How to turn string output from sql to integer? - sql

Question

I am generating charts using google chart api. I have done it locally and successfully produce the charts. However, when I transfer them to server (cpanel) the charts is ruined. I have detected that the output of sql query for generating the charts value is produced in string format with "6".
This is the code to get the charts' value:
public function gender()
{
$data = DB::table('results')
->select(
DB::raw('gender as gender'),
DB::raw('count(*) as number'))
->groupBy('gender')
->get();
//dd($data);
$array[] = ['Gender', 'Number'];
foreach($data as $key => $value)
{
$array[++$key] = [$value->gender, $value->number];
}
//dd($array);
return view('gender')->with('gender', json_encode($array));
}
In my local, I try to access the data of the sql using dd($data); producing:
Collection {#263 ▼
#items: array:2 [▼
0 => {#264 ▼
+"gender": "female"
+"number": 6
}
1 => {#266 ▼
+"gender": "male"
+"number": 6
}
]
}
I tried accessing in server using same dd($data);
Collection {#260 ▼
#items: array:2 [▼
0 => {#261 ▼
+"gender": "female"
+"number": "6"
}
1 => {#263 ▼
+"gender": "male"
+"number": "6"
}
]
The difference is the number value from server code is in string.
Why this happened and how to fix the problem?

Answer 1

I had a similar issue. It seems it's a PHP issue. Are you running the same PHP versions on local and production?
In any case, you could also explicitly cast it as an UNSIGNED integer. I was able to do that with the following:
$data = DB::table('results')
->selectRaw('gender as gender, CAST(count(*) AS UNSIGNED) as number')
->groupBy('gender')
->get();