Edit report at http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=52807&edit=1
ID: 52807 Comment by: dmgx dot michael at gmail dot com Reported by: jtegwen at gmail dot com Summary: magic __toArray() for objects Status: Open Type: Feature/Change Request Package: Class/Object related Operating System: n/a PHP Version: Irrelevant Block user comment: N New Comment: I've found that when I have an object I need to behave like an array in some contexts that it is worth the time to implement Iterator and Array in the object, which allows the object to behave like an array. It takes more effort than implementing a theoretical magic __toArray() method, but its worth it. Read here for information on doing this: http://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.iterations.php Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-10-03 18:36:00] + at ni-po dot com @aharvey: Couldn't the patch in the RFC you mentioned be modified to support arrays, too? Or would the implementation for arrays be completely different to the one for arrays? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-09-12 04:06:35] ahar...@php.net You are quite correct about request #52583. My apologies. I remember skimming it when it came in, but obviously not very well. :) To be honest, I think this is a better candidate for a thread on the Internals mailing list or an RFC than a feature request here. I also think this is extremely unlikely to make it in in any case, particularly without a patch. Nevertheless, I'll reopen this for now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-09-10 17:21:11] jtegwen at gmail dot com I found that request when researching this one. I read that as casting *to* an object not casting *from* an object. Am I missing something? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-09-10 04:58:39] ahar...@php.net Probably better bundled under request #52583 -- the RFC linked to there is specifically to deal with casting to scalar types, but the syntax suggested in the feature request is general enough to deal with arrays. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-09-09 22:33:53] jtegwen at gmail dot com Description: ------------ It would be nice to have an analogous method to __toString() for arrays.. maybe __toArray() for customized array return. Test script: --------------- class myObject { private $data1; private $data2; private $meta1; public function __construct($data1, $data2) { $this->data1 = $data1; $this->data2 = $data2; $this->meta1 = strlen($data1) + strlen($data2); } public function __toArray() { return array('data1'=>$this->data1, 'data2'=>$this->data2); } } $obj = new myObject('test', 'script'); var_dump($obj); Expected result: ---------------- array('data1'=>'test', 'data2'=> 'script') Actual result: -------------- Not implemented ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=52807&edit=1
