How to merge Laravel objects in controller
Stefan Izdrail
Founder & Senior Architect · 2026-06-29
In this article, we'll explore how to merge multiple Laravel objects in a controller, which will enable you to return a single object containing data from different tables with parallel structures for your Backbone application. We will discuss why the previous approach doesn't work well within Laravel and provide an alternative solution that addresses the issue effectively.
Let's begin by understanding why the initial attempt leads to the "UnexpectedValueException" error. In PHP, objects are complex data types that contain variables and functions, allowing us to model real-world entities in our code. The error occurs because Laravel uses responses with strings or objects implementing __toString() as content. However, array_merge() returns an object containing both arrays, which is not compatible with the Response class's requirements.
To overcome this problem and successfully merge your Laravel objects, you need to follow these steps:
1. Create a new array before merging the main objects. This will ensure that the resulting data structure is appropriate for returning as a response.
2. Iterate through each object (main contact and send message) and add their properties to the newly created array. To achieve this, you can use loops and array_push() or other relevant functions to maintain the original indexes while preserving the parallel structures.
3. Combine all the arrays into a single one by merging them using array_merge(). Make sure your function call includes all necessary arguments from the newly created arrays.
4. Convert the merged array into an object using (object) syntax and assign it to a variable for later use. This will enable you to interact with the combined data in Backbone as required.
Here's an updated example of the code snippet:
public function index() {
$mainContacts = MainContact::where('verified', '=', '1')->get();
$sendMessages = SendMessage::where('verified', '=', '1')->get();
$data = []; // Create a new array to hold data from different tables
foreach ($mainContacts as $mc) {
$data[] = (array) $mc; // Convert main contact object into an array for merging
}
foreach ($sendMessages as $sm) {
$data[] = (array) $sm; // Convert send message object into an array for merging
}
$mergedData = (object) array_merge($data); // Merge arrays and convert to an object
return $mergedData; // Return the merged data as a response
}