Element builder

The ElementBuilder class is a helper for adding elements to a record property.

__construct(RecordProperty $owner)

Takes the owning record property as a parameter for later use.

Adding a property

addProperty(string $property_name, string $name): AbstractProperty

Decides how $property_name is resolved:

• When it is a namespaced class name it is used as such
• When it is a string it is used as a property name and looked up via the Properties facade.

Using the property name as a method

It's also possible to use the property name as a method. This method accepts excactly one string Parameter and that is the property name.

Example

$builder->integer("int_element");

Creates an element of type integer, names it "int_element" and returns it.

Arrays

Of course it is possible to include an array as a record member. Just use the method array(string $name). Note that is required to pass the expected data type(s) for the array (see Array properties).

Example

$builder->array('array_element')->setAllowedElementType(TypeInteger::class); // Creates an array of integer

Records

Other records can also be an element of a record. There is, however, a difference to other types: A method with the name record() does not exists. Instead you have to decide, how the record should be included.

embedRecord(string $record) or includeRecord(string $record)

When using one of these methods, the elements of that record are included in the current recors as if they where their own elements.

Example: Let's assume there is a record called "ChildRecord" with the elements "int_element" and "string_element".

$builder->integer('own_int_element');
$builder->embedRecord(ChildRecord::class);

or

$builder->integer('own_int_element');
$builder->includeRecord(ChildRecord::class);

will create a record with three elements: "own_int_element", "int_element" and "string_element". So you can use

$record->own_int_element = 123;
$record->int_element = 234;
$record->string_element = 'ABC';

The difference between the two methods is how meta informations about the elements are passed to the storage. While embedRecord() preserves the original class as a meta information, includeRecord() lets the element appear to come from the including record. For more details see Storages.

referRecord(string $name, string $record)

While the first methods include the elements of the included records and lets them seem to be the records own elements, this method created a new property that stands for the the included record.

Example:

$builder->referRecord('record_element',ChildRecord::class);

creates a record with a property called "record_element".

$record->record_element->int_element = 123; // valid statement
$record->int_element = 123; // throws an exception