Comparing two very similar php classes (values of their attributes) - php

Question

I have two very similar classes. Lets say Class A and Class B.
+---------------+ +---------------+
| Class A | | Class B |
|---------------| |---------------|
| Name | | Name |
| ZIP | | ZIP |
| TelPhone | | TelPhone |
| | | MobilePhone |
+---------------+ +---------------+
I want to compare them in the values for all common attributes.
Here's a way I tried it, but doing it for all attributes (got more than only 3 attributes) looks like a overkill for me:
$differences = array();
if($classA->getName() != $classB->getName()) {
array_push(
$differences,
array('name' => array(
'classA' => $classA->getName(),
'classB' => $classB->getName()
)
));
}
// and the same code for every attribute....
What's the best approach here?
Additional to the handiwork, it is also not automatically updated if the classes are getting altered. For example if Class A gets also a MobilePhone attribute.
Please don't tell me, that I should do some Polymorphism, it's just an example to clarify.
I'm interested in the difference, so not only the attributes, also the values itself inside the attributes.
thanks

Answer 1

It's not the sexiest thing (because of the substring to getters.., but I can't go with properties, I think sym, but I got it:
// getting an array with all getter methods of a class
private function getGettersOf($object) {
$methodArray = array();
$reflection = new ReflectionClass($object);
$methods = $reflection->getMethods();
foreach ($methods as $method) {
// nur getter
if(strtolower(substr($method->getName(), 0, 3)) == "get") {
array_push($methodArray, $method->getName());
}
}
return $methodArray;
}
// getting an array with all differences
public function getDifferences($classA, $classB) {
// get list of attributes (getter methods) in commond
$classAMethods = $this->getGettersOf($classA);
$classBMethods = $this->getGettersOf($classB);
$intersection = array_intersect($classAMethods, $classBMethods);
$differences = array();
// iterate over all methods and check for the values of the reflected methods
foreach($intersection as $method) {
$refMethodClassB = new ReflectionMethod($classB, $method);
$refMethodClassA = new ReflectionMethod($classA, $method);
if($refMethodClassB->invoke($classB) != $refMethodClassA->invoke($classA)) {
array_push(
$differences,
array($method => array(
'classA' => $refMethodClassA->invoke($classA),
'classB' => $refMethodClassB->invoke($classB)
)
));
}
}
return $differences;
}
Special thanks to George Marques's comment.