Benefits over var_export():

• var_export does not support Closures dumping;
• var_export supports only objects with __set_state function. AzaPhpGen supports all serializable objects;
• AzaPhpGen dumps Traversable objects as arrays (via iterator_to_array);
• For binary strings var_export generates very ugly code that is awkward to use and can be easily corrupted;
• For objects var_export generates code that can not be evaluated in namespace;
• AzaPhpGen give you full control over objects dumping with custom handlers and IPhpGenerable interface;
• With AzaPhpGen you can flexibly customize formatting of your code (useful for arrays);
• AzaPhpGen can generate code with or without trailing semicolon. var_export never outputs it :)
• Some detailed comparisons you can see in Tests/PhpGenBenchmarkTest.php;

Requirements

• PHP 5.3.3 (or later);
• SPL and Reflection extensions for closures support (both bundled with PHP by default);

Installation

The recommended way to install AzaPhpGen is through composer. You can see package information on Packagist.

{
	"require": {
		"aza/phpgen": "~1.0"
	}
}

Examples

You can use examples/example.php to run all examples.

Example #1 - Simple dump

// Get singleton instance of PhpGen (fast and simple variant)
$phpGen = PhpGen::instance();
// Integer
echo $phpGen->getCode(123456789) . PHP_EOL; // 123456789;
// String (binary strings are supported as well)
echo $phpGen->getCode('some string' . ' example') . PHP_EOL; // "some string example";
// Float without trailing semicolon
echo $phpGen->getCodeNoTail(12.345) . PHP_EOL; // 12.345
// Simple serializable objects
$var = new stdClass();
echo $phpGen->getCode($var) . PHP_EOL; // unserialize("O:8:\"stdClass\":0:{}");
// Another object example
$var = new DateTime('2013-02-23 00:49:36', new DateTimeZone('UTC'));
echo $phpGen->getCode($var) . PHP_EOL; // unserialize("O:8:\"DateTime\":3:{s:4:\"date\";s:19:\"2013-02-23 00:49:36\";s:13:\"timezone_type\";i:3;s:8:\"timezone\";s:3:\"UTC\";}");

Example #2 - Array dump

// AzaPhpGen will use short array syntax if possible by default (PHP >= 5.4)
echo $phpGen->getCode(array(
	true, false, null
)) . PHP_EOL;
/*
[
	true,
	false,
	null,
];
 */

// Build code without formatting
echo $phpGen->getCodeNoFormat(array(
	true, false, null
)) . PHP_EOL;
/*
[true,false,null];
 */

// Complex array (some sort of config for example)
$array = array(
	'key1'     => 'value',
	'long_key' => 'value',
	'array'    => array(
		'short_value'
	),
	'array2' => array(
		'very very very very very very very very very very very very long value'
	),
	'other',
	123456789
);
echo $phpGen->getCode($array) . PHP_EOL;
/*
[
	"key1"     => "value",
	"long_key" => "value",
	"array"    => ["short_value"],
	"array2"   => [
		"very very very very very very very very very very very very long value",
	],
	0 => "other",
	1 => 123456789,
];
 */

// And wothout formatting
echo $phpGen->getCodeNoFormat($array) . PHP_EOL;
/*
["key1"=>"value","long_key"=>"value","array"=>["short_value"],"array2"=>["very very very very very very very very very very very very long value"],0=>"other",1=>123456789];
 */

Example #3 - Traversable dump

AzaPhpGen treat all Traversable objects as arrays (with iterator_to_array).

$var = new SplFixedArray(3);
$var[0] = 'a';
$var[1] = 'b';
echo $phpGen->getCodeNoFormat($var) . PHP_EOL; // ["a","b",null];

Example #4 - Closure (anonymous function) example

WARNING: Closures are dumped as is. So complex closures are not supported:

• Closures with "use" statement (closures that inherit variables from the parent scope);
• Several closures on the same line;
• Usage of non-qualified class name (with importing) in closure;
• Closures with $this variable usage;

$closure = function($a, $b) {
	return round($a, $b) . "example\t\n";
};
echo $phpGen->getCode($closure) . PHP_EOL;
/*
function($a, $b) {
	return round($a, $b) . "example\t\n";
};
 */
echo $phpGen->getCode(array('key' => $closure)) . PHP_EOL;
/*
[
	"key" => function($a, $b) {
	return round($a, $b) . "example\t\n";
},
];
 */

Example #5 - Custom object dumping with IPhpGenerable interface

You can customize dumping of your classes by implementing the IPhpGenerable interface.

class ExampleCustomCode implements IPhpGenerable
{
	public function generateCode()
	{
		return '32434 + 5678';
	}
}

$var = new ExampleCustomCode();

echo $phpGen->getCode($var) . PHP_EOL; // 32434 + 5678;

echo $phpGen->getCode(array($var)) . PHP_EOL; // [32434 + 5678];

Example #6 - Bundled CustomCode class usage

For the simpliest varint of IPhpGenerable interface usages you can use bundled class - CustomCode. It just takes the required code as a constructor argument.

$var = new CustomCode('"some code" . PHP_EOL');

echo $phpGen->getCode($var) . PHP_EOL; // "some code" . PHP_EOL;

echo $phpGen->getCode(array($var)) . PHP_EOL; // ["some code" . PHP_EOL];

Example #7 - Custom object dumping with defined handlers

Second varint of resulting code customization - usage of defined handlers (hooks) for the classes. This way you can customize dump of any possible class!

// Set custom handler for DateTime type
$phpGen->addCustomHandler('DateTime', function($data) use ($phpGen) {
	/** @var $data \DateTime */
	return $phpGen->getCodeNoTail(
		$data->format("Y-m-dO")
	);
});
// Build code
$var = new DateTime('2013-02-23 00:49:36', new DateTimeZone('UTC'));
echo $phpGen->getCode($var) . PHP_EOL; // "2013-02-23+0000";

Example #8 - AzaPhpGen customization

AzaPhpGen has many options. So it's very simple to configure your resulting code for your special needs (code style for example). You can see all available options in the PhpGen class code.

// Disable short array syntax and use 6 spaces for indentation
$phpGen->shortArraySyntax = false;
$phpGen->useSpaces        = true;
$phpGen->tabLength        = 6;
$var = array(array(array(23 => 'example')));
echo $phpGen->getCode($var) . PHP_EOL;
/*
array(
      array(
            array(
                  23 => "example",
            ),
      ),
);
 */

Tests

Tests are in the Tests folder and reach 100% code-coverage. To run them, you need PHPUnit. Example:

$ phpunit --configuration phpunit.xml.dist

Or with coverage report:

$ phpunit --configuration phpunit.xml.dist --coverage-html code_coverage/

Credits

AzaPhpGen is a part of Anizoptera CMF, written by Amal Samally (amal.samally at gmail.com) and AzaGroup team.

License

Released under the MIT license.

Links

• Composer package
• Last build on the Travis CI
• Project profile on the Ohloh
• Other Anizoptera CMF components on the GitHub / Packagist
• (RU) AzaGroup team blog