Laravel Datatables empty collection error

I'm using Laravel Datatables package to show Ajaxified tables.

I'm getting an error when the collection i want to show in my table is empty, the error is:

ErrorException in CollectionEngine.php line 46: array_keys() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given

My controller contains two simple functions

// get the view
public function getItems() {
  return view('someview');
}

// get data for datatables
public function getItemsdata() {
  $data = DataModel::all();
  return Datatables::of($data)->make(true);
}

When $data is not empty, everything works just fine but if it is empty, I get the error! how can i fix this? any ideas?

from Newest questions tagged laravel-5 - Stack Overflow http://ift.tt/1TXXSqV
via IFTTT