creating php class object from associative array

Question

I'm working on a software in which models can have custom fields. This means using a user interface, customers can add and remove fields.

Now, I have a Customer class and I want to fill object values from associative array or JSON. Normally I would do is:

$customer = new Customer();

$customer->first_name = $firstName;
$customer->last_name = $lastName;
.....

What I want is to be able to do like this:

$data = array(
  "first_name" => $firstName,
  "last_name" => $lastName,
  ....
);

$customer = getCustomer($data);

and the getCustomer() method should not be dependent on number of entries in the array.

Is this doable in PHP?

I found something like this on searching:

$customer = (object)$data;

Is it correct?

Thanks

Ravi Hirani · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-01 05:37:00Z

3

You can use __set and __get magic methods of PHP.

class Customer{

  private $data = [];

  function __construct($property=[]){
    if(!empty($property)){
      foreach($property as $key=>$value){
        $this->__set($key,$value);
      }
    }
  }  

  public function __set($name, $value){ // set key and value in data property       
      $this->data[$name] = $value;
  }

  public function __get($name){  // get propery value  
    if(isset($this->data[$name])) {
        return $this->data[$name];
    }
  }

  public function getData(){
    return $this->data;
  }

}

$customer = new Customer();
$customer->first_name = 'A';
$customer->last_name = 'B';

// OR

$data = array(
  "first_name" => 'A',
  "last_name" => 'B',  
);

$customer = new Customer($data);
echo '<pre>'; print_r($customer->getData());
$res = (object)$customer->getData();
echo '<pre>'; print_r($res);

Hope it will help you :)

edited Mar 1, 2016 at 5:37

answered Feb 29, 2016 at 14:07

Ravi Hirani

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Comments

RomanPerekhrest · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-29 14:17:24Z

2

If getCustomer() function is intended as a global function for generating objects of Customer class, use the following approach:

encapsulate all passed customer's data within Customer class. Mark the "main" properties as private
declare setCustomerData() method which will be responsible for setting all customer's attributes

use privileged methods to "get" those attributes from client code

function getCustomer(array $data) {
    $customer = new Customer();    
    $customer->setCustomerData($data);

    return $customer;
}

class Customer
{
    private $first_name;
    private $last_name;
    // other crucial attributes

    public function setCustomerData(array $data) 
    {
        foreach ($data as $prop => $value) {
            $this->{$prop} = $value;
        }
    }

    public function getFirstName() 
    {
        return $this->first_name;
    }

    // ... other privileged methods

}

$data = array(
  "first_name" => "John",
  "last_name" => $lastName,
  ....
);

$customer = getCustomer($data);
echo $customer->getFirstName();  // "John"

answered Feb 29, 2016 at 14:17

RomanPerekhrest

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3 Comments

miken32 Over a year ago

Why wouldn't you just pass the data in the constructor? Also should check the values passed in to make sure they're allowed to be set by a user.

RomanPerekhrest Over a year ago

@miken32, Of course, in "real" production scheme the solution should be complemented and adjusted. I consider that no one should pass an "arbitrary" array into the object's constructor. We should pass into constructor the crucial and required object's attributes and dependent(service) objects. Imagine that someone is passing an array with 1000 elements into constructor in such case ... but the requied attributes list is comprised of 20 properties (e. g.)

RomanPerekhrest Over a year ago

So, there should be such considerations: "what the required attributes of my customer object ?" , "what is the allowable size of passed arbitrary array?", "should I create some PersonFactory class for generating such objects?"

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