How to specify data type for column during import

[Mikhno]

Similar problem to #3043 but for import. I have a CSV that looks like this:

name	phone
"John Doe"	"+1555123456"

But "+1555123456" is being parsed as int(1555123456) during the import, in collection(Collection $rows) of my import.

Is there any way I can specify the data type for a column during import, so it could load it e.g. as a string? Ideally, so I could force it to parse the field value as a string even if it isn't enclosed in quotes, i.e. so even this:

name	phone
"John Doe"	+1555123456

Would still be able to load phone as +1555123456 and not as 1555123456.

[patrickbrouwers]

I think you need a value binder in which you can set the type explicitly.

[Mikhno]

Thank you - managed to achieve it with Value Binder.

It's possible to do this either by disabling intelligent formatting (to force all columns to be parsed as string) as mentioned in https://docs.laravel-excel.com/3.1/imports/custom-formatting-values.html (I didn't find the article while checking the docs since it's not listed under "Imports" on the left there, but found it now while searching for Value Binder), or by mapping columns and then checking for specific column and setting data type explicitly in public function bindValue(Cell $cell, $value) - works well now.