.. index:: single: PropertyAccess single: Components; PropertyAccess
The PropertyAccess component provides function to read and write from/to an object or array using a simple string notation.
.. versionadded:: 2.2 The PropertyAccess Component is new to Symfony 2.2. Previously, the ``PropertyPath`` class was located in the ``Form`` component.
You can install the component in two different ways:
- Use the official Git repository (https://github.com/symfony/PropertyAccess);
- :doc:`Install it via Composer</components/using_components>` (
symfony/property-access
on Packagist).
The entry point of this component is the :method:`PropertyAccess::createPropertyAccessor<Symfony\\Component\\PropertyAccess\\PropertyAccess::createPropertyAccessor>` factory. This factory will create a new instance of the :class:`Symfony\\Component\\PropertyAccess\\PropertyAccessor` class with the default configuration:
use Symfony\Component\PropertyAccess\PropertyAccess; $accessor = PropertyAccess::createPropertyAccessor();
.. versionadded:: 2.3 Before Symfony 2.3, the :method:`Symfony\\Component\\PropertyAccess\\PropertyAccess::createPropertyAccessor` was called ``getPropertyAccessor()``.
You can read an array with the :method:`PropertyAccessor::getValue<Symfony\\Component\\PropertyAccess\\PropertyAccessor::getValue>` method. This is done using the index notation that is used in PHP:
// ... $person = array( 'first_name' => 'Wouter', ); echo $accessor->getValue($person, '[first_name]'); // 'Wouter' echo $accessor->getValue($person, '[age]'); // null
As you can see, the method will return null
if the index does not exists.
You can also use multi dimensional arrays:
// ... $persons = array( array( 'first_name' => 'Wouter', ), array( 'first_name' => 'Ryan', ) ); echo $accessor->getValue($persons, '[0][first_name]'); // 'Wouter' echo $accessor->getValue($persons, '[1][first_name]'); // 'Ryan'
The getValue
method is a very robust method, and you can see all of its
features when working with objects.
To read from properties, use the "dot" notation:
// ... $person = new Person(); $person->firstName = 'Wouter'; echo $accessor->getValue($person, 'firstName'); // 'Wouter' $child = new Person(); $child->firstName = 'Bar'; $person->children = array($child); echo $accessor->getValue($person, 'children[0].firstName'); // 'Bar'
Caution!
Accessing public properties is the last option used by PropertyAccessor
.
It tries to access the value using the below methods first before using
the property directly. For example, if you have a public property that
has a getter method, it will use the getter.
The getValue
method also supports reading using getters. The method will
be created using common naming conventions for getters. It camelizes the
property name (first_name
becomes FirstName
) and prefixes it with
get
. So the actual method becomes getFirstName
:
// ... class Person { private $firstName = 'Wouter'; public function getFirstName() { return $this->firstName; } } $person = new Person(); echo $accessor->getValue($person, 'first_name'); // 'Wouter'
And it doesn't even stop there. If there is no getter found, the accessor will look for an isser or hasser. This method is created using the same way as getters, this means that you can do something like this:
// ... class Person { private $author = true; private $children = array(); public function isAuthor() { return $this->author; } public function hasChildren() { return 0 !== count($this->children); } } $person = new Person(); if ($accessor->getValue($person, 'author')) { echo 'He is an author'; } if ($accessor->getValue($person, 'children')) { echo 'He has children'; }
This will produce: He is an author
The getValue
method can also use the magic __get
method:
// ... class Person { private $children = array( 'wouter' => array(...), ); public function __get($id) { return $this->children[$id]; } } $person = new Person(); echo $accessor->getValue($person, 'Wouter'); // array(...)
At last, getValue
can use the magic __call
method, but you need to
enable this feature by using :class:`Symfony\\Component\\PropertyAccess\\PropertyAccessorBuilder`:
// ... class Person { private $children = array( 'wouter' => array(...), ); public function __call($name, $args) { $property = lcfirst(substr($name, 3)); if ('get' === substr($name, 0, 3)) { return isset($this->children[$property]) ? $this->children[$property] : null; } elseif ('set' === substr($name, 0, 3)) { $value = 1 == count($args) ? $args[0] : null; $this->children[$property] = $value; } } } $person = new Person(); // Enable magic __call $accessor = PropertyAccess::getPropertyAccessorBuilder() ->enableMagicCall() ->getPropertyAccessor(); echo $accessor->getValue($person, 'wouter'); // array(...)
.. versionadded:: 2.3 The use of magic ``__call()`` method was added in Symfony 2.3.
Caution!
The __call
feature is disabled by default, you can enable it by calling
:method:`PropertyAccessorBuilder::enableMagicCallEnabled<Symfony\\Component\\PropertyAccess\\PropertyAccessorBuilder::enableMagicCallEnabled>`
see Enable other Features.
The PropertyAccessor
class can do more than just read an array, it can
also write to an array. This can be achieved using the
:method:`PropertyAccessor::setValue<Symfony\\Component\\PropertyAccess\\PropertyAccessor::setValue>`
method:
// ... $person = array(); $accessor->setValue($person, '[first_name]', 'Wouter'); echo $accessor->getValue($person, '[first_name]'); // 'Wouter' // or // echo $person['first_name']; // 'Wouter'
The setValue
method has the same features as the getValue
method. You
can use setters, the magic __set
or properties to set values:
// ... class Person { public $firstName; private $lastName; private $children = array(); public function setLastName($name) { $this->lastName = $name; } public function __set($property, $value) { $this->$property = $value; } // ... } $person = new Person(); $accessor->setValue($person, 'firstName', 'Wouter'); $accessor->setValue($person, 'lastName', 'de Jong'); $accessor->setValue($person, 'children', array(new Person())); echo $person->firstName; // 'Wouter' echo $person->getLastName(); // 'de Jong' echo $person->children; // array(Person());
You can also use __call
to set values but you need to enable the feature,
see Enable other Features.
// ...
class Person
{
private $children = array();
public function __call($name, $args)
{
$property = lcfirst(substr($name, 3));
if ('get' === substr($name, 0, 3)) {
return isset($this->children[$property]) ? $this->children[$property] : null;
} elseif ('set' === substr($name, 0, 3)) {
$value = 1 == count($args) ? $args[0] : null;
$this->children[$property] = $value;
}
}
}
$person = new Person();
// Enable magic __call
$accessor = PropertyAccess::getPropertyAccessorBuilder()
->enableMagicCall()
->getPropertyAccessor();
$accessor->setValue($person, 'wouter', array(...));
echo $person->getWouter() // array(...)
You can also mix objects and arrays:
// ... class Person { public $firstName; private $children = array(); public function setChildren($children) { return $this->children; } public function getChildren() { return $this->children; } } $person = new Person(); $accessor->setValue($person, 'children[0]', new Person); // equal to $person->getChildren()[0] = new Person() $accessor->setValue($person, 'children[0].firstName', 'Wouter'); // equal to $person->getChildren()[0]->firstName = 'Wouter' echo 'Hello '.$accessor->getValue($person, 'children[0].firstName'); // 'Wouter' // equal to $person->getChildren()[0]->firstName
The :class:`Symfony\\Component\\PropertyAccess\\PropertyAccessor` can be configured to enable extra features. To do that you could use the :class:`Symfony\\Component\\PropertyAccess\\PropertyAccessorBuilder`:
// ... $accessorBuilder = PropertyAccess::getPropertyAccessorBuilder(); // Enable magic __call $accessorBuilder->enableMagicCall(); // Disable magic __call $accessorBuilder->disableMagicCall(); // Check if magic __call handling is enabled $accessorBuilder->isMagicCallEnabled() // true or false // At the end get the configured property accessor $accessor = $accessorBuilder->getPropertyAccessor(); // Or all in one $accessor = PropertyAccess::getPropertyAccessorBuilder() ->enableMagicCall() ->getPropertyAccessor();
Or you can pass parameters directly to the constructor (not the recommended way):
// ... $accessor = new PropertyAccessor(true) // this enable handling of magic __call