PHP ArrayObject / ArrayIterator : concept with example

php foreach arrayobject arrayiterator
Spencer Mark picture Spencer Mark · Jul 9, 2013 · Viewed 7.7k times · Source

I'm trying to understand the concept of the Object Array in PHP. Up to date I was simply using regular arrays to loop through the list of records and display them in say table.

I know that I could do this using Object, but I'm not quite sure how to do it.

I understand the concept of a single Object instance with all properties representing the fields with their associated values populated from the database, which can be called like:

$objUser->first_name;

Now what I would like to understand, and simply cannot find a simple answer to is how to deal with let's say list of users, which I would like to display on one page. I've seen that there are ArrayObject, ArrayIterator etc., but simply cannot understand how they work so if someone could try to explain it with a few examples of how the above can be accomplished that would be much appreciated.

What I'm looking for is an object containing the list of elements, which I can loop through like so (if at all this is possible):

foreach($objUsers as $objUser) {
    echo $objUser->first_name;
}

Thanks.

Answer

Madara's Ghost picture Madara's Ghost · Jul 9, 2013

It is possible. Have your object implement the Iterator interface, and then you will be able to foreach over it natively. (Note, you need to correctly implement the methods to advance and rewind your array)

More info:

Related questions

Invalid argument supplied for foreach()

It often happens to me to handle data that can be either an array or a null variable and to feed some foreach with these data. $values = get_values(); foreach ($values as $value){ ... } When you feed a foreach with data …

Read More
How to find the foreach index?

Is it possible to find the foreach index? in a for loop as follows: for ($i = 0; $i < 10; ++$i) { echo $i . ' '; } $i will give you the index. Do I have to use the for loop or is there …

Read More
How to determine the first and last iteration in a foreach loop?

The question is simple. I have a foreach loop in my code: foreach($array as $element) { //code } In this loop, I want to react differently when we are in first or last iteration. How to do this?

Read More