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

I realize this is a very-very-very old thread but I had a thought about this and wanted to know what people thought.

Notes: I was playing around with this and realized that if I just modified the __call() function that you can get even closer to actual enums. The __call() function handles all unknown function calls. So let's say you want to make three enums RED_LIGHT, YELLOW_LIGHT, and GREEN_LIGHT. You can do so now by just doing the following:

$c->RED_LIGHT();
$c->YELLOW_LIGHT();
$c->GREEN_LIGHT();

Once defined all you have to do is to call them again to get the values:

echo $c->RED_LIGHT();
echo $c->YELLOW_LIGHT();
echo $c->GREEN_LIGHT();

and you should get 0, 1, and 2. Have fun! This is also now up on GitHub.

Update: I've made it so both the __get() and __set() functions are now used. These allow you to not have to call a function unless you want to. Instead, now you can just say:

$c->RED_LIGHT;
$c->YELLOW_LIGHT;
$c->GREEN_LIGHT;

For both the creation and getting of the values. Because the variables haven't been defined initially, the __get() function is called (because there isn't a value specified) which sees that the entry in the array hasn't been made. So it makes the entry, assigns it the last value given plus one(+1), increments the last value variable, and returns TRUE. If you set the value:

$c->RED_LIGHT = 85;

Then the __set() function is called and the last value is then set to the new value plus one (+1). So now we have a fairly good way to do enums and they can be created on the fly.

enums = array();
    $this->clear_flag = false;
    $this->last_value = 0;

    if( func_num_args() > 0 ){
        return $this->put( func_get_args() );
        }

    return true;
}
################################################################################
#   put(). Insert one or more enums.
################################################################################
function put()
{
    $args = func_get_args();
#
#   Did they send us an array of enums?
#   Ex: $c->put( array( "a"=>0, "b"=>1,...) );
#   OR  $c->put( array( "a", "b", "c",... ) );
#
    if( is_array($args[0]) ){
#
#   Add them all in
#
        foreach( $args[0] as $k=>$v ){
#
#   Don't let them change it once it is set.
#   Remove the IF statement if you want to be able to modify the enums.
#
            if( !isset($this->enums[$k]) ){
#
#   If they sent an array of enums like this: "a","b","c",... then we have to
#   change that to be "A"=>#. Where "#" is the current count of the enums.
#
                if( is_numeric($k) ){
                    $this->enums[$v] = $this->last_value++;
                    }
#
#   Else - they sent "a"=>"A", "b"=>"B", "c"=>"C"...
#
                    else {
                        $this->last_value = $v + 1;
                        $this->enums[$k] = $v;
                        }
                }
            }
        }
#
#   Nope!  Did they just sent us one enum?
#
        else {
#
#   Is this just a default declaration?
#   Ex: $c->put( "a" );
#
            if( count($args) < 2 ){
#
#   Again - remove the IF statement if you want to be able to change the enums.
#
                if( !isset($this->enums[$args[0]]) ){
                    $this->enums[$args[0]] = $this->last_value++;
                    }
#
#   No - they sent us a regular enum
#   Ex: $c->put( "a", "This is the first enum" );
#
                    else {
#
#   Again - remove the IF statement if you want to be able to change the enums.
#
                        if( !isset($this->enums[$args[0]]) ){
                            $this->last_value = $args[1] + 1;
                            $this->enums[$args[0]] = $args[1];
                            }
                        }
                }
            }

    return true;
}
################################################################################
#   get(). Get one or more enums.
################################################################################
function get()
{
    $num = func_num_args();
    $args = func_get_args();
#
#   Is this an array of enums request? (ie: $c->get(array("a","b","c"...)) )
#
    if( is_array($args[0]) ){
        $ary = array();
        foreach( $args[0] as $k=>$v ){
            $ary[$v] = $this->enums[$v];
            }

        return $ary;
        }
#
#   Is it just ONE enum they want? (ie: $c->get("a") )
#
        else if( ($num > 0) && ($num < 2) ){
            return $this->enums[$args[0]];
            }
#
#   Is it a list of enums they want? (ie: $c->get( "a", "b", "c"...) )
#
        else if( $num > 1 ){
            $ary = array();
            foreach( $args as $k=>$v ){
                $ary[$v] = $this->enums[$v];
                }

            return $ary;
            }
#
#   They either sent something funky or nothing at all.
#
    return false;
}
################################################################################
#   clear(). Clear out the enum array.
#       Optional.  Set the flag in the __construct function.
#       After all, ENUMS are supposed to be constant.
################################################################################
function clear()
{
    if( $clear_flag ){
        unset( $this->enums );
        $this->enums = array();
        }

    return true;
}
################################################################################
#   __call().  In case someone tries to blow up the class.
################################################################################
function __call( $name, $arguments )
{
    if( isset($this->enums[$name]) ){ return $this->enums[$name]; }
        else if( !isset($this->enums[$name]) && (count($arguments) > 0) ){
            $this->last_value = $arguments[0] + 1;
            $this->enums[$name] = $arguments[0];
            return true;
            }
        else if( !isset($this->enums[$name]) && (count($arguments) < 1) ){
            $this->enums[$name] = $this->last_value++;
            return true;
            }

    return false;
}
################################################################################
#   __get(). Gets the value.
################################################################################
function __get($name)
{
    if( isset($this->enums[$name]) ){ return $this->enums[$name]; }
        else if( !isset($this->enums[$name]) ){
            $this->enums[$name] = $this->last_value++;
            return true;
            }

    return false;
}
################################################################################
#   __set().  Sets the value.
################################################################################
function __set( $name, $value=null )
{
    if( isset($this->enums[$name]) ){ return false; }
        else if( !isset($this->enums[$name]) && !is_null($value) ){
            $this->last_value = $value + 1;
            $this->enums[$name] = $value;
            return true;
            }
        else if( !isset($this->enums[$name]) && is_null($value) ){
            $this->enums[$name] = $this->last_value++;
            return true;
            }

    return false;
}
################################################################################
#   __destruct().  Deconstruct the class.  Remove the list of enums.
################################################################################
function __destruct()
{
    unset( $this->enums );
    $this->enums = null;

    return true;
}

}
#
#   Test code
#
#   $c = new enums();
#   $c->RED_LIGHT(85);
#   $c->YELLOW_LIGHT = 23;
#   $c->GREEN_LIGHT;
#
#   echo $c->RED_LIGHT . "\n";
#   echo $c->YELLOW_LIGHT . "\n";
#   echo $c->GREEN_LIGHT . "\n";

?>