A PHP library that converts from one format to another., (*1)
Marshaller doesn't try to guess how to convert the given input, instead it relies
on MarshallerStrategies implemented by the developers: it gives us full control
on the output formats., (*2)
To automatically convert an input into specific formats (like XML, JSON or YAML),
it might be better to use other tools (e.g. JMS Serializer)., (*3)
Installation
Marshaller can be installed using Composer:, (*4)
composer require "gnugat/marshaller:~2.0"
Simple conversion
Let's take the following object:, (*5)
<?php
class Article
{
public function __construct($title, $content)
{
$this->title = $title;
$this->content = $content;
}
public function getTitle()
{
return $this->title;
}
public function getContent()
{
return $this->content;
}
}
$article = new Article('Nobody expects...', '... The Spanish Inquisition!');
If we want to convert it to the following format:, (*6)
// ...
array(
'title' => 'Nobody expects...',
'content' => '... The Spanish Inquisition!',
);
Then we have first to create a MarshallerStrategy:, (*7)
// ...
require __DIR__.'/vendor/autoload.php';
use Gnugat\Marshaller\MarshallerStrategy;
class ArticleMarshaller implements MarshallerStrategy
{
public function supports($toMarshal, $category = null)
{
return $toMarshal instanceof Article;
}
public function marshal($toMarshal)
{
return array(
'title' => $toMarshal->getTitle(),
'content' => $toMarshal->getContent(),
);
}
}
The second step is to register it in Marshaller:, (*8)
// ...
use Gnugat\Marshaller\Marshaller;
$marshaller = new Marshaller();
$marshaller->add(new ArticleMarshaller());
Finally we can actually convert the object:, (*9)
// ...
$marshalledArticle = $marshaller->marshal($article);
Partial conversion
If we need to convert Article into the following partial format:, (*10)
// ...
array('title' => 'Nobody expects...');
Then we first have to define a new MarshallStrategy:, (*11)
// ...
class PartialArticleMarshaller implements MarshallStrategy
{
public function supports($toMarshal, $category = null)
{
return $toMarshal instanceof Article && 'partial' === $category;
}
public function marshal($toMarshal)
{
return array(
'title' => $toMarshal->getTitle(),
);
}
}
Since this MarshallerStrategy has a more restrictive support condition, we'd
like it to be checked before ArticleMarshaller. This can be done by registering
PartialArticleMarshaller with a higher priority than ArticleMarshaller
(in this case with a priority higher than 0):, (*12)
// ...
$marshaller->add(new PartialArticleMarshaller, 1);
Finally we can call Marshaller, for the partial category:, (*13)
$marshaller->marshal($article, 'partial');
Collection conversions
In order to avoid this:, (*14)
// ...
$articles = array($article);
foreach ($articles as $article) {
$marshaller->marshal($article);
}
We can use the following short cut method:, (*15)
// ...
$marshaller->marshalCollection($articles);
Further documentation
You can see the current and past versions using one of the following:, (*16)
You can find more documentation at the following links:, (*17)
Wallogit.com
