Jul
2009
06
22 comments

PHP – Convert Array to Object with stdClass

The PHP stdClass() is something that isn’t well documented but i will try to shed some light into the matter. stdClass is a default PHP object which has no predefined members. The name stdClass is used internally by Zend and is reserved. So that means that you cannot define a class named stdClass in your PHP code.

It can be used to manually instantiate generic objects which you can then set member variables for, this is useful for passing objects to other functions or methods which expect to take an object as an argument. An even more likely usage is casting an array to an object which takes each value in the array and adds it as a member variable with the name based on the key in the array.

Here’s an example below that converts an array to an object below. This method is called Type Casting.

<?php
$person = array (
   'firstname' => 'Richard',
   'lastname' => 'Castera'
);

$p = (object) $person;
echo $p->firstname; // Will print 'Richard'
?>

Here’s an example below that converts a multi-dimensional array to an object. This is accomplished through recursion.

<?php
function arrayToObject($array) {
	if(!is_array($array)) {
		return $array;
	}
   
	$object = new stdClass();
	if (is_array($array) && count($array) > 0) {
	  foreach ($array as $name=>$value) {
	     $name = strtolower(trim($name));
	     if (!empty($name)) {
	        $object->$name = arrayToObject($value);
	     }
	  }
      return $object; 
	}
    else {
      return FALSE;
    }
}
?>

<?php
$person = array (
   'first' => array('name' => 'Richard')
);

$p = arrayToObject($person);
?>

<?php
// Now you can use $p like this:
echo $p->first->name; // Will print 'Richard'
?>
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Categories: PHP, Web Resources
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Jun
2009
30
9 comments

Migrating Magento to another server

Migrating the Magento platform to another server is relatively a simple task. I have detailed the steps below:

  1. From the admin, go to Configuration -> Web -> and change the (Unsecure and Secure) fields to {{base_url}}.
  2. From the admin, go to System -> Tools -> Backups and click on the backup button. This will create a backup of your database.
  3. Make a copy your Magento root.
  4. Move all data over to the new server.
  5. Restore the database on the new host.
  6. If you have a different username, password or database name. You’ll need to update that as well. You can find the file in (‘magento_root/app/etc/local.xml’) and make the required changes.
  7. Navigate to your Magento root, and delete all of the files and folders in, (i.e. /var/www/magento/var) except for the .htaccess file.

Hope this helps someone :)

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Categories: Magento, PHP, Web Resources
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Jun
2009
26
0 comments

PHP – getting a list of currently loaded classes

In some cases you may need to investigate which classes are loaded in the current scope. You can do it pretty fine with the get_declared_classes() function. This function will return an array of currently available classes.

<?php
    include_once("class.myClass.php");
    print_r(get_declared_classes());
?>
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Categories: PHP
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Jun
2009
25
2 comments

Add Magento search plugin to Firefox Search bar

magentoI’ve been working with Magento for some time now. I found myself searching for help countless times on the Magento website. I thought it would be useful to have a search feature built right into Firefox’s list of search engines to search the Magento site. So I went through Mozilla’s Developer Center and found instructions on the Open Search Syntax. So here you go, you can download it here. Hope you find it helpful!

I also have one for PHP which comes in handy as well. If your interested, you can grab it here.

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Categories: Magento, PHP, Web Resources
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Jun
2009
22
4 comments

Javascript – Passing Multiple Parameters through setTimeout

One of the problems that I’ve faced with Javascript is passing multiple parameters through the setTimeout function. I found this little snippet on the internet a few months ago and would like to share it with you. I don’t know who the original author is so I could not give him/her proper credit. Thanks!

var _st = window.setTimeout;

window.setTimeout = function(fRef, mDelay) { 
	if(typeof fRef == "function") {  
		var argu = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments,2); 
		var f = (function(){ fRef.apply(null, argu); }); 
		return _st(f, mDelay); 
	} 
	return _st(fRef,mDelay);
}

Define your function to call with setTimeout:

function alertMe(message, name) {
    alert(message + name);
}

Now, just call the function.

var message = 'Hello, ';
var name = 'Richard';
setTimeout(alertMe, 2000, message, name);

Hope this helps someone! :)

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Categories: Javascript, My Thoughts, Web Resources
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