Question

If I have for example the following class:

class Test {
    private $field = array();

    function __construct($field) {
        $this->field = $field;
    }

    public function setField($field) {
        $this->field = $field;
    }
    public function getField() {
        return $this->field;
    }
}

And I create an instance of this class:

$simpleArray = (1, 2, 3, 4);
$simpleTest = new Test($simpleArray);

How can I then print the value of simpleArray[2] in one line? I know this solution:

$saveArray = $simpleTest->getField();
echo $saveArray[2];

I want to know how to directly access array value after getField(), so that I don’t have to save the array to variable:

echo $simpleTest->getField()->....?

Answer 1

You could add a parameter which could serve as an index for what item to return, as can be seen below. Adding another method named something like fieldAt($index) could be another solution.

public function getField($index = null) {
    if($index != null)
    {
        return $this->field[$index];
    }
    return $this->field;
}

$saveArray = $simpleTest->getField(2); // get the 3rd element in the array

Another solution could be to implement the ArrayAccess interface, which would allow you to use the array access operators ([]) on your object:

class Test implements ArrayAccess{
    private $field = array();

    function __construct($field) {
        $this->field = $field;
    }

    public function setField($field) {
        $this->field = $field;
    }
    public function getField() {
        return $this->field;
    }

    public offsetExists($offset)
    {
        return isset($this->field[$offset]);
    }
    public offsetGet($offset)
    {
        if($this->offsetExists($offset))
        {
            return $this->field[$offset];
        }
        return null;
    }
    public void offsetSet($offset, $value) { } // Can implement this method, if desired
    public void offsetUnset($offset ) { } // Can implement this method, if desired
}

$testObj[2]; // get the 3rd element in the array