ReflectionParameter::__toString
Beware, the Reflection reflects only the information right after compile time based on the definitions, not based on runtime objects. Might be obvious, wasn't for me, until the app throws the exception at my head.
Example:
<?php
class A {
public $a = null;
function set() {
$this->foo = 'bar';
}
}
$a = new A;
$a->set();
// works fine
$Reflection = new ReflectionProperty($a, 'a');
// throws exception
$Reflection = new ReflectionProperty($a, 'foo');
?>
The ReflectionProperty class
(PHP 5)
Introduction
The ReflectionProperty class reports information about classes properties.
Class synopsis
Properties
- name
-
Name of the property. Read-only, throws ReflectionException in attempt to write.
- class
-
Name of the class where the property is defined. Read-only, throws ReflectionException in attempt to write.
Table of Contents
- ReflectionProperty::__clone — Clone
- ReflectionProperty::__construct — Construct a ReflectionProperty object
- ReflectionProperty::export — Export
- ReflectionProperty::getDeclaringClass — Gets declaring class
- ReflectionProperty::getDocComment — Gets doc comment
- ReflectionProperty::getModifiers — Gets modifiers
- ReflectionProperty::getName — Gets property name
- ReflectionProperty::getValue — Gets value
- ReflectionProperty::isDefault — Checks if default value
- ReflectionProperty::isPrivate — Checks if property is private
- ReflectionProperty::isProtected — Checks if property is protected
- ReflectionProperty::isPublic — Checks if property is public
- ReflectionProperty::isStatic — Checks if property is static
- ReflectionProperty::setAccessible — Set property accessibility
- ReflectionProperty::setValue — Set property value
- ReflectionProperty::__toString — To string
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User Contributed Notes
ReflectionProperty - [4 notes]
CodeDuck at gmx dot net ¶
7 years ago
james at digitaledgeit dot com dot au ¶
2 years ago
Please ignore my previous note. I didn't fully understand what the previous notes were referring to as "runtime". I now see they were referring to a slightly different question.
Apologies!
rasmus at mindplay dot dk ¶
2 years ago
I think a more accurate explanation is this:
The Reflection classes are designed to reflect upon the source code of an application, not on any runtime information.
I think you misunderstand the ReflectionProperty constructor in your example above. The fact that it accepts an object as argument is just a convenience feature - you are actually inspecting the class of that object, not the object itself, so it's basically equivalent to:
<?php
// works fine
$Reflection = new ReflectionProperty(get_class($a), 'a');
// throws exception
$Reflection = new ReflectionProperty(get_class($a), 'foo');
?>
Getting the class of the object you're passing in is implied, since inspecting a defined property is the purpose of this class.
In your example, $a->foo is a dynamic member - it is not defined as a member of class, so there is no defining class reference, line number, default value, etc. - which means, there is nothing to reflect upon.
Clearly this very useful library could use some real documentation...
james at digitaledgeit dot com dot au ¶
2 years ago
You CAN reflect an object at runtime:
<?php
class Abc {
private $_abc = 123;
public function __construct($abc) {
$this->_abc = $abc;
}
}
$obj = new Abc('def');
$refl = new \ReflectionObject($obj);
$prop = $refl->getProperty('_abc');
$prop->setAccessible(true);
echo $prop->getValue($obj);
?>
This outputs 'def', the value of _abc set at runtime.