README

ReflectionPlus is a lightweight wrapper around PHP's native Reflection API that makes working with reflection simpler, more efficient, and more intuitive.

Features

Cache-enabled reflection: Automatically caches reflection instances for better performance
Simplified API: Clean, intuitive methods for accessing reflection information
Type compatibility analysis: Easily determine if classes are compatible with property types
Support for complex type systems: Full handling of union types, intersection types, and named types
Performance optimized: Uses WeakMap and other optimizations to minimize memory usage

Why?

ReflectionPlus automatically caches:

ReflectionClass instances
ReflectionProperty instances
ReflectionMethod instances
Type compatibility results

This makes it highly efficient for repeated usage, especially in loops or recursive operations.

Use Cases

ReflectionPlus is particularly useful for:

Factory implementations that need to determine which concrete classes to instantiate
Dependency injection containers
Type-based serialization/deserialization systems
Code generators that need to inspect class structures
Data mappers that need to determine type compatibility
Framework development where reflection is frequently used

Requirements

PHP 8.4 or higher

Usage

Basic Reflection Operations

Get a reflection class:

use BenTools\ReflectionPlus\Reflection;

// From a class name
$reflectionClass = Reflection::class(MyClass::class);

// Or from an object
$object = new MyClass();
$reflectionClass = Reflection::class($object);

Get a reflection property:

// From a class name
$reflectionProperty = Reflection::property(MyClass::class, 'someProperty');

// Or from an object
$object = new MyClass();
$reflectionProperty = Reflection::property($object, 'someProperty');

Get a reflection method:

// From a class name
$reflectionMethod = Reflection::method(MyClass::class, 'someMethod');

// Or from an object
$object = new MyClass();
$reflectionMethod = Reflection::method($object, 'someMethod');

Working with Property Types

Get all instantiable class types that can be set to a property:

// Get a reflection property
$reflectionProperty = Reflection::property($myClass, 'myProperty');

// Get all class types that can be set to this property
$classTypes = Reflection::getSettableClassTypes($reflectionProperty);

// Returns an array of fully qualified class names
// that are compatible with the property type
// and are instantiable (no interfaces or abstract classes)

Check if a class is compatible with a property:

$reflectionProperty = Reflection::property($myClass, 'myProperty');

// Check if a particular class is compatible
$isCompatible = Reflection::isPropertyCompatible($reflectionProperty, SomeClass::class);

// Returns true if SomeClass can be assigned to the property

Find the best class for a property from a list of candidates:

$reflectionProperty = Reflection::property($myClass, 'myProperty');
$classNames = [ClassA::class, ClassB::class, ClassC::class];

// Find the first compatible class in the array
$bestClass = Reflection::getBestClassForProperty($reflectionProperty, $classNames);

// Returns the class name of the first compatible class
// or throws InvalidArgumentException if none are compatible

Type Compatibility

Check type compatibility with different type systems:

$reflectionProperty = Reflection::property($myClass, 'myProperty');
$type = $reflectionProperty->getType();

// Check if a class is compatible with this type
$isCompatible = Reflection::isTypeCompatible($type, SomeClass::class);

// Works with:
// - ReflectionNamedType (standard class or primitive types)
// - ReflectionUnionType (Type1|Type2)
// - ReflectionIntersectionType (Type1&Type2)

Advanced Use Cases

Working with Union Types

// For a property like: public ClassA|ClassB $property;

$reflectionProperty = Reflection::property($class, 'property');
$classTypes = Reflection::getSettableClassTypes($reflectionProperty);

// $classTypes will contain [ClassA::class, ClassB::class] if both are instantiable

Working with Intersection Types

// For a property like: public ClassA&InterfaceB $property;

$reflectionProperty = Reflection::property($class, 'property');

// You can check if a specific class meets all requirements
$isCompatible = Reflection::isPropertyCompatible($reflectionProperty, SomeClass::class);

// Returns true if SomeClass extends/is ClassA AND implements InterfaceB

Installation

You can install the package via composer:

composer require bentools/reflection-plus

License

MIT.

bentools / reflection-plus

Maintainers

Details