In this episode, we take a closer look at how to simplify our code by using Laravel's enum casts with models. Previously, we had set up a custom accessor to convert the status attribute from the database into an enum, which worked but involved a bit of extra code.
Now, we're going to ditch that accessor and embrace Laravel's built-in casting features. You'll see that by declaring a casts property on your model and specifying your enum, Laravel takes care of the heavy lifting for you. When you access the status attribute, it will automatically be cast to the enum class, making your code cleaner and easier to maintain.
We walk through breaking the previous accessor-based approach to demonstrate why it's problematic, and then quickly fix it with the casts array, showing the huge reduction in boilerplate. Plus, you'll learn when it still makes sense to use an accessor, like if you need complex logic. Overall, this episode is all about keeping things simple and letting Laravel do the work!