +"updated_at": "2025-07-19 22:38:26",
    },
  ]

---

Best and kind regards

[serious-angel]

Since the library supports multiple arguments for casts, and considering that the cast always validates the Data passed, it feels like a second optional parameter for the Cast may be adequate, and what do you think about the following?:

lass ArrayDataCast implements SettingsCast
{
    protected string $type;

    protected bool $validate;

    public function __construct(?string $type, string $validate = 'true')
// ...

Here, it might be used as:

public static function casts(): array
{
    return [
        'colors' => ArrayDataCast::class . ':' . ColorData::class . ',false',
    ];
}