Get entry from the database with the correct time using axios

Question

I'm having trouble displaying the correct time. With the UTC default setting in config/app.php, I have a 4 hour difference. When I set the local time zone, I have 2 hours difference. I assume the problem occurs because my database is set to CEST time zone.

mysql> SELECT  @@system_time_zone;
+--------------------+
| @@system_time_zone |
+--------------------+
| CEST               |
+--------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

The page I am working on will be used locally, which is why I would like to have the same time in the database as displayed on the page. The time is correctly saved in the database, only the displayed time is changed.

DB -> Laravel

2020-04-21 16:55:08 -> 2020-04-21T14:55:08.000000Z

I wonder if manual modification is a good approach. In this case, I can't change the time zone in the database on the server. Is there any solution or workaround?

UPDATE #1

This solution works correctly if I'm fetch time to blade file.

public function getCreatedAtAttribute($value) {
    return \Carbon\Carbon::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', $value, 'Europe/Warsaw');
}

When I get an entry using axios createFromFormat does not accept $value without processing. Unfortunately, this solution does not display the correct time.

public function getCreatedAtAttribute($value) {
    $data = \Carbon\Carbon::parse($value);
    return $data::createFromFormat('Y-m-d H:i:s', $data, 'Europe/Warsaw');
}

UPDATE #2

I noticed that after setting the local time zone in config/app.php the time is displayed correctly in blade.php files files without any accessors. Unfortunately, when I download entries using axios Laravel returns the wrong time despite the fact that it is saved correctly in the database. The following accessor works fine.

Accessor method:

public function getCreatedAtAttribute($value) {
    $data = \Carbon\Carbon::parse($value);
    return $data->timezone('Europe/Warsaw');
}

I would like to fetch the time exactly as it is in the database. Otherwise I will have to add accessors to each model.

Answer 1

The easiest and straight forward way to do it is to update each of your model to use Cast in this way by setting $timestamps attribute to false

//Ninja Model

public $timestamps = false;

This means Laravel will not automatically cast created_at and updated_at attributes to a Carbon instance and you can retrieve your values as you get it from the database.

Other than this, if you need to set a system wide timezone for Carbon/Date time generally i.e disregarding what is set by laravel in app.timezone config path. Then you may need to use:date_default_timezone_set('Europe/Warsaw') in the boot() method of your AppServiceProvider class.

Normally, whatever value you set as the timezone value in app config file should be sufficient to enforce app-wide timezone.