Arrays
ON-THE-FLY!!!
In response to Bobs note below (and Rick's somewhat): It is much better to predefine the object you want to create. This is because in all the programs you write, you will still create objects On-the-Fly anyway:
$foo = 'My String Object'; // on-the-fly!
$bar = 45; // on-the-fly!
$obj = new stdClass(); // on-the-fly!
$obj->blah = 3; // on-the-fly!
So what's missing above? Real control over WHAT your program does, HOW it does it, and HOW your data is organized. Let's say your code $obj->blah = 3 was 'blah' because 3 was your last Test Score (take no offense, I've done worse!). In that case, you could use code like so:
<?php
class Test{
const MIN = 0, MAX = 100; // acceptable range for a test
protected $person; // person taking the test
protected $score; // use the word 'score' because 'blah' is meaningless
public function __construct($p, $s){
$this->person = $p;
$this->score = self::clamp($s);
}
protected static function clamp($val){
if($val < self::MIN) $val = self::MIN;
if($val > self::MAX) $val = self::MAX;
return $val;
}
public function __toString(){
return "Test [person=$this->person, score=$this->score%]";
}
}
$obj = new Test("John Doe", 83); // on-the-fly!
echo (object)$obj; // outputs 'Test [person=John Doe, score=83%]'
?>
Writing your own class definitions help maintain the "integerity" of your objects - see how the clamp() function keeps test scores between 0 and 100 percent? PHP uses similar techniques to set min and max vals on Numbers. And, classes like Test are way more useful than objects created with an empty shell, uh em, stdClass. In addition, you can see WHAT, WHERE, WHY, and HOW your program actually works... On-the-Fly!
-->
Objects
Object Initialization
To create a new object, use the new statement to instantiate a class:
<?php
class foo
{
function do_foo()
{
echo "Doing foo.";
}
}
$bar = new foo;
$bar->do_foo();
?>
For a full discussion, see the Classes and Objects chapter.
Converting to object
If an object is converted to an object, it is not modified. If a value of any other type is converted to an object, a new instance of the stdClass built-in class is created. If the value was NULL, the new instance will be empty. Arrays convert to an object with properties named by keys, and corresponding values. For any other value, a member variable named scalar will contain the value.
<?php
$obj = (object) 'ciao';
echo $obj->scalar; // outputs 'ciao'
?>
add a note
User Contributed NotesObjects
wbcarts at juno dot com
29-Sep-2008 06:40
29-Sep-2008 06:40
Isaac Z. Schlueter i at foohack dot com
30-Aug-2008 08:31
30-Aug-2008 08:31
In response to Harmor and Mithras, you can use the json functions to convert multi-dimensional arrays to objects very reliably.
Also, note that just using (object)$x doesn't allow you to access properties inline. For example, this is invalid:
<?php
$x = array("foo"=>"bar");
echo ((object)$x)->foo; // PHP Parse error, unexpected T_OBJECT_OPERATOR
?>
However, this function will let you do that, and will also handle multi-dimensional arrays without any hassle.
<?php
function to_object ($x) {
return (is_object($x) || is_array($x)) ? json_decode(json_encode($x)) : (object) $x;
}
echo to_object( array("foo"=>"bar") )->foo; // "bar"
?>
Note that *numeric* arrays will not be converted to objects using this method.
Mithras
21-Aug-2008 09:54
21-Aug-2008 09:54
In response to harmor: if an array contains another array as a value, you can recursively convert all arrays with:
<?php
function arrayToObject( $array ){
foreach( $array as $key => $value ){
if( is_array( $value ) ) $array[ $key ] = arrayToObject( $value );
}
return (object) $array;
}
?>
Rick
18-Apr-2008 01:35
18-Apr-2008 01:35
Bob, I think you solution is to use stdClass and add properties on the fly...
$obj = new stdClass();
$obj->data ="This is the solution";
bob
10-Apr-2008 11:03
10-Apr-2008 11:03
Why is there nothing in the docs about instantiating a generic object? ie new object() - it does not work.
If one wants to create a dynamic object on the fly, the only option I see is to create it implicitly, by creating a child of it - ghetto:
unset($obj);
$obj->blah = 3;
harmor
10-Mar-2008 04:17
10-Mar-2008 04:17
Environment: PHP/5.2.5
Note that multi-dimentional arrays are not converted to objects, only the first level is like this:
Input:
<?php
$arr = array('nameOfAKey'=>array('subKeyName'=>'itsValue'));
$obj = (object)$arr;
echo '01: '.print_r($obj->nameOfAKey, true).'<br />'; //As expected
echo '02: Test: ('.var_export($obj->nameOfAKey->subKeyName,true).')' //Not supported
?>
Output:
01: Array ( [subKeyName] => itsValue )
02: Test: (NULL)
gabe at fijiwebdesign dot com
22-May-2007 12:25
22-May-2007 12:25
In response to sirbinam.
You cannot call a function or method before it exists. In your example, the global instance of stdout is just being passed around to differnet references (pointers). It however exists in the "dump" function scope via the global keyword.
The code below works fine and illustrates that "stdout" has been defined before its instantiation.
<?php
class profiler{
function profiler(){
$this->starttime = microtime();
}
function dump(){
global $stdout;
$this->endtime = microtime();
$duration = $this->endtime - $this->starttime;
$stdout->write($duration);
}
}
class stdout{
function write($msg){
echo $msg;
}
}
$stdout =& new stdout();
$profiler =& new profiler();
$profiler->dump();
?>
All classes and functions declarations within a scope exist even before the php execution reaches them. It does not matter if you have your classes defined on the first or last line, as long as they are in the same scope as where they are called and are not in a conditional statement that has not been evaluated yet.
ludvig dot ericson at gmail dot com
18-Aug-2006 06:35
18-Aug-2006 06:35
In reply to the usort thing, you can access a property of an object dynamically by:
<?php
$obj = (object)array("Test" => "bar")
$var = "Test";
echo $obj->$var;
?>
This will output "bar", and do notice I call on ->$var and not just ->var.
Trevor Blackbird > yurab.com
27-Nov-2005 12:33
27-Nov-2005 12:33
You can create a new object using the built-in stdClass or by using type-casting:
<?php
// This is the proper way
$object1 = new stdClass();
// This works too
$object2 = (object) NULL;
// This will create an object from an array
$monkey_array = array('title'=>'Spider Monkey', 'src'=>'monkey.jpg');
$monkey_object = (object) $monkey_array;
print $monkey_object->title . ' ' . $monkey_object->src;
// You can type-cast in the middle of an expression
function customHTML($some_object) {
// this function expects an object as the argument and returns some output
}
print '<p>Writing some output ' . customHTML( (object) array('rows'=>3, 'cols'=>4) );
?>
james dot jones at firstinvestors dot com
10-Mar-2005 12:32
10-Mar-2005 12:32
iblun:
Highly recommended that you NOT try to write your own sort function. Try something like this instead:
<?php
function sort_by_field($obj_array, $field)
{
return usort($obj_array,
create_function('$o1,$o2',
"return (\$o1->$field < \$o2->$field) ? -1 : 1"));
}
?>
(Warning: untested code...)
iblun at gmx dot net
09-Mar-2005 08:08
09-Mar-2005 08:08
To sort an array, that contains an object, after one fieldname inside the object, im using this function:
function objectSort($objectarray, $field)
{
for ($a=0;$a < (count($objectarray)); $a++)
{
for ($b=0;$b < (count($objectarray)); $b++)
{
if ($objectarray[$a]->$field < $objectarray[$b]->$field)
{
$temp = $objectarray[$a];
$objectarray[$a] = $objectarray[$b];
$objectarray[$b] = $temp;
}
}
}
return $objectarray;
}
mortoray at ecircle-ag dot com
16-Feb-2005 05:07
16-Feb-2005 05:07
If you use new to create items in an array, you may not get the results you want since the parameters to array will be copies of the original and not references.
By Example:
class Store {
var $item = 3;
}
$a = array( new Store() );
$b = $a;
$a[0]->item = 2;
print( "|" . $b[0]->item . "| <br>" ); //shows 3
$a = array();
$a[] =& new Store();
$b = $a;
$a[0]->item = 2;
print( "|" . $b[0]->item . "| <br>" ); //shows 2
This is extremely important if you intend on passing arrays of classes to functions and expect them to always use the same object instance!
Note: The following syntax is desired (or maybe even the default notation should translate as this):
$a = array( &new Store() );
sirbinam at nospam dot please dot hotmail dot com
15-Nov-2004 09:46
15-Nov-2004 09:46
<?php
class hack{}
$hack =& new hack;
class profiler{
function profiler(){
$this->startime = microtime();
}
function dump(){
global $hack;
$this->endtime = microtime();
$duration = $this->endtime - $this->starttime; /* this won't actually work, it just the concept */
$stdout->write($duration);
}
}
class stdout{
function write($msg){
echo $msg;
}
}
$stdout =& new stdout();
$hack =& $stdout;
$profiler->dump();
?>
/*
*
* In short this little hack allows us to call $stdout->write() from
* $profiler->dump
*
* The problem is that $stdout doesn't exist yet and when the compiler
* parses this class, it sends a fatal error and dies because you can't
* refer to a method of an object that doesn't exist yet, even though
* this method doesn't get called until the end of execution, when the
* method does exist.
* This is the same as not being able to use a function before it is
* at least declared in say a header file. This is seen in C, Perl,
* and pretty much every language known to man. (TTBOMK?)
*
* So what does this hack do?
* The first thing that happens in the global scope is an empty class
* definition, it then creates a object called $hack from this class.
* All this does is allocate memory for an object, and places a pointer
* at the begining of that memory segment.
* When the compiler parses this class, it doesn't care that the $hack
* object is empty, as long as it has somewhere to assign a function
* pointer. Later in global scope the $stdout object is created.
* After $stdout is created, we do $hack =& $stdout. The =&
* (assign by reference) moves the pointer for $hack to the begining of
* the memory segment for $stdout. So when we call $hack->write(), it
* points to the exact same object->method() as $stdout->write(). So
* this is actually very reliable, just don't tell a purist!
*/
jbinam at nospam dot please dot hotmail dot com
15-Nov-2004 09:46
15-Nov-2004 09:46
<?php
class hack{}
$hack =& new hack;
class profiler{
function profiler(){
$this->startime = microtime();
}
function dump(){
global $hack;
$this->endtime = microtime();
$duration = $this->endtime - $this->starttime; /* this won't actually work, it just the concept */
$stdout->write($duration);
}
}
class stdout{
function write($msg){
echo $msg;
}
}
$stdout =& new stdout();
$hack =& $stdout;
$profiler->dump();
?>
/*
*
* In short this little hack allows us to call $stdout->write() from
* $profiler->dump
*
* The problem is that $stdout doesn't exist yet and when the compiler
* parses this class, it sends a fatal error and dies because you can't
* refer to a method of an object that doesn't exist yet, even though
* this method doesn't get called until the end of execution, when the
* method does exist.
* This is the same as not being able to use a function before it is
* at least declared in say a header file. This is seen in C, Perl,
* and pretty much every language known to man. (TTBOMK?)
*
* So what does this hack do?
* The first thing that happens in the global scope is an empty class
* definition, it then creates a object called $hack from this class.
* All this does is allocate memory for an object, and places a pointer
* at the begining of that memory segment.
* When the compiler parses this class, it doesn't care that the $hack
* object is empty, as long as it has somewhere to assign a function
* pointer. Later in global scope the $stdout object is created.
* After $stdout is created, we do $hack =& $stdout. The =&
* (assign by reference) moves the pointer for $hack to the begining of
* the memory segment for $stdout. So when we call $hack->write(), it
* points to the exact same object->method() as $stdout->write(). So
* this is actually very reliable, just don't tell a purist!
*/
nconantj
18-Jul-2004 03:43
18-Jul-2004 03:43
php at electricsurfer.com,
More than a year later and here's some clarification of what's happening in your code, via comments in an otherwise verbatim copy.
<?
class c
{
var $a = array('a'=>'aa','b'=>'ab');
var $b = 'c';
function show()
{
echo $this->a['a']; // -> 1st
echo $this->a['b']; // outputs 'ab'
$a = 'a';
$b = 'b';
echo $this->$a[$a]; // [] 1st, not what I expected
//Above first becomes $this->$a['a'] by looking at the function's local $a
//Next it becomes $this->a by again looking at the function's local $a, which references the class variable $a with no subscripts.
// In order to reference elements of the class variable $a,
// you want to use $this->a[$a]
echo $this->$a[$b]; // does NOT output 'ab'
// Same as above, but the first step $b becomes 'b'
$this_a =& $this->$a; // work-around
echo $this_a[$a]; // no question
echo $this_a[$b];
$a_arr = array('a'=>'b');
echo $this->$a_arr[$a]; // [] 1st => outputs 'c'
// This becomes $this->$a_arr['a'] which becomes $this->c,
// by referencing the local variables first.
}
}
$c = new c();
$c->show();
?>
info at keltoi-web dot com
25-Aug-2003 05:26
25-Aug-2003 05:26
PHP supports recursive type definitions as far as I've tried. The class below (a _very_ simple tree) is an example:
class Tree {
var $_value = null;
var $_children = array();
function Tree ($value) {
$this->_value = $value;
}
function addChild ($value) {
$aux_node = new Tree ($value);
$this->_children [] = $aux_node;
return $aux_node;
}
}
As you can see, in addChild we reference Tree again...
However, you must be careful about references. See the chapter "References explained" for more details.
Hope this helps.
php at electricsurfer dot com
22-May-2003 12:25
22-May-2003 12:25
Here's an example on operator precedence between -> and []
& what happens with $object->$member[$array_element]
<?
class c
{
var $a = array('a'=>'aa','b'=>'ab');
var $b = 'c';
function show()
{
echo $this->a['a']; // -> 1st
echo $this->a['b']; // outputs 'ab'
$a = 'a';
$b = 'b';
echo $this->$a[$a]; // [] 1st, not what I expected
echo $this->$a[$b]; // does NOT output 'ab'
$this_a =& $this->$a; // work-around
echo $this_a[$a]; // no question
echo $this_a[$b];
$a_arr = array('a'=>'b');
echo $this->$a_arr[$a]; // [] 1st => outputs 'c'
}
}
$c = new c();
$c->show();
?>