I'm trying to simplify a piece of PHP code looking like this :
public function gather($parameters, $infos)
{
$gathered = [];
$number = false;
foreach ($infos as $info) {
foreach ($parameters as $parameter) {
if (strlen($parameter['number'])) {
$this->mark($parameter['number'], $info, $parameter, $gathered); // $gathered is passed by reference
$number = true;
continue;
}
if (strlen($parameter['default'])) {
$this->mark($parameter['default'], $info, $parameter, $gathered); // $gathered is passed by reference
continue;
}
if ($config['smth']) {
doSomething(...);
}
}
}
if (number > 0) {
doSomething(...);
}
return $gathered;
}
Here are the problems I have :
These nested foreaches are really ugly and I'd love to the second one in the other function. But it uses variables that are created and used outside. I already used references with $gathered even if it's not really good.
The conditions of all ifs are different and are using different variables, do you know any way to generalize a case like this?
I am ok to rewrite big parts of the functions, so I'd be happy to hear other design ideas too.
[EDIT] The mark functions add elements to $gathered with some conditions and transformations.
[EDIT] Added more details.
I have a template which has certain fields which are to be replaced with a given value.
The fields each have a name which is enclosed with curly brackets. For instance: {address}
The replacement values are included in an array where the index is the name. For instance array('address'=>'101 Main Street', 'city’=>'New York')
I am using the following, and it works great (most of the time)
$template_new= preg_replace('/\{\?(\w+)\?\}/e', '$array["$1"]', $template);
Problem is if I have a {bad_name} which is not in the array, I get the following error:
Notice: Undefined index: xxx in
/var/www/classes/library.php(860) : regexp code on line
1
My desire is to leave these in place without changing them.
My first thought was to replace $array["$1"] with (isset($array["$1"])?$array["$1"]': '{'.$1.'}'), but it didn’t work.
I also tried try/catch, but it also didn’t help
Please provide any recommendations. Thank you
You'd have better luck with preg_replace_callback() and doing something like this:
<?php
class Substitute {
public function __construct($template) {
$this->template = $template;
$this->values = array();
}
public function run($values) {
$this->values = $values;
return preg_replace_callback('/\{\?(\w+)\?\}/', array($this, 'subst'), $this->template);
}
private function subst($matches) {
if (isset($this->values[$matches[1]])) {
return $this->values[$matches[1]];
}
// Don't bother doing the substitution.
return $matches[0];
}
}
Keep in mind, I typed that in off the top of my head, so there may be bugs.
Here's how you'd do much the same thing with anonymous functions, assuming you're able to use them:
function substitute($template, $values) {
return preg_replace_callback(
'/\{\?(\w+)\?\}/',
function ($matches) use ($values) {
if (isset($values[$matches[1]])) {
return $values[$matches[1]];
}
// Don't bother doing the substitution.
return $matches[0];
},
$template);
}
Much more compact!
Right now I'm trying to write a function that would allow me to access member functions. The code in question looks a little like this:
protected $formName;
protected $formClass;
protected $formAction;
protected $formMethod;
protected $formObjArray = array(); //outputs in order. So far it should only take newLine, selectTag, inputTag, textTag.
protected $submitBtnVal;
protected $encType;
function __construct($args) {
$this->formName = $args['formName'];
$this->formAction = $args['formAction'];
if (isset($args['formClass'])) $this->formClass = $args['formClass'];
if (isset($args['encType'])) $this->encType = $args['encType'];
//default should be POST. Hell, you should never really be using GET for this..
//also, the default submit value is Submit
$this->formMethod = isset($args['formMethod']) ? $args['formMethod'] : "POST";
$this->submitBtnVal = isset($args['submitBtnVal']) ? $args['submitBtnVal'] : "Submit";
}
//get functions
function getFormName () { return $this->formName; }
function getFormAction () { return $this->formAction; }
function getFormMethod () { return $this->formMethod; }
function getSubmitBtnVal () { return $this->submitBtnVal; }
function getEncType () { return $this->encType; }
//set functions
function setFormName ($newName) { $this->fromName = $newName; }
function setFormAction ($newAction) { $this->formAction = $newAction; }
function setFormMethod ($newMethod) { $this->formMethod = $newMethod; }
function setEncType ($newEType) { $this->encType = $newEType; }
function addTag($newTag) {
if ($newTag instanceof formTag || $newTag instanceof fieldSetCont || $newTag instanceof newLine
|| $newTag instanceof noteTag)
$this->formObjArray[] = $newTag;
else throw new Exception ("You did not add a compatible tag.");
}
I'd like to be able to call $myForm->getTagByName("nameA")->setRequired(true);
How would I do that? Or would I need to do something more like..
$tagID = $myForm->getTagByName("nameA");
$myForm->tagArray(tagID)->setRequired(true);
Nothing in your code seems to be protected so you should have no trouble accessing any of it.
It looks like all your tags are in $formObjArray so it should be trivial to filter than array and return tags that match the name you've passed in. The trouble you will have is that, getTagByName really should be getTagsByName and should return an array because you can have more than one tag with the same name. Since it will return an array, you can not call setRequired on the return value, arrays don't have such a method. You'll need to do it more like:
$tags = $myForm->getTagsByName("nameA");
foreach ($tags as $tag) {
$tag->setRequired(true);
}
Exactly what are you stuck on? Maybe I don't understand the question very well.
So maybe the filtering has you stuck? Try this (if you you're using at least php 5.3)
function getTagsByName($tagname)
{
return array_filter($this->formObjArray, function($tag) use($tagname) {
return $tag->getName() == $tagname;
});
}
No ifs or switches.
Prior to 5.3, you don't have lambda functions so you need to do it differently. There are several options but this may be the simplest to understand:
function getTagsByName($tagname)
{
$out = array();
foreach ($this->formObjArray as &$tag) {
if ($tag->getName() == $tagname) {
$out[] = $tag;
}
}
return $out;
}
In your addTag method, you are storing new tags in $this->formObjArray using the [] notation, which will just append the new tag to the end of the array. If your tag objects all have a getName() method, then you can do something like this:
$this->formObjArray[$newTag->getName()] = $newTag;
Then, you can easily add a getTagByName() method:
public function getTagByName($name) {
if (array_key_exists($name, $this->formObjArray) {
return $this->formObjArray($name);
}
else {
return null;
}
}
Please beware of the solutions suggesting you to iterate through all the tags in your array! This could become very costly as your form gets larger.
If you need to use the [] construct because the order of the elements added is important, then you can still maintain a separate index by name, $this->tagIndex, that will be an associative array of name => tag. Since you are storing object references, they will not be using much space. Assuming that getTagByName will be used many times, this will save you a lot of resources over iterating the tags array on every call to getTagByName.
In that case, your addTag method would look like this:
$this->formObjArray[] = $newTag;
$this->tagIndex[$newTag->getName()] = $newTag; // it seems that you're doubling the memory needed, but you're only storing object references so this is safe
EDIT : Here is some modified code to account for the fact that multiple tags can have the same name:
In your addTag() method, do:
$this->formObjArray[] = $newTag;
$tag_name = $newTag->getName();
if (!array_key_exists($tag_name, $this->tagIndex)) {
$this->tagIndex[$tag_name] = array();
}
$this->tagIndex[$tag_name][] = $newTag
You can then rename getTagByName to getTagsByName and get the expected result.
As mentioned in the comments, this is only useful if you will call getTagsByName multiple times. You are trading a little additional memory usage in order to get quicker lookups by name.
So, I have a object with structure similar to below, all of which are returned to me as stdClass objects
$person->contact->phone;
$person->contact->email;
$person->contact->address->line_1;
$person->contact->address->line_2;
$person->dob->day;
$person->dob->month;
$person->dob->year;
$album->name;
$album->image->height;
$album->image->width;
$album->artist->name;
$album->artist->id;
etc... (note these examples are not linked together).
Is it possible to use variable variables to call contact->phone as a direct property of $person?
For example:
$property = 'contact->phone';
echo $person->$property;
This will not work as is and throws a E_NOTICE so I am trying to work out an alternative method to achieve this.
Any ideas?
In response to answers relating to proxy methods:
And I would except this object is from a library and am using it to populate a new object with an array map as follows:
array(
'contactPhone' => 'contact->phone',
'contactEmail' => 'contact->email'
);
and then foreaching through the map to populate the new object. I guess I could envole the mapper instead...
If i was you I would create a simple method ->property(); that returns $this->contact->phone
Is it possible to use variable variables to call contact->phone as a direct property of $person?
It's not possible to use expressions as variable variable names.
But you can always cheat:
class xyz {
function __get($name) {
if (strpos($name, "->")) {
foreach (explode("->", $name) as $name) {
$var = isset($var) ? $var->$name : $this->$name;
}
return $var;
}
else return $this->$name;
}
}
try this code
$property = $contact->phone;
echo $person->$property;
I think this is a bad thing to to as it leads to unreadable code is is plain wrong on other levels too, but in general if you need to include variables in the object syntax you should wrap it in braces so that it gets parsed first.
For example:
$property = 'contact->phone';
echo $person->{$property};
The same applies if you need to access an object that has disalowed characters in the name which can happen with SimpleXML objects regularly.
$xml->{a-disallowed-field}
If it is legal it does not mean it is also moral. And this is the main issue with PHP, yes, you can do almost whatever you can think of, but that does not make it right. Take a look at the law of demeter:
Law of Demeter
try this if you really really want to:
json_decode(json_encode($person),true);
you will be able to parse it as an array not an object but it does your job for the getting not for the setting.
EDIT:
class Adapter {
public static function adapt($data,$type) {
$vars = get_class_vars($type);
if(class_exists($type)) {
$adaptedData = new $type();
} else {
print_R($data);
throw new Exception("Class ".$type." does not exist for data ".$data);
}
$vars = array_keys($vars);
foreach($vars as $v) {
if($v) {
if(is_object($data->$v)) {
// I store the $type inside the object
$adaptedData->$v = Adapter::adapt($data->$v,$data->$v->type);
} else {
$adaptedData->$v = $data->$v;
}
}
}
return $adaptedData;
}
}
OOP is much about shielding the object's internals from the outside world. What you try to do here is provide a way to publicize the innards of the phone through the person interface. That's not nice.
If you want a convenient way to get "all" the properties, you may want to write an explicit set of convenience functions for that, maybe wrapped in another class if you like. That way you can evolve the supported utilities without having to touch (and possibly break) the core data structures:
class conv {
static function phone( $person ) {
return $person->contact->phone;
}
}
// imagine getting a Person from db
$person = getpersonfromDB();
print conv::phone( $p );
If ever you need a more specialized function, you add it to the utilities. This is imho the nices solution: separate the convenience from the core to decrease complexity, and increase maintainability/understandability.
Another way is to 'extend' the Person class with conveniences, built around the core class' innards:
class ConvPerson extends Person {
function __construct( $person ) {
Person::__construct( $person->contact, $person->name, ... );
}
function phone() { return $this->contact->phone; }
}
// imagine getting a Person from db
$person = getpersonfromDB();
$p=new ConvPerson( $person );
print $p->phone();
You could use type casting to change the object to an array.
$person = (array) $person;
echo $person['contact']['phone'];
In most cases where you have nested internal objects, it might be a good time to re-evaluate your data structures.
In the example above, person has contact and dob. The contact also contains address. Trying to access the data from the uppermost level is not uncommon when writing complex database applications. However, you might find your the best solution to this is to consolidate data up into the person class instead of trying to essentially "mine" into the internal objects.
As much as I hate saying it, you could do an eval :
foreach ($properties as $property) {
echo eval("return \$person->$property;");
}
Besides making function getPhone(){return $this->contact->phone;} you could make a magic method that would look through internal objects for requested field. Do remember that magic methods are somewhat slow though.
class Person {
private $fields = array();
//...
public function __get($name) {
if (empty($this->fields)) {
$this->fields = get_class_vars(__CLASS__);
}
//Cycle through properties and see if one of them contains requested field:
foreach ($this->fields as $propName => $default) {
if (is_object($this->$propName) && isset($this->$propName->$name)) {
return $this->$propName->$name;
}
}
return NULL;
//Or any other error handling
}
}
I have decided to scrap this whole approach and go with a more long-winded but cleaner and most probably more efficient. I wasn't too keen on this idea in the first place, and the majority has spoken on here to make my mind up for me. Thank for you for your answers.
Edit:
If you are interested:
public function __construct($data)
{
$this->_raw = $data;
}
public function getContactPhone()
{
return $this->contact->phone;
}
public function __get($name)
{
if (isset($this->$name)) {
return $this->$name;
}
if (isset($this->_raw->$name)) {
return $this->_raw->$name;
}
return null;
}
In case you use your object in a struct-like way, you can model a 'path' to the requested node explicitly. You can then 'decorate' your objects with the same retrieval code.
An example of 'retrieval only' decoration code:
function retrieve( $obj, $path ) {
$element=$obj;
foreach( $path as $step ) {
$element=$element[$step];
}
return $element;
}
function decorate( $decos, &$object ) {
foreach( $decos as $name=>$path ) {
$object[$name]=retrieve($object,$path);
}
}
$o=array(
"id"=>array("name"=>"Ben","surname"=>"Taylor"),
"contact"=>array( "phone"=>"0101010" )
);
$decorations=array(
"phone"=>array("contact","phone"),
"name"=>array("id","name")
);
// this is where the action is
decorate( $decorations, &$o);
print $o->name;
print $o->phone;
(find it on codepad)
If you know the two function's names, could you do this? (not tested)
$a = [
'contactPhone' => 'contact->phone',
'contactEmail' => 'contact->email'
];
foreach ($a as $name => $chain) {
$std = new stdClass();
list($f1, $f2) = explode('->', $chain);
echo $std->{$f1}()->{$f2}(); // This works
}
If it's not always two functions, you could hack it more to make it work. Point is, you can call chained functions using variable variables, as long as you use the bracket format.
Simplest and cleanest way I know of.
function getValueByPath($obj,$path) {
return eval('return $obj->'.$path.';');
}
Usage
echo getValueByPath($person,'contact->email');
// Returns the value of that object path
I need a solution for array_replace_recursive, because my php-version isn't high enough. I want to use this code:
$_GET = array_replace_recursive($_GET, array("__amp__"=>"&"));
easy, isn't it?
On the PHP docs page for array_replace_recursive, someone posted the following source code to use in place of it:
<?php
if (!function_exists('array_replace_recursive'))
{
function array_replace_recursive($array, $array1)
{
function recurse($array, $array1)
{
foreach ($array1 as $key => $value)
{
// create new key in $array, if it is empty or not an array
if (!isset($array[$key]) || (isset($array[$key]) && !is_array($array[$key])))
{
$array[$key] = array();
}
// overwrite the value in the base array
if (is_array($value))
{
$value = recurse($array[$key], $value);
}
$array[$key] = $value;
}
return $array;
}
// handle the arguments, merge one by one
$args = func_get_args();
$array = $args[0];
if (!is_array($array))
{
return $array;
}
for ($i = 1; $i < count($args); $i++)
{
if (is_array($args[$i]))
{
$array = recurse($array, $args[$i]);
}
}
return $array;
}
}
?>
The code above by #Justin is ok, save for 2 things:
Function is not readily available at start of php execution be cause it is wrapped in if(). PHP docu says
When a function is defined in a conditional manner such as the two examples shown. Its definition must be processed prior to being called.
Most importantly; calling the function twice results in fatal error.
PHP docu says
All functions and classes in PHP have the global scope - they can be called outside a function even if they were defined inside and vice versa.
So I just moved the recurse function outside array_replace_recursive function and it worked well. I also removed the if() condition and renamed it to array_replace_recursive_b4php53 for fear of future upgradings