Question

what is the right way to write those checks. i have a array, some time values are not set or they are empty. right now that code bit hard to read, what can i do to make that look more clear and trust-able. or i’m just going to hard on this . any suggestions?

<?php 

private static function filter_yt_data($yt_api_response = null)
    {
        $data     =    array(); 
        $api      =    json_decode($yt_api_response);
        $api      =    $api->data->items[0];



        $data = array(
                    'id'            =>   $api->id,
                    'author'        =>   e($api->uploader),
                    'label'         =>   e($api->category),
                    'title'         =>   e($api->title),
                    'description'   =>   e($api->description),
                    'duration'      =>   $api->duration,
                    'view_count'    =>   $api->viewCount,
                    'access'        =>   $api->accessControl->embed,
                    'favorite_count'=>   $api->favoriteCount
                    );

        if($api->accessControl->comment == 'allowed')
        {
           $data['comment_count']   =   $api->commentCount;
        }
        else
        {
            $data['comment_count']  =   0;
        }

        if($api->ratingCount)
        {
            $data['rating_count']  =   $api->ratingCount;
        }
        else
        {
            $data['rating_count']  =   0;
        }

        if($api->accessControl->rate == 'allowed')
        {
            $data['like_count'] =   $api->likeCount;
        }
        else
        {
            $data['like_count'] =   0;
        }

        if($api->thumbnail->hqDefault)
        {
            $data['thumbnail'] =   $api->thumbnail->hqDefault;
        }
        elseif($api->thumbnail->sqDefault)
        {
            $data['thumbnail'] =   $api->thumbnail->sqDefault;

        }else
        {
            $data['thumbnail'] = null;
        }

        return $data;
    }

?>

Answer 1

if($api->accessControl->comment == 'allowed')
        {
           $data['comment_count']   =   $api->commentCount;
        }
        else
        {
            $data['comment_count']  =   0;
        }

could also be:

$data['comment_count'] = $api->accessControl->comment == 'allowed' ? $api->commentCount : 0;

This is called ternary operator

Syntax:

$variable = (condition) ? if condition true : else;

in that way you could replace all your if-else statements.