Print_R of class as array - php

Question

I have a class, that actually operates over a complicated array to make the manipulation more simple. The format of original array looks like this:
array(
array(
"name" =>"foo",
"type" =>8, //The array is NBT format and 8 stands for string
"value" =>"somevalue"
)
}
The class takes array like above as constructor:
class NBT_traverser implements ArrayAccess {
function __construct(&$array) {
$this->array = $array;
}
}
Then, this is how the members are accessed:
$parser = new NBT_traverser($somearray);
echo $parser["foo"]; //"somevalue"
When I print_R the class, I get the list of its values and the original complicated array. Like this:
object(NBT_traverser)#2 (1) {
["nbt":"NBT_traverser":private]=> &array(1) {
/*Tons of ugly array contents*/
}
Instead, I'd like to get this like the output of print_r:
array(
"foo" => "somevalue"
)
Is it possible to trick the print_r to do this? Current behavior makes it harder to debug with the class, than without it.
Of course, I can write my own method to print it, but I want to make the usage more simple for the users of the class. Instead, I wanted to give print_R something, that It will print as array.

Answer 1

You should not have issues if you are extending ArrayAccess just write a method to get your values
Example
$random = range("A", "F");
$array = array_combine($random, $random);
$parser = new NBT_traverser($array);
echo $parser->getPrint();
Output
Array
(
[A] => A
[B] => B
[C] => C
[D] => D
[E] => E
[F] => F
)
Class Used
class NBT_traverser implements ArrayAccess {
private $used; // you don't want this
protected $ugly = array(); // you don't want this
public $error = 0202; // you don't want this
private $array = array(); // you want this
function __construct(&$array) {
$this->array = $array;
}
function getPrint() {
return print_r($this->array, true);
}
public function offsetSet($offset, $value) {
if (is_null($offset)) {
$this->array[] = $value;
} else {
$this->array[$offset] = $value;
}
}
public function offsetExists($offset) {
return isset($this->array[$offset]);
}
public function offsetUnset($offset) {
unset($this->array[$offset]);
}
public function offsetGet($offset) {
return isset($this->array[$offset]) ? $this->array[$offset] : null;
}
}

Answer 2

You could use the __toString function in your class
class Test
{
private $_array = array();
public function __toString()
{
return print_r($this->_array, true);
}
}
And then just echo out your class
$test = new Test();
echo $test;
I think this would print out your array as you want it to be?
Array
(
)