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OOP PHP – How to define DateTime property for a db table model object when there is a NULL value in database

February 21, 2023

I am defining a database model property like this.

class GuestList extends DatabaseModel
{
    protected static $table = 'GuestLists';

    public $ID;
    public $EventName;
    public \DateTime $EventDateTime;
   
}

But its throwing a fatal error. because there are already some data in that table and for some row the value in the EventDateTime is NULL. If i dont set \DateTime the error goes away. But is there any way so the fiels also accepts Null value?

>Solution :

Just add nullable type hint by prefixing ? to your other type hint:

class GuestList extends DatabaseModel
{
    protected static $table = 'GuestLists';

    public $ID;
    public $EventName;
    public ?\DateTime $EventDateTime;
}