Function to get/set multidimensional array data li

Question

im trying to get dinamically a data inside a class like this:

Class foo
{
    private $config=array();

    public __construct(){    
        $this->config['site']['title'] = 'XXXXX';
        $this->config['site']['favicon'] = 'XXXXX.ico';
        $this->config['site']['keywords'] = array('page','cute','other');        
        $this->config['otherthing'] = 'value';
        /**etc**/
    }

    public function set($name,$value)
    {
        $tmp = explode('.',$name);
        /** i dont know what i can do here **/
    }

    public function get($name)
    {
        $tmp = explode('.',$name);
        /** i dont know what i can do here **/
    }
}

$thing = new foo;
$this->set('site.keywords',array('other','keywords'));//this change a data inside foo->config['site']['keywords']

echo $this->get('site.title'); // gets data inside foo->config['site']['title']
echo $this->get('otherthing'); // gets data inside foo->config['otherthing']

Array dimensions can be change dinamically and i want set/retrieve data in foo->config calling the array by the way : function(fist.second.third.four.etc).

Edit:

I can create a function with explode, i explored that posibility, but if i use a function like this:

function get($name)
{
    $tmp = explode('.',$name);
    if(isset($this->config[$tmp[0]][$tmp[1]]))
        return $this->config[$tmp[0]][$tmp[1]];
    return '';
}

When i need to take a value of array in 3 dimensions($this->config[one][two][tree]) or one dimension ($this->config[one]) the function cant handle the result. I want to get N dimensions of array.

I tried too this solution: function nameToArray($name) { $tmp = explode('.',$name); $return = '';

    foreach($tmp as $v)
    {
        $return .= "['{$v}']";

    }

    return 'config'.$return;
}
function set($name,$value)
{
    $this->{$this->nameToArray} = $value;
}

$foo->set('site.favicon','something.ico');

But this doesnt edit a array inside $foo->config, this creates a new value inside $this called literally config['site']['favicon'].

I dont know how i can do it, im tried many ways but i cant got the spected result. Thanks for help.

Answer 1

I have another solution based on eval I just concatenate the strings with brackets around

<?php
Class foo {
    private $config=array();

    function __construct(){    
        $this->config['site']['title'] = 'testing';
        $this->config['site']['favicon'] = 'XXXXX.ico';
        $this->config['site']['keywords'] = array('page','cute','other');        
        $this->config['otherthing'] = 'value';
        /**etc**/
    }

    public function set($name,$value)
    {
        $tmp = explode('.',$name);
        $array_levels = "['";
        foreach($tmp as $key) {
            $array_levels .= $key."']['";
        }
        $array_levels = substr($array_levels, 0, -2);
        eval('$this->config'.$array_levels.' = $value;');
    }
    public function get($name)
    {
        $tmp = explode('.',$name);
        $array_levels = "['";
        foreach($tmp as $key) {
            $array_levels .= $key."']['";
        }
        $array_levels = substr($array_levels, 0, -2);
        eval('$value = $this->config'.$array_levels.';');
        return $value;
    }
}
$thing = new foo;
$thing->set('site.keywords',array('other','keywords'));
echo $thing->get('site.title');

Answer 2

Use a reference to refer to the latest known point in the array and update it with each step:

$ref = &$this->config;
$keys = explode('.', $name);
foreach ($keys as $idx => $key) {
    if (!is_array($ref)) {
        // reference does not refer to an array
        // this is a problem as we still have at least one key to go
    }
    if (!array_key_exists($key, $ref)) {
        // key does not exist
        // reaction depends on the operation
    }
    // update reference
    $ref = &$ref[$key];
}

The if branches depend on the operation. Here’s an example for the getter and setter:

public function get($name) {
    $ref = &$this->config;
    $keys = explode('.', $name);
    foreach ($keys as $idx => $key) {
        if (!is_array($ref)) {
            throw new Exception('key "'.implode('.', array_slice($keys, 0, $idx-1)).'" is not an array');
        }
        if (!array_key_exists($key, $ref)) {
            throw new Exception('key "'.implode('.', array_slice($keys, 0, $idx)).'" does not exist');
        }
        $ref = &$ref[$key];
    }
    return $ref;
}
public function set($name, $value) {
    $ref = &$this->config;
    $keys = explode('.', $name);
    foreach ($keys as $idx => $key) {
        if (!is_array($ref)) {
            throw new Exception('key "'.implode('.', array_slice($keys, 0, $idx)).'" is not an array but '.gettype($ref));
        }
        if (!array_key_exists($key, $ref)) {
            $ref[$key] = array();
        }
        $ref = &$ref[$key];
    }
    $ref = $value;
}

Answer 3

As you can see here, the function explode takes the string and returns an array. So here is what you need to do:

public function set($name,$value)
    {
        $tmp = explode('.',$name); //$tmp will now contain an array, so if $name = 'site.keywords'
                                   //$tmp[0] will contain 'site' and $tmp[1] = 'keywords'
        //if you send 'otherthing' as $name, then $tmp[1] will have no value
        if(isset($tmp[1])){
                $this->config[$tmp[0]][$tmp[1]] = $value; // this is like saying  $this-config['site']['keywords'] = $value
        }
        else{
            $this->config[$tmp[0]] = $value; 
        }
    }

And for the get:

public function get($name)
    {
        $tmp = explode('.',$name);
        if(isset($tmp[1])){
            return $this->config[$tmp[0]][$tmp[1]];
        }
        else{
           return $this->config[$tmp[0]];
        }

    }