Hey, never apologize for doing a better job. I knew array_flip() existed but don’t think I’ve ever used it and I didn’t even know array_diff_key() was there.

Thanks, I’ve updated my code.

=C=

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

First, I think I may have explained it poorly. Having an iterator does not solve the problem. However, since ALL we are transferring to the front-end is properties, having a method that I can quickly pull out the array of properties and json encode THAT does solve the problem.

Second, json_encode does work the way most of us would expect it to. It iterates through the public properties and encodes them. The mistake I made was to make my array of properties protected…actually, it wasn’t a mistake, it was the right thing to do for the way I was coding.

There is no magic to getProperties() and I would never expect json_encode or Zend_Json::encode() to recognize that method and use it. I was a solution for the problem I had.

Thanks for writing.

=C=

I, personally, think I would prefer it to actually work. If you expose a iterator for you object, I would expect any code that needs access to the members of this class to use the iterator. Instead it uses some “magic” code that finds the public members.
Exposing a Iterator, in my mind, means “if you need to loop though the variables in this class – use this Iterator”. But json_encode() doesn’t do this..

-f

Thanks for posting!

Actually no, it’s that way on purpose but that code was scraped from my real class to build the example. In the real code, I build the array with all the elements blank in the __construct. This way, I can’t accidentally add new properties to the object that would cause me problems later. I’ll correct the example. Thanks for pointing that out.

=C=

In dealing with a little JSON encoding and objects in a ……

Thanks for leaving a comment.

IIRC, and I’ll be honest in saying I’ve not looked at the code in a while, Zend_Json uses the naive json_encode method if it’s available. In my case it was. So while my post was specifically about Zend_Json, it applies as well to json_encode().

Also, honestly, I wouldn’t want it to operate any other way. In hindsight, this is the proper way for it to work. I mark properties protected for a reason and it’s real easy to expose them if I need to.

That having been said, yes, if I’m implementing JSON encoding nativly in PHP, it would be possible to do it your way and be able to get a more complete representation of the object.

Thanks again for taking the time to lave a comment.

=C=

I don’t know how Zend_Json::encode works, but if it does a foreach($obj ..) then adding a simple SPI Iterator interface to your object will make it work correctly.. If it uses reflections I’m not sure what will happen..
Worth a shot imho..

XOXO