Looping through 2 different arrays to check if a value exists - php

Question

Ok well i have this array that consists of 3 arrays of objects so its looks like
$invoice
$invoice->foo
$invoice->foo->bars
$invoice->bars
$invoice->foobars
i have all the foo bars displayed in a table like
<?php foreach($invoice->foo->bars as $bar) { ?>
<tr>
<td>
<?php echo $bar->some_field;
</td>
<td>
<?php echo $bar->another_field;
</td>
</tr>
and i have a dropdown button at that looks like
<ul>
<li>edit</li>
<li>Delete</li>
<li>Add foobar</li>
</ul>
Would i am currently checking to see if the bar has a foobar by doing this
for ($i=0; $i < count($invoice->foobars); $i++) {
$foobar_bars[] = $invoice->foobars[$i]->foobar_bar_id;
}
and inside the $invoice->foo->bars loop i check to show the button like
<ul>
<li>edit</li>
<li>Delete</li>
<?php if(!in_array($bar->dd_id, $companion_bars)){ ?>
<li>Add Foobar</li>
<?php } ?>
</ul>
I was wondering if this is the most efficient way to do this or is their better ways to check whether the bar has a foobar

Answer 1

I think the most efficient way would be to actually have a method that tells you whether or not this is the case:
if ($bar->hasCompanionBar()) {
// the condition is TRUE
}
That way you can defer the decision what is most efficient to later. That will allow you to create the most efficient code over the lifetime of the codebase.