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 which IDEs' auto completion features could understand.

Constants do the trick, but there's the namespace collision problem and (or actually because) they're global. Arrays don't have the namespace problem, but they're too vague, they can be overwritten at runtime and IDEs rarely (never?) know how to autofill their keys.

Are there any solutions/workarounds you commonly use? Does anyone recall whether the PHP guys have had any thoughts or decisions around enums?

Answer 1

Ok, here is my attempt that 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();

Answer 2

The top answer above is fantastic. However, if you extend it in two different ways, then whichever extension is done first results in a call to the functions will create the cache. This cache will then be used by all subsequent calls, no matter whichever extension the calls are initiated by ...

To solve this, replace the variable and first function with:

private static $constCacheArray = null;

private static function getConstants() {
    if (self::$constCacheArray === null) self::$constCacheArray = array();

    $calledClass = get_called_class();
    if (!array_key_exists($calledClass, self::$constCacheArray)) {
        $reflect = new \ReflectionClass($calledClass);
        self::$constCacheArray[$calledClass] = $reflect->getConstants();
    }

    return self::$constCacheArray[$calledClass];
}

Answer 3

I used classes with constants:

class Enum {
    const NAME       = 'aaaa';
    const SOME_VALUE = 'bbbb';
}

print Enum::NAME;

Answer 4

I have taken to using the approach below as it gives me the ability to have type safety for function parameters, auto complete in NetBeans and good performance. The one thing I don't like too much is that you have to call [extended class name]::enumerate(); after defining the class.

abstract class Enum {

    private $_value;

    protected function __construct($value) {
        $this->_value = $value;
    }

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

    public static function enumerate() {
        $class = get_called_class();
        $ref = new ReflectionClass($class);
        $statics = $ref->getStaticProperties();
        foreach ($statics as $name => $value) {
            $ref->setStaticPropertyValue($name, new $class($value));
        }
    }
}

class DaysOfWeek extends Enum {
    public static $MONDAY = 0;
    public static $SUNDAY = 1;
    // etc.
}
DaysOfWeek::enumerate();

function isMonday(DaysOfWeek $d) {
    if ($d == DaysOfWeek::$MONDAY) {
        return true;
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

$day = DaysOfWeek::$MONDAY;
echo (isMonday($day) ? "bummer it's monday" : "Yay! it's not monday");

Answer 5

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 wan 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.

<?php
################################################################################
#   Class ENUMS
#
#       Original code by Mark Manning.
#       Copyrighted (c) 2015 by Mark Manning.
#       All rights reserved.
#
#       This set of code is hereby placed into the free software universe
#       via the GNU greater license thus placing it under the Copyleft
#       rules and regulations with the following modifications:
#
#       1. You may use this work in any other work.  Commercial or otherwise.
#       2. You may make as much money as you can with it.
#       3. You owe me nothing except to give me a small blurb somewhere in
#           your program or maybe have pity on me and donate a dollar to
#           [e-mail].  :-)
#
#   Blurb:
#
#       PHP Class Enums by Mark Manning (markem-AT-sim1-DOT-us).
#       Used with permission.
#
#   Notes:
#
#       VIM formatting.  Set tabs to four(4) spaces.
#
################################################################################
class enums
{
    private $enums;
    private $clear_flag;
    private $last_value;

################################################################################
#   __construct(). Construction function.  Optionally pass in your enums.
################################################################################
function __construct()
{
    $this->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";

?>

Answer 6

Pointed out solution works well. Clean and smooth.

However, if you want strongly typed enumerations, you can use this:

class TestEnum extends Enum
{
    public static $TEST1;
    public static $TEST2;
}
TestEnum::init(); // Automatically initializes enum values

With an Enum class looking like:

class Enum
{
    public static function parse($enum)
    {
        $class = get_called_class();
        $vars = get_class_vars($class);
        if (array_key_exists($enum, $vars)) {
            return $vars[$enum];
        }
        return null;
    }

    public static function init()
    {
        $className = get_called_class();
        $consts = get_class_vars($className);
        foreach ($consts as $constant => $value) {
            if (is_null($className::$$constant)) {
                $constantValue = $constant;
                $constantValueName = $className . '::' . $constant . '_VALUE';
                if (defined($constantValueName)) {
                    $constantValue = constant($constantValueName);
                }
                $className::$$constant = new $className($constantValue);
            }
        }
    }

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

This way, enum values are strongly typed and

TestEnum::$TEST1 === TestEnum::parse('TEST1') // true statement