How to create nested object in PHP - php

Question

$array = (object)array(
'name' => 'David',
'friends' => (object)array(
(object)array('name' => 'Max'),
(object)array('name' => 'Jian')
)
);
var_dump($array);
I want to learn how to use stdClass function to get the same result, don't want to use (object) before each array, convert cause some resource, and I know json_encode and json_decode can make it, just want to learn how stdClass make nested structure.

Answer 1

There's a trick with json_encode() to easily get this:
$array = array(
'foo' => array('bar'=>'a', 'baz'=>'b'),
'feo' => 'bee',
'boo' => array('a'=>array('x', 'y'), 'b'=>array('z'))
);
$object = json_decode(json_encode($array));
Update
If you don't want to use JSON function, you can handle your array recursively, like:
function getStdObject(array $data)
{
foreach($data as &$item)
{
if(is_array($item))
{
$item = getStdObject($item);
}
}
return (object)$data;
}
$array = array(
'foo' => array('bar'=>'a', 'baz'=>'b'),
'feo' => 'bee',
'boo' => array('a'=>array('x', 'y'), 'b'=>array('z'))
);
$object = getStdObject($array));

Answer 2

This class is available at: http://php.net/manual/en/arrayobject.construct.php#111192
/**
* #author Iltar van der Berg
* #version 2.0.0
*/
class RecursiveArrayObject extends ArrayObject
{
/**
* overwrites the ArrayObject constructor for
* iteration through the "array". When the item
* is an array, it creates another self() instead
* of an array
*
* #param Array $array data array
*/
public function __construct(Array $array)
{
foreach($array as $key => $value) {
if(is_array($value)){
$value = new static($value);
}
$this->offsetSet($key, $value);
}
}
/**
* returns Array when printed (like "echo array();")
* instead of an error
*
* #return string
*/
public function __ToString()
{
return 'Array';
}
}
Usage:
$a = array(
'one' => array(
'hello','world'
),
'two' => array(
'lorem','ipsum'
)
);
var_dump($a);
$o = new RecursiveArrayObject($a);
var_dump($o);
Yields:
array (size=2)
'one' =>
array (size=2)
0 => string 'hello' (length=5)
1 => string 'world' (length=5)
'two' =>
array (size=2)
0 => string 'lorem' (length=5)
1 => string 'ipsum' (length=5)
object(RecursiveArrayObject)[1]
public 'one' =>
object(RecursiveArrayObject)[2]
string 'hello' (length=5)
string 'world' (length=5)
public 'two' =>
object(RecursiveArrayObject)[3]
string 'lorem' (length=5)
string 'ipsum' (length=5)