From 00e5a0380a15485179276a0c06f29f84fc8759cf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dave M <info@mcnd.ca>
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2026 15:19:25 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] - Added some more flexibility to castValue method

---
 src/Method/Context/FormContextCastableInterface.php |  8 ++++++++
 src/Method/FormContext.php                          | 11 +++++++++++
 2 files changed, 19 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 src/Method/Context/FormContextCastableInterface.php

diff --git a/src/Method/Context/FormContextCastableInterface.php b/src/Method/Context/FormContextCastableInterface.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8003f95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Method/Context/FormContextCastableInterface.php
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Picea\Ui\Method\Context;
+
+interface FormContextCastableInterface
+{
+    public static function instance(mixed $value);
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Method/FormContext.php b/src/Method/FormContext.php
index 37ca126..2b84bd4 100644
--- a/src/Method/FormContext.php
+++ b/src/Method/FormContext.php
@@ -215,6 +215,14 @@ class FormContext implements FormContextInterface
     protected function castValue(string $property, mixed $value) : mixed
     {
         $cast = fn($e) => match(true) {
+            is_a($e, Context\FormContextCastableInterface::class, true) => $e::instance($value),
+            $e === "array" => (function(array|string $value) use ($property) {
+                if (is_string($value)) {
+                    return json_validate($value) ? json_decode($value, true) ?? [] : throw new \InvalidArgumentException("Field '$property' is awaiting JSON encoded content.");
+                }
+
+                return $value;
+            })($value),
             is_null($value) => null,
             enum_exists($e) => ( $value instanceof \BackedEnum ? $value : $e::tryFrom($value) ) ?? throw new \InvalidArgumentException(sprintf("Field '\$$property' awaiting values : '%s'.", implode("', '", array_map(fn($e) => $e->value, $e::cases())))),
             function_exists($e) => $e($value),
@@ -233,6 +241,9 @@ class FormContext implements FormContextInterface
                 return $cast($type->getName());
             }
         }
+        elseif ($types->isBuiltin()) {
+            return $cast($types->getName());
+        }
 
         return $value;
     }