Accessing multi dimensional array values with a slash separated parameter

PHP
1

Hi, I need to add a method to my data class to allow other developers (designers really with very limited coding knowledge) to access data in a multidimensional array.

See the following code for what I’m trying to achieve and how far I’ve got…(not very)

I’m not sure which road to take, I was thinking I would look for the last array value and work back looking for a parent key with the preceding value.

Is there a better way?



$data = new Data();
echo $data->get('/location/address/street');

class Data
{
    protected $pathSeparator = '/';
    protected $data = array(
        'name' => array(
            'first' => 'John',
            'last' => 'Smith',
        ),
        'location' => array(
            'address' => array(
                'street' => '9454 Wilshire Blvd',
                'city' => 'Beverly Hills',
                'state' => 'CA',
                'country' => 'United States',
                'zip' => '90212-2911'
            ),
            'geo' => array(
                'latitude' => '0',
                'longitude' => '0',
            ),
        ),
        'email' => 'johnsmith@bmail.com'
    );

    public function get($path)
    {
        $path = rtrim($path, $this->pathSeparator);
        $array = explode($this->pathSeparator, $path);

    }

}
2

Hmmm, if I understand correctly, you want to return the array value based on the string entered in the get() method?

if so, you could run the function recursively


class Data
{
    protected $pathSeparator = '/';
    protected $data = array(
        'name' => array(
            'first' => 'John',
            'last' => 'Smith',
        ),
        'location' => array(
            'address' => array(
                'street' => '9454 Wilshire Blvd',
                'city' => 'Beverly Hills',
                'state' => 'CA',
                'country' => 'United States',
                'zip' => '90212-2911'
            ),
            'geo' => array(
                'latitude' => '0',
                'longitude' => '0',
            ),
        ),
        'email' => 'johnsmith@bmail.com'
    );

    public function get($path, array $data = array())
    {
        $path = rtrim($path, $this->pathSeparator);
		
		//+ Remove firt /
		$path = ltrim($path, $this->pathSeparator);
		
        $array = explode($this->pathSeparator, $path);
		
		//+ just declaring a new variable, don't really need this
		$newArray = null;
		
		//+ get the first array and reset the pointer
		$first = reset($array);
		
		//+ for the recursive function
		if( empty($data) ){
		
			$data = $this->data;
		
		}
		
		//+ check if array exists
		if( isset($data[$first]) ){
			
			//+ the value to return
			$newArray = $data[$first];
			
			//+ check for next array
			$next = next($array);
			
			//+ if is array, run the method recursively
			if( is_array($newArray) && $next !== false ){
			
				array_shift( $array );
				$newPath = implode( $this->pathSeparator,  $array);
				$value = $this->get($newPath, $newArray);
				
				
			}else{
				$value = $newArray;
			}
			
			return $value;
			
		}
		
		return null;

    }

}

$data = new Data();
print_r( $data->get('/location/address') );

I’m not entirely sure what you mean by :

allow other developers (designers really with very limited coding knowledge) to access data in a multidimensional array

is that a permissions thing?