Storing key value dictionary in Elgg - php

Question

I am working on a plugin for Elgg that keeps track of device ids that are sent to the application when logging in from your mobile phone. For this, I would like to store these device ids in the database and would like to use ElggObjects for this.
This is what I do now:
function initialize() {
$androidTokens = elgg_get_entities(array(
'type' => 'object',
'subtype' => 'androidTokens',
'limit' => 0
));
$iosTokens = elgg_get_entities(array(
'type' => 'object',
'subtype' => 'iosTokens',
'limit' => 0
));
if ($androidTokens == 0) {
$tokenObject = new ElggObject();
$tokenObject->subtype = 'androidTokens';
$tokenObject->tags = array();
$tokenObject->save();
}
if ($iosTokens == 0) {
$tokenObject = new ElggObject();
$tokenObject->subtype = 'iosTokens';
$tokenObject->tags = array();
$tokenObject->save();
}
}
So this generates two ElggObjects that hold ids for android and for ios devices, stored in the metadata field tags. This array of tags can however not be retrieved anymore. When I do:
$tokenObject = elgg_get_entities(array(
'type' => 'object',
'subtype' => $os.'Tokens',
'limit' => 0
));
$tokens = $tokenObject->tags
tokens remains empty. Does someone know what I am doing wrong? Am I using the Elgg objects wrong?

Answer 1

I think the reason you're running into issues there is that elgg_get_entities returns an array of entities.
Am I correct in assuming that you'll only ever have one of each token object subtype? (One for iOS and one for Android?)
If so, I would modify your code as follows:
function initialize() {
$androidTokens = elgg_get_entities(array(
'type' => 'object',
'subtype' => 'androidTokens',
'limit' => 1 // only expecting one entity
));
$iosTokens = elgg_get_entities(array(
'type' => 'object',
'subtype' => 'iosTokens',
'limit' => 1 // only expecting one entity
));
if (count($androidTokens) == 0) {
$tokenObject = new ElggObject();
$tokenObject->subtype = 'androidTokens';
$tokenObject->tags = array();
$tokenObject->save();
}
if (count($iosTokens) == 0) {
$tokenObject = new ElggObject();
$tokenObject->subtype = 'iosTokens';
$tokenObject->tags = array();
$tokenObject->save();
}
}
Later, when grabbing the entity:
$tokenObject = elgg_get_entities(array(
'type' => 'object',
'subtype' => $os.'Tokens',
'limit' => 1 // only grab one
));
$tokens = $tokenObject[0]->tags; // get tag data for first (and only) entity