PHP and Enumerations

Question

I know that PHP doesn\'t have native Enumerations. But I have become accustomed to them from the Java world. I would love to use enums as a way to give predefined values whi

Answer 1

abstract class Enumeration
{
    public static function enum() 
    {
        $reflect = new ReflectionClass( get_called_class() );
        return $reflect->getConstants();
    }
}


class Test extends Enumeration
{
    const A = 'a';
    const B = 'b';    
}


foreach (Test::enum() as $key => $value) {
    echo "$key -> $value<br>";
}

Answer 2

Finally, A PHP 7.1+ answer with constants that cannot be overridden.

/**
 * An interface that groups HTTP Accept: header Media Types in one place.
 */
interface MediaTypes
{
    /**
    * Now, if you have to use these same constants with another class, you can
    * without creating funky inheritance / is-a relationships.
    * Also, this gets around the single inheritance limitation.
    */

    public const HTML = 'text/html';
    public const JSON = 'application/json';
    public const XML = 'application/xml';
    public const TEXT = 'text/plain';
}

/**
 * An generic request class.
 */
abstract class Request
{
    // Why not put the constants here?
    // 1) The logical reuse issue.
    // 2) Single Inheritance. 
    // 3) Overriding is possible.

    // Why put class constants here?
    // 1) The constant value will not be necessary in other class families.
}

/**
 * An incoming / server-side HTTP request class.
 */
class HttpRequest extends Request implements MediaTypes
{
    // This class can implement groups of constants as necessary.
}

If you are using namespaces, code completion should work.

However, in doing this, you loose the ability to hide the constants within the class family (protected) or class alone (private). By definition, everything in an Interface is public.

PHP Manual: Interfaces

Answer 3

The accepted answer is the way to go and is actually what I am doing for simplicity. Most advantages of enumeration are offered (readable, fast, etc.). One concept is missing, however: type safety. In most languages, enumerations are also used to restrict allowed values. Below is an example of how type safety can also be obtained by using private constructors, static instantiation methods and type checking:

class DaysOfWeek{
 const Sunday = 0;
 const Monday = 1;
 // etc.

 private $intVal;
 private function __construct($intVal){
   $this->intVal = $intVal;
 }

 //static instantiation methods
 public static function MONDAY(){
   return new self(self::Monday);
 }
 //etc.
}

//function using type checking
function printDayOfWeek(DaysOfWeek $d){ //compiler can now use type checking
  // to something with $d...
}

//calling the function is safe!
printDayOfWeek(DaysOfWeek::MONDAY());

We could even go further: using constants in the DaysOfWeek class might lead to misusage: e.g. one might mistakenly use it this way:

printDayOfWeek(DaysOfWeek::Monday); //triggers a compiler error.

which is wrong (calls integer constant). We can prevent this using private static variables instead of constants:

class DaysOfWeeks{

  private static $monday = 1;
  //etc.

  private $intVal;
  //private constructor
  private function __construct($intVal){
    $this->intVal = $intVal;
  }

  //public instantiation methods
  public static function MONDAY(){
    return new self(self::$monday);
  }
  //etc.


  //convert an instance to its integer value
  public function intVal(){
    return $this->intVal;
  }

}

Of course, it is not possible to access integer constants (this was actually the purpose). The intVal method allows to convert a DaysOfWeek object to its integer representation.

Note that we could even go further by implementing a caching mechanism in instantiation methods to save memory in the case enumerations are extensively used...

Hope this will help

Answer 4

I used classes with constants:

class Enum {
    const NAME       = 'aaaa';
    const SOME_VALUE = 'bbbb';
}

print Enum::NAME;

Answer 5

I like enums from java too and for this reason I write my enums in this way, I think this is the most similiar behawior like in Java enums, of course, if some want to use more methods from java should write it here, or in abstract class but core idea is embedded in code below

class FruitsEnum {

    static $APPLE = null;
    static $ORANGE = null;

    private $value = null;

    public static $map;

    public function __construct($value) {
        $this->value = $value;
    }

    public static function init () {
        self::$APPLE  = new FruitsEnum("Apple");
        self::$ORANGE = new FruitsEnum("Orange");
        //static map to get object by name - example Enum::get("INIT") - returns Enum::$INIT object;
        self::$map = array (
            "Apple" => self::$APPLE,
            "Orange" => self::$ORANGE
        );
    }

    public static function get($element) {
        if($element == null)
            return null;
        return self::$map[$element];
    }

    public function getValue() {
        return $this->value;
    }

    public function equals(FruitsEnum $element) {
        return $element->getValue() == $this->getValue();
    }

    public function __toString () {
        return $this->value;
    }
}
FruitsEnum::init();

var_dump(FruitsEnum::$APPLE->equals(FruitsEnum::$APPLE)); //true
var_dump(FruitsEnum::$APPLE->equals(FruitsEnum::$ORANGE)); //false
var_dump(FruitsEnum::$APPLE instanceof FruitsEnum); //true
var_dump(FruitsEnum::get("Apple")->equals(FruitsEnum::$APPLE)); //true - enum from string
var_dump(FruitsEnum::get("Apple")->equals(FruitsEnum::get("Orange"))); //false

Answer 6

What about class constants?

<?php

class YourClass
{
    const SOME_CONSTANT = 1;

    public function echoConstant()
    {
        echo self::SOME_CONSTANT;
    }
}

echo YourClass::SOME_CONSTANT;

$c = new YourClass;
$c->echoConstant();