A drop-dead simple UUID base model class for Laravel 5

UuidModel.php

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Ramsey\Uuid\Uuid;

/**
 * App\Models\UuidModel.
 *
 * @mixin \Eloquent
 */
class UuidModel extends BaseModel
{
    /** @var bool Indicates if the IDs are auto-incrementing. */
    public $incrementing = false;

    /** @var string The data-type of primary-key. */
    protected $keyType = 'string';

    /**
     * Add an id to the model and save it in the database.
     *
     * @param  array $options
     * @return bool
     */
    public function save(array $options = [])
    {
        if (empty($this->{$this->getKeyName()})) {
            $this->{$this->getKeyName()} = self::generateNewId();
        }

        return parent::save($options);
    }

    /**
     * Get a new version 4 (random) UUID.
     *
     * @return string A 22 character Unique Identifier
     */
    public static function generateNewId(): string
    {
        // 1. Generate the UUID.
        $uuid = Uuid::uuid4();
        // 2. Strip the dashes.
        $uuid = str_replace('-', '', $uuid);
        // 3. Convert from hex to base62.
        $uuid = gmp_strval(gmp_init(($uuid), 16), 62);
        // We pad zeros to the beginning, as the result returned by gmp_strval after base conversion
        // is not always 22 characters long.
        $uuid = str_pad($uuid, 22, '0', STR_PAD_LEFT);

        return $uuid;
    }
}