Sometimes, in PHP it's necessary to store a string representation of an object for a short while. One such example is when you need to transport an object to another server via a RESTful interface.
For these situations I like to use a very simple DTO of the item.
Take this class for example:
PHP Code:
<?php
class Simple_Dto {
/**
* @var string
*/
public $name;
/**
* @var integer
*/
public $age;
/**
* @var string
*/
public $city;
public function __construct() {
}
/**
* @return the $name
*/
public function getName ()
{
return $this->name;
}
/**
* @return the $age
*/
public function getAge ()
{
return $this->age;
}
/**
* @return the $city
*/
public function getCity ()
{
return $this->city;
}
/**
* @param string $name
*/
public function setName ($name)
{
$this->name = $name;
}
/**
* @param mixed:string:integer $age
*/
public function setAge ($age)
{
$this->age = $age;
}
/**
* @param string $city
*/
public function setCity ($city)
{
$this->city = $city;
}
}
First, set the object up using this:
PHP Code:
<?php
$dto = new Simple_Dto();
$dto->setAge(32);
$dto->setName("Joe");
$dto->setCity("London");
Now, the value of this object is below:
PHP Code:
<?php
var_dump($dto);
/**
object(Simple_Dto)#1 (3) {
["name"]=>
string(3) "Joe"
["age"]=>
int(32)
["city"]=>
string(6) "London"
}
*/
To store this object call:
PHP Code:
<?php
$serialized = serialize($dto);
This gives you a string like below:
PHP Code:
<?php
var_dump($serialized);
/**
string(82) "O:10:"Simple_Dto":3:{s:4:"name";s:3:"Joe";s:3:"age";i:32;s:4:"city";s:6:"London";}"
*/
Now, to retrieve the object again all we have to do is call:
PHP Code:
<?php
$unserialised = unserialize('O:10:"Simple_Dto":3:{s:4:"name";s:3:"Joe";s:3:"age";i:32;s:4:"city";s:6:"London";}');
var_dump($unserialised);
/**
object(Simple_Dto)#2 (3) {
["name"]=>
string(3) "Joe"
["age"]=>
int(32)
["city"]=>
string(6) "London"
}
*/
Using this makes it incredibly easy to manage objects back and forth between systems and RESTful interfaces. This is only a short example (without any validation checks!)