Dynamic PHP Methods - php

Question

I am working on a custom DB Table Mapper in PHP.
Is it possible in PHP to make something like "virtual methods" to access the properties? Like Methods, that don't really exist.
For Example: A class "user" has the property "$name", i don't want to create a "Get" Method for this one, but i want to access the property via a virtual Method, like this: $user->GetName();
I was thinking of working with Conventions. So everytime a "virtual" Method has been called, you catch it, and check if it has the prefix "Get" or "Set".
If it has the prefix "Get" you strip the part after "Get" and make it lowercase, so you have the property you want to access.
My Idea (Pseudo Code):
public function VirtualMethodCalled($method_name)
{
//Get the First 3 Chars to check if Get or Set
$check = substr($method_name, 0, 3);
//Get Everything after the first 3 chars to get the propertyname
$property_name = substr($method_name, 3, 0);
if($check=="Get")
{
return $this->{$property_name};
}
else if($check=="Set")
{
$this->{$property_name};
$this->Update();
}
else
{
//throw exc
}
}

Answer 1

You can use a magic method to achieve this, example:
class A {
private $member;
public function __call($name, $arguments) {
//Get the First 3 Chars to check if Get or Set
$check = substr($method_name, 0, 3);
//Get Everything after the first 3 chars to get the propertyname
$property_name = substr($method_name, 3);
if($check=="Get")
{
return $this->{$property_name};
}
else if($check=="Set")
{
$this->{$property_name} = $arguments[0]; //I'm assuming
}
else
{
//throw method not found exception
}
}
}
I'm mainly using the code you provided for the contents. You can obviously extend this to also handle things like function name aliases or whatever you need.