Transformers

In full-stack MVC framework, we have Model View Controller. In Lumen or in API, we don't have Views because we just return some data. However, we may want to data in a different way than usual. We may want to use a different format, or we may want to restrict an object with a specific format. In all such cases, we need a place where formatting-related tasks will be done, a place where we can have different format-related content. We can have it in controller. However, we will need to define the same format at different places. In that case, we can add a method in model. For example, post model can have a specific way to format a post object. So, we can define another method in Post Model.

It will work fine, but if you look at it closely, it is related to formatting, not model. So, we have another layer called serializes or transformers. Also, sometimes, we need nested objects, so we will not want to do the same nesting again and again.

Lumen provides a way to serialize data to...