Type cast for Laravel Eloquent ORM. Tested on Laravel 4.2 Requires PHP 5.4

SampleModel.php

class SampleModel extends \Eloquent
{
    use TypeCast;

    protected $table = 'manufacturer';

    protected $fillable = [];

    protected $guarded = [
        'id',
        'created_at',
        'updated_at'
    ];

    // TypeCast usage:
    protected $castedAttributes = [
        'id'            => 'int',
        'status'        => 'bool',
        'created_at'    => 'DateTime',
        'updated_at'    => 'DateTime',
    ];
}

TypeCast.php

<?php
/**
 * Created by IntelliJ IDEA.
 * User: janez
 * Date: 2014.08.01.
 * Time: 20:39
 * Author: Janos Meszaros <m.janee@gmail.com>
 */

/**
 * Usage: add in model
    protected $castedAttributes = [
        'id'            => 'int',
        'created_at'    => 'DateTime',
        'updated_at'    => 'DateTime',
    ];
 */

use Carbon\Carbon;

trait TypeCast
{

    // ---- Overrided Methods --------------------------------------------------
    // Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model

    /**
     * Get an attribute from the $attributes array.
     *
     * @param  string  $key
     * @return mixed
     */
    protected function getAttributeFromArray($key)
    {
        if (array_key_exists($key, $this->attributes))
        {
            if ($this->isCastableAttribute($key))
                return $this->castAttribute($key, $this->attributes[$key]);

            return $this->attributes[$key];
        }
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    protected function getArrayableAttributes()
    {
        $attributes = $this->getArrayableItems($this->attributes);

        foreach ($attributes AS $key=>$value)
            if ($this->isCastableAttribute($key))
                $attributes[$key] = $this->castAttribute($key, $value);

        return $attributes;
    }

    /**
     * Return a timestamp as DateTime object.
     *
     * @param  mixed  $value
     * @return \Carbon\Carbon
     */
    protected function asDateTime($value)
    {
        // If this value is an integer, we will assume it is a UNIX timestamp's value
        // and format a Carbon object from this timestamp. This allows flexibility
        // when defining your date fields as they might be UNIX timestamps here.
        if (is_numeric($value))
        {
            return Carbon::createFromTimestamp($value);
        }

        // If the value is in simply year, month, day format, we will instantiate the
        // Carbon instances from that format. Again, this provides for simple date
        // fields on the database, while still supporting Carbonized conversion.
        elseif (is_string($value) && preg_match('/^(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2})$/', $value))
        {
            return Carbon::createFromFormat('Y-m-d', $value)->startOfDay();
        }

        // Finally, we will just assume this date is in the format used by default on
        // the database connection and use that format to create the Carbon object
        // that is returned back out to the developers after we convert it here.
        elseif ( ! $value instanceof DateTime)
        {
            $format = $this->getDateFormat();

            return Carbon::createFromFormat($format, $value);
        }

        return Carbon::instance($value);
    }

    // ---- TypeCast Methods ---------------------------------------------------

    /**
     * @param $key
     * @param $value
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function setAttribute($key, $value)
    {
        if ($this->isCastableAttribute($key))
        {
            $value = $this->castAttribute($key, $value);
        }
        return parent::setAttribute($key, $value);
    }

    /**
     * @return array
     */
    function getCastedAttributes()
    {
        return is_array($this->castedAttributes) ? $this->castedAttributes : [];
    }

    /**
     * @param $key
     * @return bool
     */
    function isCastableAttribute($key)
    {
        return is_array($this->castedAttributes) && array_key_exists($key, $this->castedAttributes);
    }

    /**
     * @param $key
     * @param $value
     * @return array|bool|float|int|object|string
     */
    protected function castAttribute($key, $value)
    {
        switch($this->castedAttributes[$key]):
            case 'int':
            case 'integer':
                return intval($value);
            case 'str':
            case 'string':
                return strval($value);
            case 'float':
            case 'double':
            case 'real':
                return floatval($value);
            case 'bool':
            case 'boolean':
                return boolval($value);
            case 'array':
                return (array) $value;
            case 'object':
                return (object) $value;
            default:
                $type = $this->castedAttributes[$key];
                return new $type($value);
        endswitch;
    }
} 

usage.md

TypeCast usage

class Something extends \Eloquent
{
  ..
    use TypeCast;
  ..
  
    protected $castedAttributes = [
        'id'            => 'int',
        'status'        => 'bool',
        'created_at'    => 'DateTime',
        'updated_at'    => 'DateTime',
    ];
  

Available Types:

• int | integer
• str | string
• bool | boolean
• float | double | real
• array
• object | objectName | DateTime | SomeClassName