Javascript-like objects in PHP? - php

Question

It's pretty handy in JS to create objects like this:
test = { foo : { bar : "hello world" }, bar2 : "hello world 2" }
and then use them like:
test.foo.bar
test.bar2
Is there anything like this in PHP without declaring classes?

Answer 1

It's called associative arrays.
Example (note: the indentation is for layout purposes):
$test = array(
'foo' => array(
'bar' => 'hello world'
),
'bar2' => 'hello world 2'
);
$test['foo']['bar'];
$test['bar2'];
This is equivalent to the following Javascript code:
var test = {
'foo': {
'bar': 'hello world',
},
'bar2': 'hello world 2'
};
As an alternative, you can use the pre-declared StdClass.
$test = new StdClass;
$test->foo = new StdClass;
$test->foo->bar = 'hello world';
$test->bar2 = 'hello world 2';
which would be written in JavaScript as:
var test = new Object;
test.foo = new Object;
test.foo.bar = 'hello world';
test.bar2 = 'hello world 2';
(note: new Object is the same as {} in Javascript)

Answer 2

stdClass allows you to create (essentially) typeless objects. For example:
$object = (object) array(
'name' => 'Trevor',
'age' => 42
);
As shown here, the fastest way to create a stdClass object is to cast an associative array. For multiple levels, you just do the same thing again inside like this:
$object = (object) array(
'name' => 'Trevor',
'age' => '42',
'car' => (object) array(
'make' => 'Mini Cooper',
'model' => 'S',
'year' => 2010
)
);
Another method is to convert the associative array to an object afterwards with a recursive function. Here's an example.
function toObject(array $array) {
$array = (object) $array;
foreach ($array as &$value)
if (is_array($value))
$value = toObject($value);
return $array;
}
// usage:
$array = // some big hierarchical associative array...
$array = toObject($array);
This is useful when you're not the one making the associative array.
Unfortunately, even though PHP 5.3 supports anonymous methods, you cannot put an anonymous method into a stdClass (though you can put one into an associative array). But this isn't too bad anyway; if you want functionality in it, you really should create a class instead.

Answer 3

You can use a StdClass object or an ArrayObject which are included in php (though the latter requires that you have SPL installed). Though unless you need to access the values specifically with the -> operator its more efficient to just use an associative array instead.

Answer 4

I think what you are looking for is an Associative Array
$test["foo"]["bar"]
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=keyed+arrays

Answer 5

The closest thing would be arrays.
$test = array(
'foo' => array('bar' => 'hello world'),
'bar2' => 'hello world 2',
);
echo $test['foo']['bar'];

Answer 6

Technically, no. However if you are creating a data object (ie no methods), you could technically write a JSON string and use
$obj = json_decode($obj_string);
I wouldn't recommend it however. I assume there would be significant speed loss.
EDIT
Though it goes without mentioning, associative arrays should be used for this instead of flat data objects.

Answer 7

The only reason to do that is if you wish to pass data back to a JavaScript function with JSON. In that case, use json_encode on the array. Otherwise, just keep it as an array, as there's not reason to encode it and then decode it just so it looks like JavaScript.

Answer 8

Try this way: https://github.com/ptrofimov/jslikeobject
Author implemented JS-like objects, you can even access properties from functions via $this pointer.
But perhaps it is not so good to use such objects instead of usual ones.

Answer 9

$a = array(
'a'=> 123,
'b'=> 334,
'c'=> 7853
);
echo json_encode($a);
This will be the result: {"a":123,"b":334,"c":7853}