ArrayToString

2015-10-27 -> 2021-03-05

Utility to export a php array in various string formats.

ArrayToString is part of the universe framework.

Install

Using the planet installer via light-cli

lt install Ling.ArrayToString

Using the uni tool

uni import Ling/ArrayToString

Features

• extensible: create your own formats
• comes with 5 native formats: space indented, html, inline args, php, php function args

How to use

You can use either the Tool or the Util. The Tool uses the Util under the hood and provides quicker access to most common methods.

Using the Tool

Classic php array representation

Create a modern (using brackets) php array representation:

header("content-type: text/plain");
echo ArrayToStringTool::toPhpArray($phpArray);

This will generate this kind of output:

[
    'pou' => 456,
    'aaa' => 777,
    'bbb' => [
        'omélie' => 'archeval',
        'pedros' => 'la casa',
    ],
]

Inline representation

Print an inline version of the php array using the toInlinePhpArray method.

$a = [
    "monica" => "seles",
    "fruits" => [
        "banana",
        "cherry",
    ],
];

a(ArrayToStringTool::toInlinePhpArray($a)); // ['monica' => 'seles','fruits' => ['banana','cherry']]
a(ArrayToStringTool::toInlinePhpArray($a, false)); // ['seles',['banana','cherry']]

Using the Util

ArrayToString is a planet.

<?php


require_once "bigbang.php";

use Ling\ArrayToString\ArrayToStringUtil;
use Ling\ArrayToString\SymbolManager\HtmlArrayToStringSymbolManager;
use Ling\ArrayToString\SymbolManager\InlineArgsArrayToStringSymbolManager;
use Ling\ArrayToString\SymbolManager\PhpArrayToStringSymbolManager;
use Ling\ArrayToString\SymbolManager\SpaceIndentedArrayToStringSymbolManager;
use Ling\ArrayToString\SymbolManager\PhpFunctionArgsArrayToStringSymbolManager;


$a = [
    'pou' => 456,
    'aaa' => 777,
    'bbb' => [
        'omélie' => 'archeval',
        'pedros' => 'la casa',
    ],
];

//header("content-type: text/plain");
echo '<h3>Space Indented</h3>';
echo ArrayToStringUtil::create()->setSymbolManager(new SpaceIndentedArrayToStringSymbolManager())->toString($a);
echo '<h3>Html</h3>';
echo ArrayToStringUtil::create()->setSymbolManager(new HtmlArrayToStringSymbolManager())->toString($a);
echo '<h3>Inline args</h3>';
echo ArrayToStringUtil::create()->setSymbolManager(new InlineArgsArrayToStringSymbolManager())->toString($a);
echo '<h3>Php</h3>';
echo ArrayToStringUtil::create()->setSymbolManager(new PhpArrayToStringSymbolManager())->toString($a);
echo '<h3>Php Function Args</h3>';
echo ArrayToStringUtil::create()->setSymbolManager(new PhpFunctionArgsArrayToStringSymbolManager())->toString($a);

More about the native formats

Space Indented

Just prints 4 spaces between the array values. In the given example above, the output would be:

456    777    'archeval'    'la casa'   

Html

Prints an html friendly version of the array. If you run the above example in a browser, you will visually see this:

[
    'pou' => 456,
    'aaa' => 777,
    'bbb' => [
        'omélie' => 'archeval',
        'pedros' => 'la casa',
    ],
]  

And if you looked at the source code, you would see the necessary \n, \t and <br> that were used to produce the result.

Inline Args

Use this format if you want the array to fit on a single line. For instance, if you want to display the array content in an exception message. The above example would look like this:

['pou' => 456,'aaa' => 777,'bbb' => ['omélie' => 'archeval','pedros' => 'la casa']]

Php

This format is like the native php's var_export. The only difference that I see is that ArrayToString's Php native format uses the [] notation for arrays, will the php native export function uses the array() notation.

The important thing is that you need this format when you want to dynamically write an array in php code.

// generated with ArrayToString's Php format  
[
    'pou' => 456,
    'aaa' => 777,
    'bbb' => [
        'omélie' => 'archeval',
        'pedros' => 'la casa',
    ],
]

// generated with php's var_export native function
array (
  'pou' => 456,
  'aaa' => 777,
  'bbb' => 
  array (
    'omélie' => 'archeval',
    'pedros' => 'la casa',
  ),
) 

Php Function Args

This format converts an array into php function arguments. You can use the output directly as function arguments in your php code.

Here is the output of the above example.

456,
777,
[
    'omélie' => 'archeval',
    'pedros' => 'la casa',
]

How does it work?

You have the ArrayToStringUtil class which is the engine. The engine uses a well defined but abstract structure (see comments in the class for more details) of an array.

The engine needs a symbolManager object to resolve the actual structure symbols.

Tutorial: write a php array into a class

2016-11-26

Sometimes, when you generate code, you want to write an array in a class file.

For instance, imagine you have prepared the following class template:

<?php


namespace MyNamespace;

class MyObject
{
    public static function getListOfItems()
    {
        //{items}
    }
}

And your goal is to rewrite this class, and replace the //{items} tag with a return statement that returns an array, like so...

<?php


namespace MyNamespace;

class MyObject
{
    public static function getListOfItems()
    {
        return [
            'a' => 'aaa',
            'b' => 'bbb',
            'c' => 'ccc',
        ];
    }
}

In order to do so, you need to configure the manager object, here is an imaginary code that would do the trick:

function array_to_string(array $items)
{
    $manager = new PhpArrayToStringSymbolManager();
    $manager->setIndentationCallback(function ($spaceSymbol, $nbSpaces, $level) {
        if (0 === $level) {
            return str_repeat($spaceSymbol, 8);
        }
        if (1 === $level) {
            return str_repeat($spaceSymbol, 12);
        }
        return str_repeat($spaceSymbol, 16);
    });

    return 'return ' . ArrayToStringUtil::create()->setSymbolManager($manager)->toString($items) . ";";
}

$items = [
    'a' => 'aaa',
    'b' => 'bbb',
    'c' => 'ccc',
];

$src = "/path/to/templates/MyObject-template.php";
$dst = "/path/to/class/myObject.php";
$s = file_get_contents($src);
$s = str_replace('//{items}', array_to_string($items), $s);
$ret = file_put_contents($dst, $s);

The nice thing is that even if your array contains nested arrays, the format will be nicely indented.

History Log

• 1.4.6 -- 2021-05-31

  • Removing trailing plus in lpi-deps file (to work with Light_PlanetInstaller:2.0.0 api

• 1.4.5 -- 2021-03-05

  • update README.md, add install alternative

• 1.4.4 -- 2021-02-23

  • Test auto-commit

• 1.4.3 -- 2021-02-15

  • fake commit to test commit wizard hook

• 1.4.2 -- 2020-12-08

  • Fix lpi-deps not using natsort

• 1.4.1 -- 2020-12-04

  • Add lpi-deps.byml file

• 1.4.0 -- 2019-01-18

  • add ArrayToStringTool::toInlinePhpArray method

• 1.3.0 -- 2017-09-03

  • add SpaceIndentedArrayToStringSymbolManager.setOffset method
  • add ArrayToStringTool::toPhpArray offset argument

• 1.2.0 -- 2017-06-21

  • add ArrayToStringTool.toPhpArray $showKeys argument

• 1.1.0 -- 2017-04-10

  • add ArrayToStringTool

• 1.0.0 -- 2015-10-27

  • initial commit