Standard Tools for Everyday Programming

Community Heckling
On twitter #tek09 (or #phptek) and #spldg DGs for drinking game (youll see why later) IRC is open, I can see backlog constructive criticism

is good
Comment on http://joind.in/talk/view/186 No comments on hair, clothes, or my fat belly

constructive criticism is welcome ;)

I have a Problem
Recursively iterate through directories
Find all .jpg files Check last modified dates Moved the ones older than two

years to new location

How should I do this?

Some nasty recursive use of scandir() to get my lists Or PHPs dir() function and looping array_map() with a convoluted callback

I think Im going to need a lot of code.

SPL to the Rescue!

RecursiveDirectoryIterator RecursiveIteratorIterator FilterIterator SplFileInfo

What fun tools we have!

And not the kind you kick out of IRC

What is SPL?
tandard HP ibrary A library of standard interfaces, classes, and functions designed to solve common programming problems and allow engine overloading.

Thats nice in English please. What is SPL?

1.

Engine overloading hooks via interfaces

ArrayAccess, Countable, SeekableIterator

2.

Classes that utilize the interfaces do cool things

ArrayObject, RecursiveIterator, DirectoryIterator

3.

Standard Class Implementations

Exceptions, SplObserver and SplStorage

4. Functions to help with autoloading and objects spl_autoload_register(), spl_classes(), iterator_apply()

But its an extension right?

SPL is an extension SPL is a core extension SPL cannot be built shared SPL should not be turned off SPL is present in PHP since 5.0 (almost 5 years ago) As of 5.3, SPL cannot be turned off without altering source

If you dont have SPL, whoever built your PHP is an idiot (or an evil genius its HARD).

Helper functions from SPL to you

Autoload Magic
spl_autoload() default autoload implementation spl_autoload_register() add an autoload to the stack spl_autoload_unregister() remove an autoloader spl_autoload_functions() whats on the stack

spl_autoload_extensions() ext for spl_autoload()

spl_autoload_call() load something through the

stack

Isnt __autoload good enough?

Combining different libraries with different naming

conventions Dealing with different types of files (templates, classes) in different locations Changing autoload in use during runtime

Object Helper Functions

class_implements() class_parents() spl_object_hash()

Why are these not in core? I DONT KNOW - GO ASK YOUR DAD!

Nothing but Templates

Exception Classes
LogicException

BadFunctionCallE xception

DomainException

InvalidArgumentE xception

LengthException

OutofRangeExcept ion

BadMethodCall

Exception Classes
RuntimeException

OutofBoundsExce ption

OverflowExceptio n

RangeException

UnderflowExcepti on

UnexpectedValueE xception

So what does SPL offer?

A standard set of Exceptions that all inherit from

PHPs Exception base class A standard way to set up exceptions by what kind they are Do I recommend it? Depends on how exceptions are used in your application.

Foreach is your bestest friend! Foreach an object today!

The iterator drinking game!

Every time someone says the word iterator tonight,

take a drink Start a conversation with me, and youll be gone in about five minutes Its the SPL drinking game (tonight at cocktail hour)

Iterators
What the heck is an iterator? A design pattern that is a generic solution to the problem of iterating over data in a consistent manner. Access the elements of an aggregate object sequentially without exposing its underlying representation. Why do I care? Ever need to go over a list of items returned from a database (well, duh) Or need to go over a list of items returned from a webservice? Ever used foreach?

Foreach it baby!
Foreach is your friend iterators give your code consistent usage and you can add more functionality

What else can you do with iterators? Extend Iterators to do what you need Chain Iterators: iteratoriteratoriteratoriterator

(thats 5 shots).

Meet the Iterator Interface

So how is it different?
Array $ar= array();
can be rewound reset($ar) is valid unless the key is NULL !is_null(key($ar)) Has a current value current($ar) Has keys key($ar) can move forward next($ar)

Iterator $it = new Iterator;

Might be rewindable $it->rewind() should know if there is a value $it->valid() Might have a current value or

key
$it->key() $it->current()

Can move forward $it->next()

An Iterator for every occasion

RecursiveIterator RecursiveIteratorIterator OuterIterator IteratorIterator FilterIterator RecursiveFilterIterator CachingIterator RecursiveCachingIterator NoRewindIterator AppendIterator RecursiveIteratorIterator InfiniteIterator

ParentIterator
SeekableIterator LimitIterator GlobIterator

RegexIterator
RecursiveRegexIterator EmptyIterator RecursiveTreeIterator ArrayIterator

See, the drinking game will be lots of fun.

Innie or an Outie?
OuterIterator (interface) Extends Iterator Puts a wrapper around an iterator inside Has one additional method getInnerIterator() that should be implemented

Loopety Loop
RecursiveIterator

(interface)
Has two additional

methods to implement getChildren should return the sub-iterator for the current element and it must return an object that implements recursiveIterator hasChildren

Jumping ahead?
SeekableIterator

(interface)
Additional method

seek(string $position) Lets you jump to a specific spot to start iterating

Now on to classes
Classes implement interfaces plus provide additional

functionality Interfaces need you to fill in all the the required methods You can implement multiple interfaces You cant extend multiple classes Choose Wisely

FilterIterator
Abstract Class Has one method that must be implemented accept

which should return true or false File filtering example at the beginning used this Highly useful for many types of iteration

FilterIterator

OuterIterator

Iterator

Traversable

IteratorIterator
Regular Class Iterates an iterator No I am not kidding

IteratorIterator

OuterIterator

Iterator

Traversable

ArrayIterator
Regular Class Iterates an array OR the public properties of an

object! (neat trick dirty trick)

ArrayIterator

SeekableIterator

Iterator

Traversable

ArrayAccess and Countable too!

RecursiveIteratorIterator
Regular Class Like IteratorIterator only recursive to boot still not

kidding - but I dont say it as cool as Marcus

RecursiveIteratorIterator

OuterIterator

Iterator

Traversable

ParentIterator
Regular Class Filter out stuff without children

ParentIterator

OuterIterator

Iterator

Traversable

LimitIterator
Regular Class Like mysqls limit pick your range and offset and

foreach away!

LimitIterator

OuterIterator

Iterator

Traversable

CachingIterator
Regular Class Manages another iterator by checking whether it has

more elements each time using a hasNext() method

CachingIterator

OuterIterator

Iterator

Traversable

RecursiveCachingIterator
Regular Class Just like caching iterator only believe it or not

recursive!

RecursiveCachingIterator

CachingIterator

OuterIterator

Iterator

Traversable

DirectoryIterator
Regular Class Makes going through directories a snap isDot, isFile I love you

DirectoryIterator

SplFileInfo (extends)

Iterator

Traversable

RecursiveDirectoryIterator
Regular Class Like, do it again and again and again and

DirectoryIterator (extends)

RecursiveIterator

Iterator

Traversable

Iterator Helper Functions

iterator_apply() like array_walk for your iterator

implementing objects iterator_count() count the items in your iterator (not quite the same as implementing countable::count) iterator_to_array() copy all the stuff from your iterator into a regular PHP array Even Superman doesnt work alone

Is it an array? An object? Why its both!

ArrayAccess Interface

ArrayObject
A class, NOT an interface Its like arrayaccess on RedBull The manual LIES for a full list of everything you can

do with arrayobject, see http://www.php.net/~helly/php/ext/spl/ Highlights

exchangeArray getArrayCopy (get your internally stored array) Sorting methods ksort et al

Countable
Interface you can

implement with any class (not iterator specific, but used a lot for it) Implement the count method and you can use the count() PHP function on any object

SplObjectStorage
This does not do what you think it does Use objects as array keys, uniquely, with no collision

issues (you might get them from spl_object_hash) Remember you need the object to get the data back out, unless youre simply iterating over the contents Regular class, no need to extend and fill in methods
http://www.colder.ch/news/01-08-

2009/34/splobjectstorage-for-a-fa.html

SPLFixedArray
A fixed length, int key only array Why? Its FAST (very fast) because it stores data

differently under the hood in C Regular class, dont need to extend and fill in any methods 5.3+

SplObserver and SplSubject

Abstract classes for anything using an observer pattern http://www.a-scripts.com/object-oriented-

php/2009/02/21/the-observer-pattern/ - great common sense tutorial

If you do event/observers in your code, extending

these two makes good sense

SplFileInfo
fancy class for a file all the file system functions in compact object form getMTime == filemtime openFile == fopen

Beyond arrays to the wild wild west

New and Shiny

SplDoublyLinkedList

SplStack

SplQueue

More Data Structures

SplHeap SplPriorityQueue

SplMaxHeap

SplMinHeap

The Documentation Problem

http://elizabethmariesmith.com/2009/02/setting-up-

phd-on-windows/ - you can write docbook on any platform!

Efnet - #php.doc channel http://doc.php.net phpdoc@lists.php.net mailing list See me and start helping today!

Resources
http://php.net/spl - spl docs http://php.net/~helly/php/ext/spl - Doxygen docs http://blueparabola.com/blog/spl-deserves-some-

reiteration - some stuff about new data structures

auroraeosrose@php.net