Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=38508&edit=1
ID: 38508 Comment by: ante at caan dot si Reported by: doublecompile at gmail dot com Summary: Addition of Magic __toArray() function Status: Closed Type: Feature/Change Request Package: Feature/Change Request PHP Version: * Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: Hi guys. I'm dragging this out from the "History". I think this is a great suggestion as I use a lot of object that implement ArrayAccess so doing this $someArray = (array) $obj; that calls $obj->__toArray() would be a GREAT addition to PHP logic. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2012-03-14 18:55:00] erck0006 at gmail dot com // MY APPLICATION'S INTERIM SOLUTION (**UPDATE**) $customers = new Customers(); $customers = $customers->__toArray(); // THIS LINE IS THE **UPDATED** LINE NEEDED IN ORDER TO AVOID TRIGGERING THE FOLLOWING ERROR ON THE FOLLOWING LINE: Only variables should be passed by reference $lastCustomer = array_pop($customers); // SUCCESS echo $lastCustomer->getName(); // prints the last customer's name since the previous line did not fail since I explicitly called a custom method named __toArray() first ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2012-03-14 18:37:23] erck0006 at gmail dot com <?php // AS-IS $customers = new Customers(); $lastCustomer = array_pop($customers); // FAIL: array_pop() expects parameter 1 to be array, object given echo $lastCustomer->getName(); // execution never reaches this line // MY APPLICATION'S INTERIM SOLUTION $customers = new Customers(); $lastCustomer = array_pop($customers->__toArray()); // SUCCESS echo $lastCustomer->getName(); // prints the last customer's name since the previous line did not fail since I explicitly called a custom method named __toArray() first // TO-BE $customers = new Customers(); $lastCustomer = array_pop($customers); // SUCCESS echo $lastCustomer->getName(); // prints the last customer's name since array_pop() calls __toArray() internally before failing ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2012-02-27 21:27:32] john at john dot com this magic function would be great to have ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2011-05-23 23:32:13] spark at limao dot com dot br Because of the magic __toString I was able to write a String class with the same methods as the Java String class. I was trying to write an Array class to map the one in Adobe AS3, but then I came across the lack of __toArray. I don't want a __toArray, or even a toString I want classes with reasonable methods and not lots of functions with no naming rules nor parameter order standard. I know it may sound rude but that's how I feel when I see a language getting so far and still not following any coding convetion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2006-08-20 11:12:22] he...@php.net Why not simply have a method asArray() maybe even as par of an interface: interface ArrayConversion { function asArray(); } See, we have __toString as it is supported in language constructs like echo, print and other internal functions. But we decided against an autoconversion for arrays already. So itwill never be supported in any language construct. That said there is no needed for this and nothing you would win against the above interface. In fact you would make it php more complex because you'd add just one more magic feature. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The remainder of the comments for this report are too long. To view the rest of the comments, please view the bug report online at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=38508 -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=38508&edit=1