Php: turning it into a recursive function - php

Question

I have currently two classes.
the ArrayCompare class:
<?php
namespace App\Tools\RegexExtract;
class ArrayCompare
{
public function compare(Array $arrayToCompare)
{
$elementData = new ElementMetaData();
$metaData = $elementData->extract($arrayToCompare[0], [], $initial=true);
foreach ($arrayToCompare as $currentElement) {
$metaData = $elementData->extract($currentElement, $metaData);
}
return $metaData;
}
}
which uses the ElementMetaData class
<?php
/**
* A class for extracting meta data from an element.
*/
namespace App\Tools\RegexExtract;
class ElementMetaData
{
public function extract($element, $metaDataToCompare = [], $initial = false)
{
if ($initial == true) {
$this->isInteger($element) ? $returnMetaData['isInteger'] = $this->isInteger($element) : null;
$returnMetaData['length'] = $this->length($element);
}
else {
$returnMetaData=$metaDataToCompare;
if ($returnMetaData != []) {
if (isset ($returnMetaData['isInteger']) && !$this->isInteger($element)) {
unset($returnMetaData['isInteger']);
}
if (isset ($returnMetaData['length']) && $this->length($element) != $returnMetaData['length']) {
unset($returnMetaData['length']);
}
}
}
return $returnMetaData;
}
private function isInteger($element)
{
return is_int($element);
}
private function length($element)
{
return strlen($element);
}
}
the basic functionality is:
given I have an array
$arr=[1,2,3];
I want to get the "similarities" between ALL Elements. According to a an array i Predefine...so this would deliver this result:
$metaArray=['isInteger'=>true,'length'=>1];
and this would deliver just length as similarity:
$arr=[1,2,'D'];
$metaArray=['length'=>1];
While this array would deliver an empty result []
$arr=[1,2,'3D']; // result is [] since not all integers or not all of same length.
Now my solution does not use recursive functions...but I am sure it can be used somehow.
Also, I want to add more "criteria"....So "isEmailAdress", "beginswithA"....etc....and this would make my if statements a horror....so what is the best strategy/design pattern to follow here?

Answer 1

#deceze beat me to it by fair margin... but I'll still post my solution that works basically with the same principles.
abstract class abstractComparer
{
private $array;
private $result = true;
protected $name;
public function compareArray($array)
{
$current = null;
foreach ($array as $index => $value)
{
$this->result = $this->result && $this->compareValues($index, $current, $value);
$current = $value;
}
}
public function getResult()
{
return $this->result;
}
public function getName()
{
return $this->name;
}
public abstract function compareValues($index, $value1, $value2);
public abstract function getSuccessValue();
}
class intComparer extends abstractComparer
{
protected $name = "isInteger";
public function compareValues($index, $value1, $value2)
{
return is_int($value2);
}
public function getSuccessValue()
{
return true;
}
}
class lengthComparer extends abstractComparer
{
protected $name = "length";
protected $length = 0;
public function compareValues($index, $value1, $value2)
{
$this->length = strlen($value2);
return $index == 0 || strlen($value1) == $this->length;
}
public function getSuccessValue()
{
return $this->length;
}
}
And do the actual processing like this:
$temp = [1,2,3];
$comparers = [new intComparer(), new lengthComparer()];
$result = array();
foreach ($comparers as $comparer)
{
$comparer->compareArray($temp);
if ($comparer->getResult())
{
$result[$comparer->getName()] = $comparer->getSuccessValue();
}
}
//var_dump($result);

Answer 2

I don't see any need for recursion here, so I'll just make a suggestion for a design approach:
Implement each criterion as a class:
abstract class Criterion {
protected $valid = true;
abstract public function initialize($value);
abstract public function check($value);
public function isValid() {
return $this->valid;
}
}
class Length extends Criterion {
protected $length;
public function initialize($value) {
$this->length = strlen($value);
}
public function check($value) {
if ($this->length != strlen($value)) {
$this->valid = false;
}
}
}
You then make an array of all your criteria:
$criteria = [new Length, ...];
foreach ($criteria as $criterion) {
$criterion->initialize($values[0]);
}
And slowly whittle them down through your values:
foreach ($values as $value) {
foreach ($criteria as $criterion) {
$criterion->check($value);
}
}
$commonCriteria = array_filter($criteria, function (Criterion $criterion) {
return $criterion->isValid();
});