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

There is a native extension, too. The SplEnum

SplEnum gives the ability to emulate and create enumeration objects natively in PHP.

http://www.php.net/manual/en/class.splenum.php

Answer 2

The most common solution that I have seen to enum's in PHP has been to create a generic enum class and then extend it. You might take a look at this.

UPDATE: Alternatively, I found this from phpclasses.org.

Answer 3

abstract class Enumeration
{
    public static function enum() 
    {
        $reflect = new ReflectionClass( get_called_class() );
        return $reflect->getConstants();
    }
}


class Test extends Enumeration
{
    const A = 'a';
    const B = 'b';    
}


foreach (Test::enum() as $key => $value) {
    echo "$key -> $value<br>";
}

Answer 4

This is my take on "dynamic" enum... so that i can call it with variables, ex. from a form.

look at updated verison below this codeblock...

$value = "concert";
$Enumvalue = EnumCategory::enum($value);
//$EnumValue = 1

class EnumCategory{
    const concert = 1;
    const festival = 2;
    const sport = 3;
    const nightlife = 4;
    const theatre = 5;
    const musical = 6;
    const cinema = 7;
    const charity = 8;
    const museum = 9;
    const other = 10;

    public function enum($string){
        return constant('EnumCategory::'.$string);
    }
}

UPDATE: Better way of doing it...

class EnumCategory {

    static $concert = 1;
    static $festival = 2;
    static $sport = 3;
    static $nightlife = 4;
    static $theatre = 5;
    static $musical = 6;
    static $cinema = 7;
    static $charity = 8;
    static $museum = 9;
    static $other = 10;

}

Call with

EnumCategory::${$category};

Answer 5

I like enums from java too and for this reason I write my enums in this way, I think this is the most similiar behawior like in Java enums, of course, if some want to use more methods from java should write it here, or in abstract class but core idea is embedded in code below

class FruitsEnum {

    static $APPLE = null;
    static $ORANGE = null;

    private $value = null;

    public static $map;

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

    public static function init () {
        self::$APPLE  = new FruitsEnum("Apple");
        self::$ORANGE = new FruitsEnum("Orange");
        //static map to get object by name - example Enum::get("INIT") - returns Enum::$INIT object;
        self::$map = array (
            "Apple" => self::$APPLE,
            "Orange" => self::$ORANGE
        );
    }

    public static function get($element) {
        if($element == null)
            return null;
        return self::$map[$element];
    }

    public function getValue() {
        return $this->value;
    }

    public function equals(FruitsEnum $element) {
        return $element->getValue() == $this->getValue();
    }

    public function __toString () {
        return $this->value;
    }
}
FruitsEnum::init();

var_dump(FruitsEnum::$APPLE->equals(FruitsEnum::$APPLE)); //true
var_dump(FruitsEnum::$APPLE->equals(FruitsEnum::$ORANGE)); //false
var_dump(FruitsEnum::$APPLE instanceof FruitsEnum); //true
var_dump(FruitsEnum::get("Apple")->equals(FruitsEnum::$APPLE)); //true - enum from string
var_dump(FruitsEnum::get("Apple")->equals(FruitsEnum::get("Orange"))); //false

Answer 6

Stepping on the answer of @Brian Cline I thought I might give my 5 cents

<?php 
/**
 * A class that simulates Enums behaviour
 * <code>
 * class Season extends Enum{
 *    const Spring  = 0;
 *    const Summer = 1;
 *    const Autumn = 2;
 *    const Winter = 3;
 * }
 * 
 * $currentSeason = new Season(Season::Spring);
 * $nextYearSeason = new Season(Season::Spring);
 * $winter = new Season(Season::Winter);
 * $whatever = new Season(-1);               // Throws InvalidArgumentException
 * echo $currentSeason.is(Season::Spring);   // True
 * echo $currentSeason.getName();            // 'Spring'
 * echo $currentSeason.is($nextYearSeason);  // True
 * echo $currentSeason.is(Season::Winter);   // False
 * echo $currentSeason.is(Season::Spring);   // True
 * echo $currentSeason.is($winter);          // False
 * </code>
 * 
 * Class Enum
 * 
 * PHP Version 5.5
 */
abstract class Enum
{
    /**
     * Will contain all the constants of every enum that gets created to 
     * avoid expensive ReflectionClass usage
     * @var array
     */
    private static $_constCacheArray = [];
    /**
     * The value that separates this instance from the rest of the same class
     * @var mixed
     */
    private $_value;
    /**
     * The label of the Enum instance. Will take the string name of the 
     * constant provided, used for logging and human readable messages
     * @var string
     */
    private $_name;
    /**
     * Creates an enum instance, while makes sure that the value given to the 
     * enum is a valid one
     * 
     * @param mixed $value The value of the current
     * 
     * @throws \InvalidArgumentException
     */
    public final function __construct($value)
    {
        $constants = self::_getConstants();
        if (count($constants) !== count(array_unique($constants))) {
            throw new \InvalidArgumentException('Enums cannot contain duplicate constant values');
        }
        if ($name = array_search($value, $constants)) {
            $this->_value = $value;
            $this->_name = $name;
        } else {
            throw new \InvalidArgumentException('Invalid enum value provided');
        }
    }
    /**
     * Returns the constant name of the current enum instance
     * 
     * @return string
     */
    public function getName()
    {
        return $this->_name;
    }
    /**
     * Returns the value of the current enum instance
     * 
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function getValue()
    {
        return $this->_value;
    }
    /**
     * Checks whether this enum instance matches with the provided one.
     * This function should be used to compare Enums at all times instead
     * of an identity comparison 
     * <code>
     * // Assuming EnumObject and EnumObject2 both extend the Enum class
     * // and constants with such values are defined
     * $var  = new EnumObject('test'); 
     * $var2 = new EnumObject('test');
     * $var3 = new EnumObject2('test');
     * $var4 = new EnumObject2('test2');
     * echo $var->is($var2);  // true
     * echo $var->is('test'); // true
     * echo $var->is($var3);  // false
     * echo $var3->is($var4); // false
     * </code>
     * 
     * @param mixed|Enum $enum The value we are comparing this enum object against
     *                         If the value is instance of the Enum class makes
     *                         sure they are instances of the same class as well, 
     *                         otherwise just ensures they have the same value
     * 
     * @return bool
     */
    public final function is($enum)
    {
        // If we are comparing enums, just make
        // sure they have the same toString value
        if (is_subclass_of($enum, __CLASS__)) {
            return get_class($this) === get_class($enum) 
                    && $this->getValue() === $enum->getValue();
        } else {
            // Otherwise assume $enum is the value we are comparing against
            // and do an exact comparison
            return $this->getValue() === $enum;   
        }
    }

    /**
     * Returns the constants that are set for the current Enum instance
     * 
     * @return array
     */
    private static function _getConstants()
    {
        if (self::$_constCacheArray == null) {
            self::$_constCacheArray = [];
        }
        $calledClass = get_called_class();
        if (!array_key_exists($calledClass, self::$_constCacheArray)) {
            $reflect = new \ReflectionClass($calledClass);
            self::$_constCacheArray[$calledClass] = $reflect->getConstants();
        }
        return self::$_constCacheArray[$calledClass];
    }
}