__asType()

Hi, When developing my SimpleXML extension, I've come to a situation where I want to have the ability (internally), to convert my object to a base type, when requested. I need this when both attributes and xml tags are identical within the same context, ie: data.xml <?xml version="1.0"?> <name id="20"> <id type="age">30</id> </name> name.php <?php $n = new Simple_XML('data.xml'); echo $n->id; ?> I'd like the ability to provide two modes of access for the object, array and object. So, one could do: $n['id']; // attr And $n->id; // node However, barring that, I'd like the ability to simply cast the object as a base type, essentially :: echo $n->id; echo $n->id->get_attr('type'); And have them both work. Are either of these a possibility? -Sterling -- "Reductionists like to take things apart. The rest of us are just trying to get it together." - Larry Wall, Programming Perl, 3rd Edition