How to make unlimited category json listing?

I want to get unlimited json loop with category parent_id but I couldn’t find how to do that. Do while I searched but. I couldn’t find the source. How can I do the foreach loop do while? Can you guide me on this?

--- Table ---
id
parent_id
name

Json result;

[
  {
    "id": 1,
    "text": "Tabletler",
    "children": [
      {
        "id": 2,
        "text": "Apple",
        "children": [
          {
            "id": 3,
            "text": "Apple iPad"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
]

Laravel code;

public function index()
{
    $category = CategoryEntity::with('categoryEntityValue')->get()->toTree();
    $categoryArr = [];

    foreach ($category as $cat) {
        $childrenArr = [];
        foreach ($cat->children as $child) {
            $categoryThreeArr = [];
            foreach ($child->children as $childThree) {
                $categoryThreeArr[] = [
                    'id' => $childThree->id,
                    'text' => $childThree->categoryEntityValue[0]->name
                ];
            }

            $childrenArr[] = [
                'id' => $child->id,
                'text' => $child->categoryEntityValue[0]->name,
                'children' => $categoryThreeArr
            ];
        }

        $categoryArr[] = [
            'id' => $cat->id,
            'text' => $cat->categoryEntityValue[0]->name,
            'children' => $childrenArr
        ];
    }

    return response()->json($categoryArr, 200);
}

Answer

A recursive map operation seems perfect for this situation.

If you don’t mind having element with empty children in your json ('children': []), then this should work.

$formatted = $category->map($recursive = function ($item) use (&$recursive) {
    return [
        'id' => $item->id,
        'text' => $item->category_entity_value[0]->name,
        'children' => $item->children->map($recursive)
    ];
});

If you don’t want that, then adding a bit of logic is needed.

$formatted = $category->map($recursive = function ($item) use (&$recursive) {
    $map = [
        'id' => $item->id,
        'text' => $item->category_entity_value[0]->name
    ];

    if ($item->children->isNotEmpty()) {
        $map['children'] = $item->children->map($recursive);
    }

    return $map;
});

Finally simply return the results.

return response()->json($formatted, 200)