Arrays to database - php

Question

I have a php file(users.php) which I save the user info. Every time I update or add employee I need to open the file in text editor and make some changes. This is the sample lists of employees in $users array.
$users = array(
'001' => array('id'=>'001', 'name'=>'first lastname', 'dept'=>'Sales', 'position'=>'Lead Team', 'rate'=>'800', 'dayoff'=>'SUN'),
'002' => array('id'=>'002', 'name'=>'sec lastname', 'dept'=>'Sales', 'position'=>'Designer', 'rate'=>'800', 'dayoff'=>'SUN'),
'003' => array('id'=>'003', 'name'=>'david, sample', 'dept'=>'IT', 'position'=>'', 'rate'=>'220.83', 'dayoff'=>'SUN'),
'004' => array('id'=>'004', 'name'=>'Test, Johny', 'dept'=>'', 'position'=>'', 'rate'=>'600', 'dayoff'=>''),
'005' => array('id'=>'005', 'name'=>'Name, Last', 'dept'=>'IT', 'position'=>'Programmer', 'rate'=>'500', 'dayoff'=>'SUN')
);
When I compute their salary I grab all the details of employee($users array) from that file. This is my sample function.
function compute(){
global $users;
include('users.php');
//import list of users;
foreach($the_log as $k=>$v){
if($users[$k]){
//codes here
//show user data with computed salary
}
}
}
How can I make a simple database(like csv file or text file) not MySql or any open source database, so that I can add, edit and delete a user(with just a click) easily whenever I want. What I want to achieve here is to be able to make $users array editable. Is it possible?
Edit: When I use or save data in .csv file, How can I edit or delete a specific user/row?

Answer 1

Just because it's fun, I created an example of how you could do it.
Bare in mind, it's not tested so it might have some bugs but it shows how you could do it.
Since you got so much finished code, I'll leave that up to you to find the bugs. ;-) (However, if you find bugs, leave them as a comment and I'll update the answer).
Important note: Just like #deceze mentioned in his comment, this works well if you know that there won't be any simultaneous "connections" (several people working with the files at the same time) and that you always "open, do stuff, save" and not "open, do stuff, open in a new browser tab, do stuff, save in first tab, save in second tab". Otherwise, your first changes will be overwritten with your second changes and so on...
Class to manage users:
class Users
{
/**
* #var string
*/
protected $path;
/**
* #var array
*/
protected $users = [];
/**
* #param string $path Path to the user file (must be writeable)
*/
public function __construct($path)
{
$this->path = $path;
if (!is_file($this->path)) {
// The file doesn't exist yet, let's create it
file_put_contents($this->path, json_encode([]));
} else {
// It does exist. Load it.
$this->users = json_decode(file_get_contents($this->path), true);
}
}
/**
* Get all users
*
* #return array
*/
public function all()
{
return $this->users;
}
/**
* Get a specific user
*
* #param string|integer $userId The array index for that user
* #return array|null Returns null if user doesn't exist
*/
public function get($userId)
{
if (!array_key_exists($userId, $this->users)) {
// The key doesn't exist, return null
return null;
}
return $this->users[$userId];
}
/**
* Update or add a user
*
* #param string|integer $userId The array index for that user
* #param array $data The user info
* #return boolean
*/
public function save($userId, array $data)
{
$this->users[$userId] = $data;
$written = file_put_contents($this->path, json_encode($this->users));
return $written !== false;
}
}
How you would use it:
// When you have created the instance, use the same instance
// through out your whole application (only do: new Users() once).
// You could do this with some factory class.
$users = new Users('/path/to/users.json');
// List all users
foreach($users->all() as $userId => $row) {
echo $row['first_name'];
// ...
}
// Get user
$user = $users->get('001');
// Change user
$user['first_name'] = "Magnus";
// Save user (this is both update and add)
$users->save('001', $user);