PHP Schema Builder

A powerful and intuitive library for building schema-driven data models in PHP. Validate, parse, and serialize complex data structures with ease, ensuring your data models are robust and reliable.

Features

• Fluent Schema Definition: Define your model's structure using a clean and fluent API.
• Rich Type System: Supports int, string, float, bool, date, enum, and complex types like arrays and nested relationships.
• Powerful Validation: Built-in validation rules like required, nullable, min, max, limit, between, and more.
• Relationships: Easily define has (one) and hasMany (many) relationships between models.
• Mutators: Transform attribute values with custom logic on get or set.
• Smart Serialization: Control how your models are converted to JSON, including hiding sensitive attributes.
• Defaults and Nullables: Effortlessly handle default values and nullable attributes.
• Strongly Typed: Designed to work well with modern, strongly-typed PHP (8.1+).

Installation

Install the library via Composer:

composer require ipagdevs/schema-builder

Core Concepts

1. Model

The Model is the heart of the library. You extend the base IpagDevs\Model\Model class to create your own data models. Each model is responsible for defining its structure through a schema.

2. Schema

The Schema defines the "shape" of your data: its attributes, types, and validation rules. You define the schema within your model by implementing the schema() method.

3. Mutators

Mutators allow you to apply custom transformations to data when an attribute is set or retrieved. This is perfect for formatting, sanitizing, or deriving values.

Getting Started: A Simple Example

Let's create a simple Review model.

<?php

use IpagDevs\Model\Model;
use IpagDevs\Model\Schema\Schema;
use IpagDevs\Model\Schema\SchemaBuilder;

class Review extends Model
{
    protected function schema(SchemaBuilder $schema): Schema
    {
        $schema->int('rating')->required();
        $schema->string('comment')->nullable();
        $schema->string('author')->default('Anonymous');

        return $schema->build();
    }
}

Now, let's use it to parse and handle data:

// Parse data from an array
$review = Review::parse([
    'rating' => 5,
    'comment' => 'Excellent product!'
]);

// Get attributes
echo $review->get('rating'); // 5
echo $review->get('author'); // 'Anonymous' (from default)

// Parsing with missing required data will throw an exception
try {
    Review::parse(['comment' => 'This will fail.']);
} catch (\IpagDevs\Model\Schema\Exception\SchemaAttributeParseException $e) {
    // "Missing required attribute"
    echo $e->getMessage();
}

// Convert to JSON
echo json_encode($review, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
// or
echo json_encode($review->jsonSerialize(), JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);

JSON Output:

{
    "rating": 5,
    "comment": "Excellent product!",
    "author": "Anonymous"
}

Advanced Usage & Features

Here's a more comprehensive Product model that showcases many of the library's features.

<?php

use IpagDevs\Model\Model;
use IpagDevs\Model\Schema\Schema;
use IpagDevs\Model\Schema\Mutator;
use IpagDevs\Model\Schema\SchemaBuilder;
use IpagDevs\Model\Schema\MutatorContext;

class Category extends Model
{
    protected function schema(SchemaBuilder $schema): Schema
    {
        $schema->int('id')->required();
        $schema->string('name')->required();
        return $schema->build();
    }
}

class Product extends Model
{
    protected function schema(SchemaBuilder $schema): Schema
    {
        // Basic Types
        $schema->int('id')->required();
        $schema->float('price')->min(0.01)->required();
        $schema->bool('is_active')->default(true);
        $schema->date('available_since', 'Y-m-d')->required();
        $schema->enum('condition', ['new', 'used', 'refurbished']);

        // String Validation
        $schema->string('name')->between(5, 50); // min 5, max 50 chars
        $schema->string('description')->limit(200)->nullable();
        $schema->string('short_description')->truncate(10); // Truncates if > 10 chars

        // Arrays and Lists
        $schema->string('tags')->list()->nullable(); // An array of strings
        $schema->int('alternate_ids')->list()->nullable(); // An array of integers
        $schema->string('matrix')->list()->list()->nullable(); // An array of arrays of strings

        // Hidden Attributes
        $schema->string('internal_code')->hidden(); // Always hidden from jsonSerialize()
        $schema->string('promo_code')->nullable()->hiddenIf(
            fn($value, Product $model) => $model->get('price') > 100.0
        );

        // Relationships
        $schema->has('category', Category::class)->required();
        $schema->hasMany('reviews', Review::class)->nullable();

        // Mutated Attributes
        $schema->string('sku');
        $schema->string('slug');

        return $schema->build();
    }

    // Mutator for the 'sku' attribute
    public function sku(): Mutator
    {
        return new Mutator(
            getter: fn($value) => "SKU-{$value}",
            setter: function ($value, MutatorContext $context) {
                $value = mb_strtoupper(str_replace(' ', '-', $value));
                $context->assert(mb_ereg_match('^[A-Z0-9\-]+$', $value), "Invalid SKU format.");
                return $value;
            }
        );
    }

    // Mutator for the 'slug' attribute (derived from 'name')
    public function slug(): Mutator
    {
        return new Mutator(
            setter: fn($value, MutatorContext $context) => mb_strtolower(str_replace(' ', '-', $context->target->get('name')))
        );
    }
}

Parsing Complex Data

You can now parse a complete data structure that matches the schema.

$productData = [
    'id' => 101,
    'name' => 'Awesome Wireless Keyboard',
    'price' => 129.99,
    'available_since' => '2025-10-20',
    'condition' => 'new',
    'internal_code' => 'XYZ-SECRET',
    'short_description' => 'This will be truncated for sure.',
    'tags' => ['wireless', 'mechanical', 'rgb'],
    'category' => ['id' => 15, 'name' => 'Peripherals'],
    'reviews' => [
        ['rating' => 5, 'comment' => 'Best keyboard ever!'],
        ['rating' => 4, 'author' => 'A happy user'],
    ],
    'sku' => 'awk-101-blue',
    'promo_code' => 'SAVE10'
];

$product = Product::parse($productData);

// Accessing data
echo $product->get('name'); // 'Awesome Wireless Keyboard'
echo $product->get('short_description'); // 'This will '

// Mutators are applied automatically
echo $product->get('sku'); // 'SKU-AWK-101-BLUE'
echo $product->get('slug'); // 'awesome-wireless-keyboard'

// Relationships are parsed into Model instances
echo get_class($product->get('category')); // 'Category'
echo get_class($product->get('reviews')[0]); // 'Review'

Attribute Types and Validation

Method	Description
->required()	The attribute must be present in the input data.
->nullable()	The attribute can be null.
->default($value)	Sets a default value if the attribute is not provided.
->min($value)	For float or int, sets a minimum value.
->max($value)	For float or int, sets a maximum value.
->limit($chars)	For string, enforces a maximum character length.
->truncate($chars)	For string, truncates the string if it exceeds the character limit.
->between($min, $max)	For string, enforces a min and max character length.
->positives([...])	For bool, defines values that should be parsed as true.
->negatives([...])	For bool, defines values that should be parsed as false.
->list() or ->array()	Converts an attribute into an array of its original type. Chainable.
->hidden()	Hides the attribute from jsonSerialize() output.
->hiddenIf(callable $check)	Hides the attribute from jsonSerialize() if the callback returns true.
->hiddenIfNull()	A shortcut for hiding an attribute if its value is null.

Serialization

The library provides two ways to convert a model to an array.

jsonSerialize()

This method is automatically called by json_encode(). It respects the hidden(), hiddenIf(), and hiddenIfNull() rules, making it safe for public API responses. It also serializes nested models and collections.

$product = Product::parse($productData);
$json = $product->jsonSerialize();

// $json will NOT contain 'internal_code'.
// 'promo_code' will be hidden because price > 100.
// 'category' and 'reviews' will be arrays of serialized data.

toArray()

This method converts the model and all its relations into a "raw" array, including all attributes (even hidden ones). It's useful for debugging or internal data transfer.

$array = $product->toArray();

// $array WILL contain 'internal_code'.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a pull request or open an issue for any bugs or feature requests.

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.