How do I add visible/hide methods to a Resource?

[Xtea-coder]

Hi! I need to make sure that when calling:

• visible(['id', 'name']) or visible('id') - I was only asked for keys with values for how toArray works($request)
• hidden(['id', 'name']) or hidden('id') is also a method in several places that opens due to the use of a key with values.

The proposed syntax came across like this:

NumberResource::make($this->resource->number)->visible(['id', 'number'])
NumberResource::make($this->resource->number)->hidden(['id', 'number'])

[otaviomoliterno]

You can implement that fluent API in a shared resource base class, filtering the resolved resource array rather than changing the underlying model's visibility:

namespace App\Http\Resources;

use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\JsonResource;
use Illuminate\Support\Arr;

abstract class SelectableResource extends JsonResource
{
    protected ?array $selectedFields = null;

    protected array $excludedFields = [];

    public function visible(array|string $fields): static
    {
        $this->selectedFields = (array) $fields;

        return $this;
    }

    public function hidden(array|string $fields): static
    {
        $this->excludedFields = (array) $fields;

        return $this;
    }

    public function resolve($request = null): array
    {
        $data = parent::resolve($request);

        if ($this->selectedFields !== null) {
            $data = Arr::only($data, $this->selectedFields);
        }

        return Arr::except($data, $this->excludedFields);
    }
}

Then make NumberResource extend SelectableResource instead of JsonResource, keeping its existing toArray() implementation.

Your examples become:

NumberResource::make($number)->visible(['id', 'number']);

NumberResource::make($number)->visible('id');

NumberResource::make($number)->hidden(['id', 'number']);

Calling parent::resolve() first preserves Laravel's normal processing of conditional fields such as when() and whenLoaded(). The selection applies to the resulting top-level resource fields, before the response's data wrapper is added.

With this implementation:

• visible([]) returns no fields.
• Each call replaces the previous selection/exclusion list.
• If a field is both selected and excluded, exclusion wins.
• Nested resources should be configured separately.
• Filtering happens after toArray(), so it does not avoid work already performed there.

Keep authorization-sensitive conditions inside the resource itself; this field selector should only narrow what the resource is already allowed to expose.

Reference: [Laravel API Resources](https://laravel.com/docs/12.x/eloquent-resources).