Convert a PHP object to an associative array

Question

I\'m integrating an API to my website which works with data stored in objects while my code is written using arrays.

I\'d like a quick-and-dirty function to convert

Answer 1

For your case it was right/beautiful if you would use the "decorator" or "date model transformation" patterns. For example:

Your model

class Car {
    /** @var int */
    private $color;

    /** @var string */
    private $model;

    /** @var string */
    private $type;

    /**
     * @return int
     */
    public function getColor(): int
    {
        return $this->color;
    }

    /**
     * @param int $color
     * @return Car
     */
    public function setColor(int $color): Car
    {
        $this->color = $color;
        return $this;
    }

    /**
     * @return string
     */
    public function getModel(): string
    {
        return $this->model;
    }

    /**
     * @param string $model
     * @return Car
     */
    public function setModel(string $model): Car
    {
        $this->model = $model;

        return $this;
    }

    /**
     * @return string
     */
    public function getType(): string
    {
        return $this->type;
    }

    /**
     * @param string $type
     * @return Car
     */
    public function setType(string $type): Car
    {
        $this->type = $type;

        return $this;
    }
}

Decorator

class CarArrayDecorator
{
    /** @var Car */
    private $car;

    /**
     * CarArrayDecorator constructor.
     * @param Car $car
     */
    public function __construct(Car $car)
    {
        $this->car = $car;
    }

    /**
     * @return array
     */
    public function getArray(): array
    {
        return [
            'color' => $this->car->getColor(),
            'type' => $this->car->getType(),
            'model' => $this->car->getModel(),
        ];
    }
}

Usage

$car = new Car();
$car->setType('type#');
$car->setModel('model#1');
$car->setColor(255);

$carDecorator = new CarArrayDecorator($car);
$carResponseData = $carDecorator->getArray();

So it will be more beautiful and more correct code.

Answer 2

Converting and removing annoying stars:

$array = (array) $object;
foreach($array as $key => $val)
{
    $new_array[str_replace('*_', '', $key)] = $val;
}

Probably, it will be cheaper than using reflections.

Answer 3

If your object properties are public you can do:

$array =  (array) $object;

If they are private or protected, they will have weird key names on the array. So, in this case you will need the following function:

function dismount($object) {
    $reflectionClass = new ReflectionClass(get_class($object));
    $array = array();
    foreach ($reflectionClass->getProperties() as $property) {
        $property->setAccessible(true);
        $array[$property->getName()] = $property->getValue($object);
        $property->setAccessible(false);
    }
    return $array;
}

Answer 4

I think it is a nice idea to use traits to store object-to-array converting logic. A simple example:

trait ArrayAwareTrait
{
    /**
     * Return list of Entity's parameters
     * @return array
     */
    public function toArray()
    {
        $props = array_flip($this->getPropertiesList());
        return array_map(
            function ($item) {
                if ($item instanceof \DateTime) {
                    return $item->format(DATE_ATOM);
                }
                return $item;
            },
            array_filter(get_object_vars($this), function ($key) use ($props) {
                return array_key_exists($key, $props);
            }, ARRAY_FILTER_USE_KEY)
        );
    }


    /**
     * @return array
     */
    protected function getPropertiesList()
    {
        if (method_exists($this, '__sleep')) {
            return $this->__sleep();
        }
        if (defined('static::PROPERTIES')) {
            return static::PROPERTIES;
        }
        return [];
    }
}

class OrderResponse
{
    use ArrayAwareTrait;

    const PROP_ORDER_ID = 'orderId';
    const PROP_TITLE = 'title';
    const PROP_QUANTITY = 'quantity';
    const PROP_BUYER_USERNAME = 'buyerUsername';
    const PROP_COST_VALUE = 'costValue';
    const PROP_ADDRESS = 'address';

    private $orderId;
    private $title;
    private $quantity;
    private $buyerUsername;
    private $costValue;
    private $address;

    /**
     * @param $orderId
     * @param $title
     * @param $quantity
     * @param $buyerUsername
     * @param $costValue
     * @param $address
     */
    public function __construct(
        $orderId,
        $title,
        $quantity,
        $buyerUsername,
        $costValue,
        $address
    ) {
        $this->orderId = $orderId;
        $this->title = $title;
        $this->quantity = $quantity;
        $this->buyerUsername = $buyerUsername;
        $this->costValue = $costValue;
        $this->address = $address;
    }

    /**
     * @inheritDoc
     */
    public function __sleep()
    {
        return [
            static::PROP_ORDER_ID,
            static::PROP_TITLE,
            static::PROP_QUANTITY,
            static::PROP_BUYER_USERNAME,
            static::PROP_COST_VALUE,
            static::PROP_ADDRESS,
        ];
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getOrderId()
    {
        return $this->orderId;
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getTitle()
    {
        return $this->title;
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getQuantity()
    {
        return $this->quantity;
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getBuyerUsername()
    {
        return $this->buyerUsername;
    }

    /**
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getCostValue()
    {
        return $this->costValue;
    }

    /**
     * @return string
     */
    public function getAddress()
    {
        return $this->address;
    }
}

$orderResponse = new OrderResponse(...);
var_dump($orderResponse->toArray());

Answer 5

What about get_object_vars($obj)? It seems useful if you only want to access the public properties of an object.

See get_object_vars.

Answer 6

Use:

function readObject($object) {
    $name = get_class ($object);
    $name = str_replace('\\', "\\\\", $name); // Outcomment this line, if you don't use
                                              // class namespaces approach in your project
    $raw = (array)$object;

    $attributes = array();
    foreach ($raw as $attr => $val) {
        $attributes[preg_replace('('.$name.'|\*|)', '', $attr)] = $val;
    }
    return $attributes;
}

It returns an array without special characters and class names.