Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=38508&edit=1
ID: 38508 Comment by: rich dot remer at gmail dot com 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: I think the main benefit it offers is the ability to control what happens during a cast operation. Right now, casting simple scalar values or NULL to an array works as expected. While it's possible to cast an object to an array, the semantics of what should happen in this situation are not nearly as clear. This really should be controlled by the class. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2013-03-07 12:19:14] ante at caan dot si 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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