README

Precore is a common library which based on ideas coming from the Java world.

For more information, click on the items. If you need even more information, check the phpdoc.

BaseObject and ObjectClass

In Java, all objects are implicitly extend the BaseObject class. It is really convenient since some common methods are defined for all objects. This behavior is missing from PHP, therefore precore provides precore\lang\BaseObject. Sometimes it is required to be able to enforce in an interface, that the implementation must be an BaseObject, thus precore\lang\ObjectInterface can be used for that.

BaseObject::objectClass() static function, returns the ObjectClass for the particular class
BaseObject::getObjectClass() the same, but non-static method
BaseObject::className() the same as AnyClass::class in PHP 5.5
BaseObject::getClassName() returns the class name of the actual object
BaseObject::hashCode() returns spl_object_hash($this)
BaseObject::equals(ObjectInterface $object) returns true if the actual object and the argument are equal
BaseObject::toString() and BaseObject::__toString(): both return the string representation of the object (the default format is: {className}@{hashCode})
BaseObject::getLogger() retrieves an lf4php logger object for the actual class

The ObjectClass class extends ReflectionClass and gives some more features. These objects are cached if we get them through ObjectClass::forName($className) function. ObjectClass also supports resources (almost as in Java) in case of classes follow PSR-0.

Enum

In PHP unfortunately there is no Enum. precore\lang\Enum is an abstract class which tries to solve this lack of feature. Our enum class must extends this class and all possible values must be defined as public static variables which will be automatically found and initialized by precore.

final class Color extends Enum
{
    public static $RED;
    public static $GREEN;
    public static $BLUE;
}
Color::init();

function printName(Color $color) {
    echo $color->name() . PHP_EOL;
}

printName(Color::$RED);
foreach (Color::values() as $color) {
    printName($color);
}

It produces the following output:

RED
RED
GREEN
BLUE

Error handling

In several cases, PHP trigger errors instead of exceptions. Precore can automatically handle these errors and convert them into exception. The only thing should be done:

ErrorHandler::register();

After that, we will be able to catch specific exceptions. For the available exceptions see precore\util\error namespace.

Object utilities

ToStringHelper

Creating a string representation of an object is important, but not an exciting thing and we always need to use almost the same boilerplate code. With precore\util\ToStringHelper it can be simplified. A new instance can be created through Objects::toStringHelper() as well.

namespace HelloWorld;

class Foo {
    private $bar = 'foobar';
    
    public function __toString()
    {
        return Objects::toStringHelper($this)
            ->add('bar', $this->bar)
            ->toString();
    }
}

echo (string) new Foo();
// prints 'HelloWorld\Foo{bar=foobar}'

It supports arrays and DateTime as well. If the ErrorHandler is registered, spl_object_hash() will be used for those objects which cannot be cast to string.

Equality

Two variables equality can be checked with Objects::equal($a, $b). It supports null, primitive types, objects, and ObjectInterface implementations as well as it is expected.

Comparing objects

Objects can be compared if they implement precore\lang\Comparable or if proper precore\util\Comparator is used which can compare the given objects. In several cases, comparing two objects depend on their member variables so they need to be compared as well. It also can be simplified with precore\util\ComparisonChain.

$strcmp = function ($left, $right) {
    return strcmp($left, $right);
};
$result = ComparisonChain::start()
    ->withClosure('aaa', 'aaa', $strcmp)
    ->withClosure('abc', 'bcd', $strcmp)
    ->withClosure('abc', 'bcd', $strcmp)
    ->result();
// $result < 0, because abc < bcd

In the previous example, the third comparison will not be executed, since it is unnecessary.

Ordering is a class which you can fine tune any Comparator object. This class also implements Comparator interface.

$ordering = Ordering::natural()
    ->compound(
        Collections::comparatorFrom(
            function (Bug $bug1, Bug $bug2) {
                return $bug1->priority() - $bug2->priority();
            }
        )
    )
    ->reverse();
Arrays::sort($bugs, $ordering);

The above ordering based on the fact that Bug class implements Comparable (natural ordering), but when two bugs are equal, their priority is compared to each other, moreover the final order will be reversed.

Preconditions

It is a very lightweight assertion tool, which supports argument, object state, null value, and array index checking. Customized messages can be passed with arguments similar to printf().

/**
 * @param $number
 * @throws \InvalidArgumentException if $number is 0
 */
function divide($number) {
    Preconditions::checkArgument($number != 0, 'Division by zero');
    return $this->value / Preconditions::checkNotNull($number, 'Argument cannot be null');
}

Stopwatch

Useful for performance measurement, logging, and recognizing bottlenecks. Its __toString() method returns the elapsed time with the best abbreviate.

$stopwatch = Stopwatch::createStarted();
// ... doing something
echo $stopwatch->elapsed(TimeUnit::$MILLISECONDS);
// ... doing something
echo $stopwatch;
$stopwatch->reset();
$stopwatch->start();

Profiler

Basics

It helps the developer gather performance data. A profiler consists one or more stopwatches. Stopwatches are driven by statements in the source code.

$profiler = new Profiler('p1');
$profiler->start('t1');
$profiler->start('t2');
$profiler->stop();
$profiler->printOut();

The output of the above program would something like this:

 + Profiler [p1]
 |-- elapsed time                           [t1]     1 ms.
 |-- elapsed time                           [t2]     2 ms.
 |-- Total                                  [p1]     3 ms.

It also supports nested profilers.

$profiler = new Profiler('p1');
$profiler->start('t1');
$profiler->startNested('np1');

// this should be in another method
$nested = ProfilerRegistry::instance()->get('np1');
$nested->start('np1-t1');
$nested->stop();
// ----------------------

$profiler->start('t2');
$profiler->stop();
$profiler->printOut();

And the output:

 + Profiler [p1]
    + Profiler [np1]
    |-- elapsed time                       [np1-t1]     0 µs.
    |-- Subtotal                              [np1]  4.501 ms.
 |-- elapsed time                           [t1]  5.001 ms.
 |-- elapsed time                           [t2]     0 µs.
 |-- Total                                  [p1]  5.501 ms.

AOP

With precore, you can use an annotation on methods for profiling them. For this feature, you need to load and configure Go! AOP PHP. You have to register ProfileLogAspect in your AspectKernel implementation. This aspect manages the necessary Profiler objects and the output will be logged via lf4php. If you run the unit tests of precore, you will see the output of a test case.

class ProfileFixture
{
    /**
     * @Profile(name="Main process")
     */
    public function main()
    {
        $this->foo1();
        $this->foo2();
    }

    /**
     * @Profile
     */
    protected function foo1()
    {
        $this->bar();
    }

    /**
     * @Profile
     */
    protected function bar()
    {
    }

    /**
     * @Profile(name="very fast method")
     */
    protected function foo2()
    {
    }
}

$fixture = new ProfileFixture();
$fixture->main();

In the log:

 + Profiler [Main process]
    + Profiler [foo1]
        + Profiler [bar]
        |-- elapsed time                         [exec]     0 µs.
        |-- Subtotal                              [bar]   26.5 ms.
    |-- elapsed time                         [exec]     27 ms.
    |-- Subtotal                             [foo1]     27 ms.
    + Profiler [very fast method]
    |-- elapsed time                         [exec]     0 µs.
    |-- Subtotal                 [very fast method]     0 µs.
 |-- elapsed time                         [exec]   30.5 ms.
 |-- Total                        [Main process]   30.5 ms.

Collections

Collection related static functions help you sorting objects. The comparing logic can be based on the compareTo method if objects implement Comparable interface, or you can utilize a Comparator. Currently ArrayObject instances and arrays can be sorted, and an SplHeap implementation can be created for that. StringComparator enum contains the 4 basic string comparison algorithm provided by PHP.

Using a heap to sort strings in natural order:

$heap = Collections::createHeap(Collections::reverseOrder(StringComparator::$NATURAL));
$heap->insert('rfc1.txt');
$heap->insert('rfc2086.txt');
$heap->insert('rfc822.txt');
foreach ($heap as $string) {
    echo $string . "\n";
}

The above program results the following output:

rfc1.txt
rfc822.txt
rfc2086.txt

A more complex example, where the given people should be sorted according to their name. If the name is the same, their age must be considered:

final class Person implements Comparable
{
    private $name;
    private $age;

    public function __construct($name, $age)
    {
        $this->name = Preconditions::checkNotNull($name);
        $this->age = Preconditions::checkNotNull($age);
    }

    public function compareTo($object)
    {
        ObjectClass::forName(__CLASS__)->cast(Preconditions::checkNotNull($object));
        /* @var $object Person */
        return ComparisonChain::start()
            ->withComparator($this->name, $object->name, StringComparator::$NATURAL_CASE_INSENSITIVE)
            ->withClosure($this->age, $object->age, function ($age1, $age2) {
                return $age1 - $age2;
            })
            ->result();
    }

    public function __toString()
    {
        return Objects::toStringHelper($this)
            ->add($this->name)
            ->add($this->age)
            ->toString();
    }
}

$array = [
    new Person('John', 21),
    new Person('Johnny', 10),
    new Person('John', 70),
    new Person('Mary', 13)
];
Arrays::sort($array);
echo Joiner::on(', ')->join($array);

This program prints out the following:

Person{John, 21}, Person{John, 70}, Person{Johnny, 10}, Person{Mary, 13}

Predicates

A predicate is a function that has one input parameter, and the return value is true or false. This class provides the most common predicates. Predicates are useful e.g. for filtering.

Iterator based utilities

Iterators and Iterables provides static factories to transform, filter or limit Iterators or IteratorAggregates. These things can be easily used with FluentIterable.

$topAdminUserNames = FluentIterable::from($repository->getUsers())
  ->filter($hasAdminRoleFilter)
  ->transform($userNameTransformer)
  ->limit(10);

In the above example, $hasAdminRoleFilter is a predicate that accept a user if that is an administrator, $userNameTransformer returns the name of the input user. Iterating over $topAdminUserNames results 10 user names.

BufferedIterable

If you need to iterate over huge amount of data, you can use BufferedIterable. The given ChunkProvider is responsible to provide data chunks which are being consumed by the BufferedIterable.

$userProvider = function ($offset) {
    return $userRepository->get($offset, 10);
}
$adminFilter = function ($user) {
    return $user->isAdmin();
}
$top100AdminUsers = BufferedIterable::withChunkFunction($userProvider)
    ->filter($adminFilter)
    ->providerCallLimit(40)
    ->limit(100);
foreach ($top100AdminUsers as $admin) {
    // do something
}

In this example the chunk provider loads 10 users in each call, and the $adminFilter is a predicate to filter administrators. When we iterate over $top100AdminUsers we get 100 administrator users. Provider call limit is for avoiding infinite loop when the chunk provider never returns empty chunk and there is no limit, or even the filter can cause such an issue. Its default value is 1, here 40 is a reasonable choice.

String utilities

Joiner

Although PHP provides implode() function, skipping or replacing nulls is not simple, moreover array or DateTime cannot be passed as parameter. Joiner solves all of it.

$joiner = Joiner::on(', ')->skipNulls();
$joiner->join(['Harry', null, 'Ron', 'Hermione']);
// returns 'Harry, Ron, Hermione'

Splitter

Splitter is the opposite of Joiner. Compared with explode(), it can trim the results, and skip empty strings.

$result = Splitter::on(',')
    ->trimResults()
    ->omitEmptyStrings()
    ->split('foo,bar, ,   qux');

The $result variable is a Traversable, iterating over it the following items will be provided: 'foo', 'bar', 'qux'

Splitting is possible with a regular expression:

$result = Splitter::onPattern('/[\s,]+/')->split('hypertext language, programming');

The output is the following: 'hypertext', 'language', 'programming'

It is also possible to split strings into substrings of a specified fixed length:

$result = Splitter::fixedLength(3)->split('1234567');

The result will be the following: '123', '456', '7'

Optional

A container object which may or may not contain a non-null value. If a value is present, isPresent() will return true and get() will return the value. Additional methods that depend on the presence or absence of a contained value are provided, such as orElse() (return a default value if value not present) and ifPresent() (execute a block of code if the value is present).

function randOrNull() {
    return mt_rand(0, 1) === 0 ? mt_rand(0, 100) : null;
}

$printOut = function ($value) {
    echo $value . PHP_EOL;
};

$range = Range::closed(20, 30);
for ($i = 0; $i < 100; $i++) {
    Optional::ofNullable(randOrNull())
        ->filter($range)
        ->ifPresent($printOut);
}

This code generates 100 random numbers or null values and all values will be printed out if that is a number and within the given range (20 <= x <= 30). We do not need to do null checks, rather we can use fluent interfaces.

Range

A range is an interval, defined by two endpoints. Ranges may "extend to infinity" -- for example, the range "x > 3" contains arbitrarily large values -- or may be finitely constrained, for example "2 <= x < 5".

The endpoints and the values passed to query methods must be able to be compared. This comparison can be explicitly set, but Range supports natural ordering on the following types:

strings (strcmp)
numbers
DateTime
boolean

It also supports objects that implement Comparable interface, like the Enum.

Range objects can be created via static factory methods. The following range is open on both sides, only 'c' and 'd' chars are within the range.

$range = Range::open('b', 'e');
assertFalse($range->contains('b'));
assertTrue($range->contains('c'));

There are query methods like isConnected() or encloses(), but ranges can be composed by intersection() or span(). Range is immutable.

TryTo

TryTo can be used to handle errors in a functional way.

$result = TryTo::run(function () use ($a, $b) {
    Preconditions::checkArgument($b !== 0);
    return $a / $b;
});

This example shows how a possible error can be gracefully handled. If $b is 0, $result will be a Failure object which holds the thrown InvalidArgumentException. Otherwise it is a Success and contains the calculated value.

It is also possible the handle only a predefined set of exception types.

$result = TryTo::catchExceptions([InvalidArgumentException::class])
    ->run(function () use ($a, $b) {
        Preconditions::checkArgument($b !== 0);
        return Preconditions::checkNotNull($a) / Preconditions::checkNotNull($b);
    });

Although the InvalidArgumentException is handled just like before, if one of the given parameters is null the thrown NullPointerException will not be caught by TryTo.

We can also pass recovery functions and/or run a function in case of failure:

$result = TryTo::catchExceptions()
    ->run(function () use ($a, $b) {
        Preconditions::checkArgument($b !== 0);
        return Preconditions::checkNotNull($a) / Preconditions::checkNotNull($b);
    })
    ->onFail(NullPointerException::class, function (NullPointerException $e) {
        self::getLogger()->error('Null parameter has been passed', [], $e);
    })
    ->recoverFor(InvalidArgumentException::class, function() {
        return PHP_INT_MAX;
    });

If the divisor is 0, the $result is Success and contains PHP_INT_MAX. Otherwise $result is a Success and holds the calculated value or Failure due to a null parameter.

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