_toString() is called when an object is used as string. How can I do something similar for numerical values, something like __toInt(), or __toArray(). Do such methods exist? Is there a work around? Is it a bad idea to use something like that even if there is a workaround for it?
There is no __toArray
magic-method (just check the ones that exist here), but then, there shouldn't be, IMO.
Though people have asked for a magic toArray
method, it doesn't look like such a method will be implemented any time soon.
Considering what objects are for, and how we use them, a toInt
method wouldn't make much sense, and since all objects can be cast to an array, and can be iterated over, I see very little point in using __toArray
anyway.
To "convert" on object to an array, you can use either one of the following methods:
$obj = new stdClass;
$obj->foo = 'bar';
var_dump((array) $obj);
//or
var_dump(json_decode(json_encode($obj), true));
This can be done with both custom objects, as stdClass
instances alike.
As far as accessing them as an array, I can't see the point. Why write a slow magic method to be able to do something like:
$bar = 'foo';
$obj[$bar];
if you can do:
$obj->{$bar}
or if you can do:
foreach($obj as $property => $value){}
Or, if you need something a tad more specific, just implement any of the Traversable
interfaces.
And for those rare cases, where you want an object to produce an array from specific properties in a very particular way, just write a method for that and call that method explicitly.
class ComplexObject
{
private $secret = null;
private $childObject = null;
public $foo = null;
//some methods, then:
public function toArray()
{//custom array representation of object
$data = array();
foreach($this->childObject as $property => $val)
{
if (!is_object($this->childObject->{$property}))
{
$data[$property] = $val;
}
}
$data['foo'] = $this->foo;
return $data;
}
//and even:
public function toJson()
{
return json_encode($this->toArray());
}
}
Ok, you have to call these methods yourself, explicitly, but that's not that hard, really... is it?