Database results as objects or arrays?

Question

This question is similar to Mysql results in PHP - arrays or objects? However, my question expands on what has been discussed there.

I\'m trying to decide which form

Answer 1

It’s preference at the end of the day. Personally, I prefer objects. Although CakePHP uses arrays for results using the “object” name as the array key. However, things start to get funny when you fetch related records in CakePHP.

With your problem, you could simply have objects within objects. For example:

stdClass Object
(
    [id] => 1
    [title] => Article Title
    [published] => 2013-03-04 16:30:00
    [category] => stdClass Object
        (
            [id] => 1
            [name] => Category Name
        )

)

You can then display associated data in your views as follows:

category->name; ?>

Or if you use getters and setters:

getCategory()->getName(); ?>

There’s no right or wrong answer. As I say, it’s all personal preference.