What is the best way to auto generate getters and setters for a class in php?

Question

I regularly create a class that has a few private variables. When an instance of this class is set, it should be possible to fill all variables of the class with getters and setters.

Is there an easy way to do this without having to type all these setters and getters for each variable on creation of the class?

now i have to type this for each var in the class

public function setVar($var){
$this->var = $var;
}

and

public function getVar(){
return $this->var;
}

We now use RegExp, but i don't know if this is the easiest way... We use Eclipse as environment, so perhaps there are some usefull plugins?

Answer 1

Not the biggest fan of getters and setters. It's redundant, space wasting code.

There shouldn't be any reason to have a getter and setter for every private member in the class, they should be set and the values retrieved using the actual methods that the class was built for.

Answer 2

Have you looked at the __set and __get methods? Don't know if this is what you mean but the are automatically called whenever a class member is SET or Retrieved/Fetched/Accessed.

Answer 3

Maybe better sollution:

class base {

    protected $_vars = array();


    public function setVar($name, $value = null) {
        $this->_vars[$name] = $value;
    }

    public function getVar($name) {
        return isset($this->_vars[$name]) ? $this->_vars[$name] : null;
    }
}

And simply extend this class. Or also you can use __set and __get methods, but they are quite slower.

Answer 4

Zend Studio has a feature of automatic getter/setter generation.

Answer 5

Just seen this [Potentially malicious site link removed] offering a great PHP setter and getter tool. What I like about this one, is that its easy and straight forward in generating the source code.

Answer 6

I think the best way is to use the __set and __get with some string functions, Here let me show you.

class UserProfile
{
    public function __get($key)
    {
        if(isset($this->$key))
        {
            return $this->$key;
        }
    }

    public function __set($key,$val)
    {
        $this->cahnge($key,$val);
    }

    public function __call($key,$params)
    {
        if(substr("set",$key))
        {
            //Update
        }elseif(substr("get",$key))
        {
            //return
        }

        //Else Blah
    }

    private function change($key,$val)
    {
        if(isset($this->$key))
        {
            $this->$key = $val;
        }
    }
}

the __call() method will allow you to set with functions such as

$profile->setUsername('Robert Pitt'); as long as you substr the set/get and check for the rest of the string as a value of the class :)

another example

public function __call($method,$params = array())
{

    if(isset($params[0]) && is_string($params[0]))
    {
        $this->$method = $params[0];
    }
}

//....

$profile->username('Robert Pitt');

Theres more work to be done here

Answer 7

With Eclipse go to Preferences -> PHP -> Editor -> Templates -> New and use something like this:

private $$${PropertyName};
${cursor}    
public function get${PropertyName}() 
{
  return $$this->${PropertyName};
}

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

To use the template type it's name and press ctrl+space - a context menu should also automatically appear when you type the name.