Create nested objects from CSV - php

Question

I have a CSV file which needs to be processed into objects.
I can open the CSV file and get all the contents that I want, no problem there. I need to match the contents of the CSV file by headers into objects. For example:
Name | Address.Street | Address.Country | Notes.Example.Value
Object->Name
Object->Address
Object->Notes
etc.
How would I handle this dynamically, not knowing what the headers are going to be beforehand?
Essentially I want to turn a string, like "Prop.Prop.Prop.etc" into a nested object.
$headers = array(); // First row of CSV.
$row = array(); // Current row of CSV.
$record = new StdClass();
foreach ($row as $key => $value) {
$properties = explode('.', $headers[$key]);
if (count($properties > 1)) {
// ???
}
else {
$record->{$properties[0]} = $value;
}
}

Answer 1

This should be done through a recursion. If the property you're parsing has only one level of depth, then you set the object key as a value. (which you're already doing)
If it has two or more levels, you shift the first element of the property array and recurse on the remaining levels.
Elaborating in your example:
<?php
$headers=[
'Name',
'Email',
'Address.Street',
'Address.Country',
'Notes.Example.Value'
];
$row=[
'john',
'john#gmail.com',
'beale street',
'US',
'180'
];
function setObject(&$object, $properties, $value) {
$name=array_shift($properties);
if(count($properties)===0) {
return $object->{$name} = $value;
} else {
// if this property isn't set, we declare it as a new object
if(!isset($object->{$name}) || !is_object($object->{$name})) $object->{$name} = new StdClass();
return setObject($object->{$name}, $properties,$value);
}
}
$record = new StdClass();
foreach($row as $key=>$value) {
$properties = explode('.', $headers[$key]);
setObject($record, $properties, $value);
}
echo '<pre>';
print_r($record);
echo '</pre>';
This is probably not the most elegant solution. With a bit of work you could avoid passing the object by reference back and forth.