PHP and Enumerations

Question

I know that PHP doesn\'t have native Enumerations. But I have become accustomed to them from the Java world. I would love to use enums as a way to give predefined values whi

Answer 1

My Enum class definition below is Strongly typed, and very natural to use and define.

Definition:

class Fruit extends Enum {
    static public $APPLE = 1;
    static public $ORANGE = 2;
}
Fruit::initialize(); //Can also be called in autoloader

Switch over Enum

$myFruit = Fruit::$APPLE;

switch ($myFruit) {
    case Fruit::$APPLE  : echo "I like apples\n";  break;
    case Fruit::$ORANGE : echo "I hate oranges\n"; break;
}

>> I like apples

Pass Enum as parameter (Strongly typed)

/** Function only accepts Fruit enums as input**/
function echoFruit(Fruit $fruit) {
    echo $fruit->getName().": ".$fruit->getValue()."\n";
}

/** Call function with each Enum value that Fruit has */
foreach (Fruit::getList() as $fruit) {
    echoFruit($fruit);
}

//Call function with Apple enum
echoFruit(Fruit::$APPLE)

//Will produce an error. This solution is strongly typed
echoFruit(2);

>> APPLE: 1
>> ORANGE: 2
>> APPLE: 1
>> Argument 1 passed to echoFruit() must be an instance of Fruit, integer given

Echo Enum as string

echo "I have an $myFruit\n";

>> I have an APPLE

Get Enum by integer

$myFruit = Fruit::getByValue(2);

echo "Now I have an $myFruit\n";

>> Now I have an ORANGE

Get Enum by Name

$myFruit = Fruit::getByName("APPLE");

echo "But I definitely prefer an $myFruit\n\n";

>> But I definitely prefer an APPLE

The Enum Class:

/**
 * @author Torge Kummerow
 */
class Enum {

    /**
     * Holds the values for each type of Enum
     */
    static private $list = array();

    /**
     * Initializes the enum values by replacing the number with an instance of itself
     * using reflection
     */
    static public function initialize() {
        $className = get_called_class();
        $class = new ReflectionClass($className);
        $staticProperties = $class->getStaticProperties();

        self::$list[$className] = array();

        foreach ($staticProperties as $propertyName => &$value) {
            if ($propertyName == 'list')
                continue;

            $enum = new $className($propertyName, $value);
            $class->setStaticPropertyValue($propertyName, $enum);
            self::$list[$className][$propertyName] = $enum;
        } unset($value);
    }


    /**
     * Gets the enum for the given value
     *
     * @param integer $value
     * @throws Exception
     *
     * @return Enum
     */
    static public function getByValue($value) {
        $className = get_called_class();
        foreach (self::$list[$className] as $propertyName=>&$enum) {
            /* @var $enum Enum */
            if ($enum->value == $value)
                return $enum;
        } unset($enum);

        throw new Exception("No such enum with value=$value of type ".get_called_class());
    }

    /**
     * Gets the enum for the given name
     *
     * @param string $name
     * @throws Exception
     *
     * @return Enum
     */
    static public function getByName($name) {
        $className = get_called_class();
        if (array_key_exists($name, static::$list[$className]))
            return self::$list[$className][$name];

        throw new Exception("No such enum ".get_called_class()."::\$$name");
    }


    /**
     * Returns the list of all enum variants
     * @return Array of Enum
     */
    static public function getList() {
        $className = get_called_class();
        return self::$list[$className];
    }


    private $name;
    private $value;

    public function __construct($name, $value) {
        $this->name = $name;
        $this->value = $value;
    }

    public function __toString() {
        return $this->name;
    }

    public function getValue() {
        return $this->value;
    }

    public function getName() {
        return $this->name;
    }

}

Addition

You can ofcourse also add comments for IDEs

class Fruit extends Enum {

    /**
     * This comment is for autocomplete support in common IDEs
     * @var Fruit A yummy apple
     */
    static public $APPLE = 1;

    /**
     * This comment is for autocomplete support in common IDEs
     * @var Fruit A sour orange
     */
    static public $ORANGE = 2;
}

//This can also go to the autoloader if available.
Fruit::initialize();