Passing an array of variable length to a class method

Question

I am trying to create a little MVC framework for myself and am using a url structure similar to: http://www.example.com/className/methodName/var1/var2/var3. I want to make it able to accomodate for any number of variables.

I have all of the information how I need it, except for the /var1/var2/var3 part. Currently I have it in an array exploded() upon the "/", so: var[0] = "var1",var[1] = "var2",var[2] = "var3"

Since the method which will be called will be unknown and each method can require a different amount parameters I want to figure out a way to be able to pass the parameters as:

$controller->$function($var1, $var2, $var3);

rather than

$controller->$function($var);

I realize I can string together a comma delimited variable such as $var1, $var2, $var3 and use eval() to do what I want, but I am wondering if there is a better way to go about it. I would rather not use eval() for this as it will be using user submitted data.

Worst case scenario, I figure I would just try to cleanse the data before the eval, but I'd still like to avoid it.

One other potential Idea I had was to use a foreach() and loop through each element inside of the the method call. But even that seems a little messy to me.

On a side note, is the standard way to pass a variable amount of parameters to group them together in an array and pass in a single parameter?

If anyone knows of a more elegant way to do this, I would really appreciate it.

Wouter J · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-21 19:15:28Z

2

Use call_user_func_array

call_user_func_array(array($controller, $function), array($var1, $var2...));

edited Mar 21, 2013 at 19:15

Wouter J

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answered Mar 21, 2013 at 16:13

Dogbert

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4 Comments

ficuscr Over a year ago

Agreed. Also worth looking at overloading / magic methods in PHP. Specifically: php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.overloading.php#object.call

tereško Over a year ago

have you actually read the manual page to which you linked to ?

Wouter J Over a year ago

I've fixed the arguments, (I think it was a typo).

Dogbert Over a year ago

@tereško, I'm sorry, but what did I miss? (Except the thing Wouter fixed.)

Emmanuel Okeke · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-21 16:51:28Z

@Dogbert's answer would complement what I'm about to suggest.

You could create a function that accepts no parameters and you're free to pass as many parameters (or no parameters at all), you'll only have to use PHP functions like: func_get_args(), func_num_args() and func_get_arg(int arg_index) to do your manipulation.

An Example follows below:

function syncOrderRelation(){
    $num_arguments = func_num_args();
    $arguments = func_get_args();
    #gets all the arguments in the request
    list($userID,$spID,$productID) = $arguments;
    #if you know what you're expecting or
    for($i = 0; $i < $num_arguments; $i++){
            $argument_at_index = func_get_arg($i);
    }
}

You could call this function in the following ways:

syncOrderRelation();
syncOrderRelation($var1,$var2,var3);
syncOrderRelation($var1);
#or you could call it as @Dogbert suggested since the function will accept whatever
#arguments you supply

The rest is up to you...Happy coding!

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