What is the best method to merge two PHP objects

Question

We have two PHP5 objects and would like to merge the content of one into the second  There are no notion of subclasses between them so the solutions described in the following topic cannot apply   How do you copy a PHP object into a different object type    We have this   objectA- gt a   objectA- gt b   objectB- gt c   objectB- gt d     We want the easiest way to get   objectC- gt a   objectC- gt b   objectC- gt c   objectC- gt d    Remarks    These are objects  not classes  The objects contain quite a lot of fields so a foreach would be quite slow  So far we consider transforming objects A and B into arrays then merging them using array merge   before re-transforming into an object but we can t say we are proud if this

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To merge any number of raw objects  function merge obj        foreach func get args   as  a            objects    array  a            return  object call user func array  array merge    objects

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If your objects only contain fields  no methods   this works     obj merged    object  array merge  array   obj1   array   obj2     This actually also works when objects have methods   tested with PHP 5 3 and 5 6

User · Answer

You could create another object that dispatches calls to magic methods to the underlying objects    Here s how you d handle   get  but to get it working fully you d have to override all the relevant magic methods   You ll probably find syntax errors since I just entered it off the top of my head    class Compositor     private  obj a    private  obj b     public function   construct  obj a   obj b         this- gt obj a    obj a       this- gt obj b    obj b         public function   get  attrib name        if   this- gt obj a- gt  attrib name           return  this- gt obj a- gt  attrib name        else          return  this- gt obj b- gt  attrib name                Good luck

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a solution To preserve both methods and properties from merged onjects  is to create a combinator class that can    take any number of objects on   construct access any method  using   call  accsess any property using    get      class combinator  function   construct                this- gt melt    array reverse func get args              array reverse is to replicate natural overide   public function   call  method  args       forEach  this- gt melt as  o           if method exists  o   method                return call user func array   o  method    args                 return  o- gt  method  args                                 public function   get  prop           foreach  this- gt melt as  o             if isset  o- gt  prop  return  o- gt  prop                    return  undefined                simple use  class c1      public  pc1  pc1       function mc1  a  b  echo   METHOD         a  b      class c2      public  pc2  pc2       function mc2   echo   CLASS         METHOD         comb new combinator new c1  new c2     comb- gt mc1 1 2    comb- gt non existing method         silent echo  comb- gt pc2

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Let s keep it simple   function copy properties  from   to   fields   null           copies properties elements  overwrites duplicates         can take arrays or objects         if fields is set  an array   will only copy keys listed in that array        returns  to with the added replaced properties keys      from array   is array  from     from   get object vars  from       foreach  from array as  key   gt   val            if  is array  fields  or in array  key   fields                 if is object  to                      to- gt  key    val                else                    to  key     val                                    return  to       If that doesn t answer your question  it will surely help towards the answer  Credit for the code above goes to myself

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A very simple solution considering you have object A and B   foreach  objB AS  var  gt  value        objA- gt  var    value      That s all  You now have objA with all values from objB

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foreach  objectA as  k   gt   v   objectB- gt  k    v

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I would go with linking the second object into a property of the first object  If the second object is the result of a function or method  use references  Ex     Not the result of a method  obj1- gt extra   new Class2       The result of a method  for instance a factory class  obj1- gt extra   amp  Factory  getInstance  Class2

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The  ArrayObject class has the possibility to exchange the current array to disconnect the original reference  To do so  it comes with two handy methods  exchangeArray   and getArrayCopy    The rest is plain simple array merge   of the provided object with the ArrayObjects public properties   class MergeBase extends ArrayObject        public final function merge  Array  toMerge                     this- gt exchangeArray  array merge   this- gt getArrayCopy     toMerge                  The usage is as easy as this      base   new MergeBase       base     1    base     2     toMerge     3 4 5        base- gt merge   toMerge

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I would go with linking the second object into a property of the first object  If the second object is the result of a function or method  use references  Ex     Not the result of a method  obj1- gt extra   new Class2       The result of a method  for instance a factory class  obj1- gt extra   amp  Factory  getInstance  Class2

User · Answer

A very simple solution considering you have object A and B   foreach  objB AS  var  gt  value        objA- gt  var    value      That s all  You now have objA with all values from objB

User · Answer

You could create another object that dispatches calls to magic methods to the underlying objects    Here s how you d handle   get  but to get it working fully you d have to override all the relevant magic methods   You ll probably find syntax errors since I just entered it off the top of my head    class Compositor     private  obj a    private  obj b     public function   construct  obj a   obj b         this- gt obj a    obj a       this- gt obj b    obj b         public function   get  attrib name        if   this- gt obj a- gt  attrib name           return  this- gt obj a- gt  attrib name        else          return  this- gt obj b- gt  attrib name                Good luck

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foreach  objectA as  k   gt   v   objectB- gt  k    v

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This snippet of code will recursively convert that data to a single type  array or object  without the nested foreach loops  Hope it helps someone   Once an Object is in array format you can use array merge and convert back to Object if you need to   abstract class Util       public static function object to array  d            if  is object  d                d   get object vars  d            return is array  d    array map   METHOD     d     d             public static function array to object  d            return is array  d     object  array map   METHOD     d     d            Procedural way  function object to array  d        if  is object  d            d   get object vars  d        return is array  d    array map   FUNCTION     d     d     function array to object  d        return is array  d     object  array map   FUNCTION     d     d      All credit goes to  Jason Oakley

User · Answer

Here is a function that will flatten an object or array   Use this only if you are sure your keys are unique   If you have keys with the same name they will be overwritten  You will need to place this in a class and replace  Functions  with the name of your class   Enjoy     function flatten  array   preserve keys 1   amp  out   array     isobject 0              Flatten a multidimensional array to one dimension  optionally preserving keys                       array - the array to flatten            preserve keys - 0  default  to not preserve keys  1 to preserve string keys only  2 to preserve all keys            out - internal use argument for recursion            isobject - is internally set in order to remember if we re using an object or array         if is array  array      isobject  1          foreach  array as  key   gt   child              if is array  child                    out   Functions  flatten  child   preserve keys   out  1      replace  Functions  with the name of your class             elseif  preserve keys   is string  key   gt  1                   out  key     child              else                  out      child           if is object  array      isobject  2          if  is object  out    out   new stdClass             foreach  array as  key   gt   child              if is object  child                    out   Functions  flatten  child   preserve keys   out  2      replace  Functions  with the name of your class             elseif  preserve keys   is string  key   gt  1                   out- gt  key    child              else                  out    child           return  out

User · Answer

You could create another object that dispatches calls to magic methods to the underlying objects    Here s how you d handle   get  but to get it working fully you d have to override all the relevant magic methods   You ll probably find syntax errors since I just entered it off the top of my head    class Compositor     private  obj a    private  obj b     public function   construct  obj a   obj b         this- gt obj a    obj a       this- gt obj b    obj b         public function   get  attrib name        if   this- gt obj a- gt  attrib name           return  this- gt obj a- gt  attrib name        else          return  this- gt obj b- gt  attrib name                Good luck

User · Answer

a solution To preserve both methods and properties from merged onjects  is to create a combinator class that can    take any number of objects on   construct access any method  using   call  accsess any property using    get      class combinator  function   construct                this- gt melt    array reverse func get args              array reverse is to replicate natural overide   public function   call  method  args       forEach  this- gt melt as  o           if method exists  o   method                return call user func array   o  method    args                 return  o- gt  method  args                                 public function   get  prop           foreach  this- gt melt as  o             if isset  o- gt  prop  return  o- gt  prop                    return  undefined                simple use  class c1      public  pc1  pc1       function mc1  a  b  echo   METHOD         a  b      class c2      public  pc2  pc2       function mc2   echo   CLASS         METHOD         comb new combinator new c1  new c2     comb- gt mc1 1 2    comb- gt non existing method         silent echo  comb- gt pc2

User · Answer

If your objects only contain fields  no methods   this works     obj merged    object  array merge  array   obj1   array   obj2     This actually also works when objects have methods   tested with PHP 5 3 and 5 6

User · Answer

You could create another object that dispatches calls to magic methods to the underlying objects    Here s how you d handle   get  but to get it working fully you d have to override all the relevant magic methods   You ll probably find syntax errors since I just entered it off the top of my head    class Compositor     private  obj a    private  obj b     public function   construct  obj a   obj b         this- gt obj a    obj a       this- gt obj b    obj b         public function   get  attrib name        if   this- gt obj a- gt  attrib name           return  this- gt obj a- gt  attrib name        else          return  this- gt obj b- gt  attrib name                Good luck

User · Answer

foreach  objectA as  k   gt   v   objectB- gt  k    v

User · Answer

Here is a function that will flatten an object or array   Use this only if you are sure your keys are unique   If you have keys with the same name they will be overwritten  You will need to place this in a class and replace  Functions  with the name of your class   Enjoy     function flatten  array   preserve keys 1   amp  out   array     isobject 0              Flatten a multidimensional array to one dimension  optionally preserving keys                       array - the array to flatten            preserve keys - 0  default  to not preserve keys  1 to preserve string keys only  2 to preserve all keys            out - internal use argument for recursion            isobject - is internally set in order to remember if we re using an object or array         if is array  array      isobject  1          foreach  array as  key   gt   child              if is array  child                    out   Functions  flatten  child   preserve keys   out  1      replace  Functions  with the name of your class             elseif  preserve keys   is string  key   gt  1                   out  key     child              else                  out      child           if is object  array      isobject  2          if  is object  out    out   new stdClass             foreach  array as  key   gt   child              if is object  child                    out   Functions  flatten  child   preserve keys   out  2      replace  Functions  with the name of your class             elseif  preserve keys   is string  key   gt  1                   out- gt  key    child              else                  out    child           return  out

User · Answer

To merge any number of raw objects  function merge obj        foreach func get args   as  a            objects    array  a            return  object call user func array  array merge    objects

User · Answer

The  ArrayObject class has the possibility to exchange the current array to disconnect the original reference  To do so  it comes with two handy methods  exchangeArray   and getArrayCopy    The rest is plain simple array merge   of the provided object with the ArrayObjects public properties   class MergeBase extends ArrayObject        public final function merge  Array  toMerge                     this- gt exchangeArray  array merge   this- gt getArrayCopy     toMerge                  The usage is as easy as this      base   new MergeBase       base     1    base     2     toMerge     3 4 5        base- gt merge   toMerge

User · Answer

foreach  objectA as  k   gt   v   objectB- gt  k    v

User · Answer

I understand that using the generic objects  stdClass    and casting them as arrays answers the question  but I thought the Compositor was a great answer  Yet I felt it could use some feature enhancements and might be useful for someone else   Features      Specify reference or clone Specify first or last entry to take precedence Multiple  more than two  object merging with syntax similarity to array merge Method linking   obj- f1  - f2  - f3      Dynamic composites   obj- merge         work here     obj- merge        Code   class Compositor        protected  composite   array        protected  use reference      protected  first precedence                    construct  Constructor               Used to set options                 param bool  use reference whether to use a reference  TRUE  or to copy the object  FALSE   default          param bool  first precedence whether the first entry takes precedence  TRUE  or last entry takes precedence  FALSE   default              public function   construct  use reference   FALSE   first precedence   FALSE               Use a reference          this- gt use reference    use reference     TRUE   TRUE   FALSE           this- gt first precedence    first precedence     TRUE   TRUE   FALSE                         Merge  used to merge multiple objects stored in an array               This is used to  start  the merge or to merge an array of objects         It is not needed to start the merge  but visually is nice                 param object   object  objects array of objects to merge or a single object         return object the instance to enable linking              public function  amp  merge              objects   func get args               Each object         foreach  objects as  amp  object   this- gt with  object              Garbage collection         unset  object               Return  this instance         return  this                        With  used to merge a singluar object               Used to add an object to the composition                param object  object an object to merge         return object the instance to enable linking             public function  amp  with  amp  object               An object         if is object  object                    Reference             if  this- gt use reference                    if  this- gt first precedence  array push  this- gt composite   object                   else array unshift  this- gt composite   object                                Clone             else                   if  this- gt first precedence  array push  this- gt composite  clone  object                   else array unshift  this- gt composite  clone  object                                       Return  this instance         return  this                          get  retrieves the psudo merged object                param string  name name of the variable in the object         return mixed returns a reference to the requested variable                    public function  amp    get  name             return   NULL          foreach  this- gt composite as  amp  object                if isset  object- gt  name                      return   amp   object- gt  name                  break                                     Garbage collection         unset  object            return  return            Usage    obj   new Compositor use reference  first precedence    obj- gt merge  object  object    object  object    object            obj- gt with  object  object      Example    obj1   new stdClass     obj1- gt a    obj1 a    obj1- gt b    obj1 b    obj1- gt c    obj1 c     obj2   new stdClass     obj2- gt a    obj2 a    obj2- gt b    obj2 b    obj2- gt d    obj2 d     obj3   new Compositor     obj3- gt merge  obj1   obj2    obj1- gt c     obj1 c   var dump  obj3- gt a   obj3- gt b   obj3- gt c   obj3- gt d      obj2 a  obj2 b  obj1 c  obj2 d  obj1- gt c    obj3   new Compositor TRUE    obj3- gt merge  obj1 - gt with  obj2    obj1- gt c     obj1 c   var dump  obj3- gt a   obj3- gt b   obj3- gt c   obj3- gt d      obj1 a  obj1 b  obj1 c  obj2 d  obj1- gt c    obj1 c     obj3   new Compositor FALSE  TRUE    obj3- gt with  obj1 - gt with  obj2    obj1- gt c     obj1 c   var dump  obj3- gt a   obj3- gt b   obj3- gt c   obj3- gt d      obj1 a  obj1 b   obj1 c  obj2 d  obj1- gt c    obj1 c

User · Answer

This snippet of code will recursively convert that data to a single type  array or object  without the nested foreach loops  Hope it helps someone   Once an Object is in array format you can use array merge and convert back to Object if you need to   abstract class Util       public static function object to array  d            if  is object  d                d   get object vars  d            return is array  d    array map   METHOD     d     d             public static function array to object  d            return is array  d     object  array map   METHOD     d     d            Procedural way  function object to array  d        if  is object  d            d   get object vars  d        return is array  d    array map   FUNCTION     d     d     function array to object  d        return is array  d     object  array map   FUNCTION     d     d      All credit goes to  Jason Oakley

User · Answer

I understand that using the generic objects  stdClass    and casting them as arrays answers the question  but I thought the Compositor was a great answer  Yet I felt it could use some feature enhancements and might be useful for someone else   Features      Specify reference or clone Specify first or last entry to take precedence Multiple  more than two  object merging with syntax similarity to array merge Method linking   obj- f1  - f2  - f3      Dynamic composites   obj- merge         work here     obj- merge        Code   class Compositor        protected  composite   array        protected  use reference      protected  first precedence                    construct  Constructor               Used to set options                 param bool  use reference whether to use a reference  TRUE  or to copy the object  FALSE   default          param bool  first precedence whether the first entry takes precedence  TRUE  or last entry takes precedence  FALSE   default              public function   construct  use reference   FALSE   first precedence   FALSE               Use a reference          this- gt use reference    use reference     TRUE   TRUE   FALSE           this- gt first precedence    first precedence     TRUE   TRUE   FALSE                         Merge  used to merge multiple objects stored in an array               This is used to  start  the merge or to merge an array of objects         It is not needed to start the merge  but visually is nice                 param object   object  objects array of objects to merge or a single object         return object the instance to enable linking              public function  amp  merge              objects   func get args               Each object         foreach  objects as  amp  object   this- gt with  object              Garbage collection         unset  object               Return  this instance         return  this                        With  used to merge a singluar object               Used to add an object to the composition                param object  object an object to merge         return object the instance to enable linking             public function  amp  with  amp  object               An object         if is object  object                    Reference             if  this- gt use reference                    if  this- gt first precedence  array push  this- gt composite   object                   else array unshift  this- gt composite   object                                Clone             else                   if  this- gt first precedence  array push  this- gt composite  clone  object                   else array unshift  this- gt composite  clone  object                                       Return  this instance         return  this                          get  retrieves the psudo merged object                param string  name name of the variable in the object         return mixed returns a reference to the requested variable                    public function  amp    get  name             return   NULL          foreach  this- gt composite as  amp  object                if isset  object- gt  name                      return   amp   object- gt  name                  break                                     Garbage collection         unset  object            return  return            Usage    obj   new Compositor use reference  first precedence    obj- gt merge  object  object    object  object    object            obj- gt with  object  object      Example    obj1   new stdClass     obj1- gt a    obj1 a    obj1- gt b    obj1 b    obj1- gt c    obj1 c     obj2   new stdClass     obj2- gt a    obj2 a    obj2- gt b    obj2 b    obj2- gt d    obj2 d     obj3   new Compositor     obj3- gt merge  obj1   obj2    obj1- gt c     obj1 c   var dump  obj3- gt a   obj3- gt b   obj3- gt c   obj3- gt d      obj2 a  obj2 b  obj1 c  obj2 d  obj1- gt c    obj3   new Compositor TRUE    obj3- gt merge  obj1 - gt with  obj2    obj1- gt c     obj1 c   var dump  obj3- gt a   obj3- gt b   obj3- gt c   obj3- gt d      obj1 a  obj1 b  obj1 c  obj2 d  obj1- gt c    obj1 c     obj3   new Compositor FALSE  TRUE    obj3- gt with  obj1 - gt with  obj2    obj1- gt c     obj1 c   var dump  obj3- gt a   obj3- gt b   obj3- gt c   obj3- gt d      obj1 a  obj1 b   obj1 c  obj2 d  obj1- gt c    obj1 c

User · Answer

Let s keep it simple   function copy properties  from   to   fields   null           copies properties elements  overwrites duplicates         can take arrays or objects         if fields is set  an array   will only copy keys listed in that array        returns  to with the added replaced properties keys      from array   is array  from     from   get object vars  from       foreach  from array as  key   gt   val            if  is array  fields  or in array  key   fields                 if is object  to                      to- gt  key    val                else                    to  key     val                                    return  to       If that doesn t answer your question  it will surely help towards the answer  Credit for the code above goes to myself

[php] What is the best method to merge two PHP objects?

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