Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=38508&edit=1
ID: 38508
Comment by: john at designermonkey dot co dot uk
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 agree with the above comment that implicit array conversion is already supported in the language,
and is not very functional for a programmer as it relies on logic that the programmer has no access
to.
Adding __toArray as a magic method would solve all sorts of issues for object
serialization in large object trees for example.
I guess the JsonSerializable interface already implements the logic, although it
can't be used outside of json_encode, so why not make it simple using
__toArray and __toString?
Previous Comments:
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[2018-11-07 17:38:20] jean dot claveau at gmail dot com
Isn't it time to make an RFC and submit it to a vote instead of relying
on a 10 years old opinion?
https://wiki.php.net/rfc
Having something like __toArray() would make OOP collections compatible
with https://secure.php.net/manual/fr/function.array-filter.php
as it
doesn't take a Traversable as parameter but only a true array.
Just an example :)
__toBool() would be super interesting also, especially for logic
handling
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[2017-12-14 14:10:17] MUST at BE dot VALID
+1 - 15 years later this is still needed :)
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[2016-07-13 12:35:44] webdes87 at gmail dot com
+1
Would also vote for this. Makes absolute sence since (array) cast syntax exist already in the
language construction.
Maybe also support other castings that can be called like $var = (xxx) $obj
as __toXXX
would enhance the language by a reliable construct, that does not only work on several types like
__toString
Would allow also goodies like __toLogEntry where LogEntry is some other Object etc.
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[2014-03-10 16:18:16] omidmr at gmail dot com
+1
And all other type casting magic methods.
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[2013-10-05 16:42:24] lukas at lu-x dot me
I can only +1 the opinion from the last comment.
Magic methods make PHP so powerful. So why limit it to string casting?
The creator of the class should decide what values to return in which case - the user could just use
the object in different ways without thinking about what methods would return what. It would all
work automatically - using an array function would ask the object to return an array, using a string
function would ask to return a string etc.
So please implement magic methods for all data types in PHP - or, if that adds "more
complexity", add interfaces for that - the possibility to define custom conversion rules just
has to exist!
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