Using Entity Classes

CodeIgniter supports Entity classes as a first-class citizen in it’s database layer, while keeping them completely optional to use. They are commonly used as part of the Repository pattern, but can be used directly with the Model if that fits your needs better.

Entity Usage
Handling Business Logic
Data Mapping
Mutators
Checking for Changed Attributes

Entity Usage 

At its core, an Entity class is simply a class that represents a single database row. It has class properties to represent the database columns, and provides any additional methods to implement the business logic for that row. The core feature, though, is that it doesn’t know anything about how to persist itself. That’s the responsibility of the model or the repository class. That way, if anything changes on how you need to save the object, you don’t have to change how that object is used throughout the application. This makes it possible to use JSON or XML files to store the objects during a rapid prototyping stage, and then easily switch to a database when you’ve proven the concept works.

Let’s walk through a very simple User Entity and how we’d work with it to help make things clear.

Assume you have a database table named users that has the following schema:

id          - integer
username    - string
email       - string
password    - string
created_at  - datetime

Important

attributes is a reserved word for internal use. If you use it as a column name, the Entity does not work correctly.

Create the Entity Class 

Now create a new Entity class. Since there’s no default location to store these classes, and it doesn’t fit in with the existing directory structure, create a new directory at app/Entities. Create the Entity itself at app/Entities/User.php.

<?php

namespace App\Entities;

use CodeIgniter\Entity\Entity;

class User extends Entity
{
    // ...
}

At its simplest, this is all you need to do, though we’ll make it more useful in a minute.

Create the Model 

Create the model first at app/Models/UserModel.php so that we can interact with it:

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use CodeIgniter\Model;

class UserModel extends Model
{
    protected $table         = 'users';
    protected $allowedFields = [
        'username', 'email', 'password',
    ];
    protected $returnType    = \App\Entities\User::class;
    protected $useTimestamps = true;
}

The model uses the users table in the database for all of its activities. We’ve set the $allowedFields property to include all of the fields that we want outside classes to change. The id, created_at, and updated_at fields are handled automatically by the class or the database, so we don’t want to change those. Finally, we’ve set our Entity class as the $returnType. This ensures that all methods on the model that return rows from the database will return instances of our User Entity class instead of an object or array like normal.

Working With the Entity Class 

Now that all of the pieces are in place, you would work with the Entity class as you would any other class:

<?php

$user = $userModel->find($id);

// Display
echo $user->username;
echo $user->email;

// Updating
unset($user->username);

if (! isset($user->username)) {
    $user->username = 'something new';
}

$userModel->save($user);

// Create
$user           = new \App\Entities\User();
$user->username = 'foo';
$user->email    = 'foo@example.com';
$userModel->save($user);

You may have noticed that the User class has not set any properties for the columns, but you can still access them as if they were public properties. The base class, CodeIgniter\Entity\Entity, takes care of this for you, as well as providing the ability to check the properties with isset(), or unset() the property, and keep track of what columns have changed since the object was created or pulled from the database.

Note

The Entity class stores the data in the property $attributes.

When the User is passed to the model’s save() method, it automatically takes care of reading the properties and saving any changes to columns listed in the model’s $allowedFields property. It also knows whether to create a new row, or update an existing one.

Note

When we are making a call to the insert() all the values from Entity are passed to the method, but when we call the update(), then only values that have changed are passed.

Filling Properties Quickly 

The Entity class also provides a method, fill() that allows you to shove an array of key/value pairs into the class and populate the class properties. Any property in the array will be set on the Entity. However, when saving through the model, only the fields in $allowedFields will actually be saved to the database, so you can store additional data on your entities without worrying much about stray fields getting saved incorrectly.

<?php

$data = $this->request->getPost();

$user = new \App\Entities\User();
$user->fill($data);
$userModel->save($user);

You can also pass the data in the constructor and the data will be passed through the fill() method during instantiation.

<?php

$data = $this->request->getPost();

$user = new \App\Entities\User($data);
$userModel->save($user);

Bulk Accessing Properties 

The Entity class has two methods to extract all available properties into an array: toArray() and toRawArray(). Using the raw version will bypass magic “getter” methods and casts. Both methods can take a boolean first parameter to specify whether returned values should be filtered by those that have changed, and a boolean final parameter to make the method recursive, in case of nested Entities.

Handling Business Logic 

While the examples above are convenient, they don’t help enforce any business logic. The base Entity class implements some smart __get() and __set() methods that will check for special methods and use those instead of using the attributes directly, allowing you to enforce any business logic or data conversion that you need.

Here’s an updated User entity to provide some examples of how this could be used:

<?php

namespace App\Entities;

use CodeIgniter\Entity\Entity;
use CodeIgniter\I18n\Time;

class User extends Entity
{
    public function setPassword(string $pass)
    {
        $this->attributes['password'] = password_hash($pass, PASSWORD_BCRYPT);

        return $this;
    }

    public function setCreatedAt(string $dateString)
    {
        $this->attributes['created_at'] = new Time($dateString, 'UTC');

        return $this;
    }

    public function getCreatedAt(string $format = 'Y-m-d H:i:s')
    {
        // Convert to CodeIgniter\I18n\Time object
        $this->attributes['created_at'] = $this->mutateDate($this->attributes['created_at']);

        $timezone = $this->timezone ?? app_timezone();

        $this->attributes['created_at']->setTimezone($timezone);

        return $this->attributes['created_at']->format($format);
    }
}

The first thing to notice is the name of the methods we’ve added. For each one, the class expects the snake_case column name to be converted into PascalCase, and prefixed with either set or get. These methods will then be automatically called whenever you set or retrieve the class property using the direct syntax (i.e., $user->email). The methods do not need to be public unless you want them accessed from other classes. For example, the created_at class property will be accessed through the setCreatedAt() and getCreatedAt() methods.

Note

This only works when trying to access the properties from outside of the class. Any methods internal to the class must call the setX() and getX() methods directly.

In the setPassword() method we ensure that the password is always hashed.

In setCreatedAt() we convert the string we receive from the model into a DateTime object, ensuring that our timezone is UTC so we can easily convert the viewer’s current timezone. In getCreatedAt(), it converts the time to a formatted string in the application’s current timezone.

While fairly simple, these examples show that using Entity classes can provide a very flexible way to enforce business logic and create objects that are pleasant to use.

<?php

// Auto-hash the password - both do the same thing
$user->password = 'my great password';
$user->setPassword('my great password');

Data Mapping 

At many points in your career, you will run into situations where the use of an application has changed and the original column names in the database no longer make sense. Or you find that your coding style prefers camelCase class properties, but your database schema required snake_case names. These situations can be easily handled with the Entity class’ data mapping features.

As an example, imagine you have the simplified User Entity that is used throughout your application:

<?php

namespace App\Entities;

use CodeIgniter\Entity\Entity;

class User extends Entity
{
    protected $attributes = [
        'id'         => null,
        'name'       => null, // Represents a username
        'email'      => null,
        'password'   => null,
        'created_at' => null,
        'updated_at' => null,
    ];
}

Your boss comes to you and says that no one uses usernames anymore, so you’re switching to just use emails for login. But they do want to personalize the application a bit, so they want you to change the name field to represent a user’s full name now, not their username like it does currently. To keep things tidy and ensure things continue making sense in the database you whip up a migration to rename the name field to full_name for clarity.

Ignoring how contrived this example is, we now have two choices on how to fix the User class. We could modify the class property from $name to $full_name, but that would require changes throughout the application. Instead, we can simply map the full_name column in the database to the $name property, and be done with the Entity changes:

<?php

namespace App\Entities;

use CodeIgniter\Entity\Entity;

class User extends Entity
{
    protected $attributes = [
        'id'         => null,
        'full_name'  => null, // In the $attributes, the key is the column name
        'email'      => null,
        'password'   => null,
        'created_at' => null,
        'updated_at' => null,
    ];

    protected $datamap = [
        'name' => 'full_name',
    ];
}

By adding our new database name to the $datamap array, we can tell the class what class property the database column should be accessible through. The key of the array is class property to map it to, where the value in the array is the name of the column in the database.

In this example, when the model sets the full_name field on the User class, it actually assigns that value to the class’ $name property, so it can be set and retrieved through $user->name. The value will still be accessible through the original $user->full_name, also, as this is needed for the model to get the data back out and save it to the database. However, unset() and isset() only work on the mapped property, $user->name, not on the database column name, $user->full_name.

Mutators 

Date Mutators 

By default, the Entity class will convert fields named created_at, updated_at, or deleted_at into Time instances whenever they are set or retrieved. The Time class provides a large number of helpful methods in an immutable, localized way.

You can define which properties are automatically converted by adding the name to the $dates property:

<?php

namespace App\Entities;

use CodeIgniter\Entity\Entity;

class User extends Entity
{
    protected $dates = ['created_at', 'updated_at', 'deleted_at'];
}

Now, when any of those properties are set, they will be converted to a Time instance, using the application’s current timezone, as set in app/Config/App.php:

<?php

$user = new \App\Entities\User();

// Converted to Time instance
$user->created_at = 'April 15, 2017 10:30:00';

// Can now use any Time methods:
echo $user->created_at->humanize();
echo $user->created_at->setTimezone('Europe/London')->toDateString();

Property Casting 

You can specify that properties in your Entity should be converted to common data types with the $casts property. This option should be an array where the key is the name of the class property, and the value is the data type it should be cast to. Casting only affects when values are read. No conversions happen that affect the permanent value in either the entity or the database. Properties can be cast to any of the following data types: integer, float, double, string, boolean, object, array, datetime, timestamp, and uri. Add a question mark at the beginning of type to mark property as nullable, i.e., ?string, ?integer.

For example, if you had a User entity with an is_banned property, you can cast it as a boolean:

<?php

namespace App\Entities;

use CodeIgniter\Entity\Entity;

class User extends Entity
{
    protected $casts = [
        'is_banned'          => 'boolean',
        'is_banned_nullable' => '?boolean',
    ];
}

Array/Json Casting 

Array/Json casting is especially useful with fields that store serialized arrays or json in them. When cast as:

an array, they will automatically be unserialized,
a json, they will automatically be set as an value of json_decode($value, false),
a json-array, they will automatically be set as an value of json_decode($value, true),

when you set the property’s value. Unlike the rest of the data types that you can cast properties into, the:

array cast type will serialize,
json and json-array cast will use json_encode function on

the value whenever the property is set:

<?php

namespace App\Entities;

use CodeIgniter\Entity\Entity;

class User extends Entity
{
    protected $casts = [
        'options'        => 'array',
        'options_object' => 'json',
        'options_array'  => 'json-array',
    ];
}

<?php

$user    = $userModel->find(15);
$options = $user->options;

$options['foo'] = 'bar';

$user->options = $options;
$userModel->save($user);

CSV Casting 

If you know you have a flat array of simple values, encoding them as a serialized or JSON string may be more complex than the original structure. Casting as Comma-Separated Values (CSV) is a simpler alternative will result in a string that uses less space and is more easily read by humans:

<?php

namespace App\Entities;

use CodeIgniter\Entity\Entity;

class Widget extends Entity
{
    protected $casts = [
        'colors' => 'csv',
    ];
}

Stored in the database as “red,yellow,green”:

<?php

$widget->colors = ['red', 'yellow', 'green'];

Note

Casting as CSV uses PHP’s internal implode and explode methods and assumes all values are string-safe and free of commas. For more complex data casts try array or json.

Custom casting 

You can define your own conversion types for getting and setting data.

At first you need to create a handler class for your type. Let’s say the class will be located in the app/Entities/Cast directory:

<?php

namespace App\Entities\Cast;

use CodeIgniter\Entity\Cast\BaseCast;

// The class must inherit the CodeIgniter\Entity\Cast\BaseCast class
class CastBase64 extends BaseCast
{
    public static function get($value, array $params = [])
    {
        return base64_decode($value, true);
    }

    public static function set($value, array $params = [])
    {
        return base64_encode($value);
    }
}

Now you need to register it:

<?php

namespace App\Entities;

use CodeIgniter\Entity\Entity;

class MyEntity extends Entity
{
    // Specifying the type for the field
    protected $casts = [
        'key' => 'base64',
    ];

    // Bind the type to the handler
    protected $castHandlers = [
        'base64' => \App\Entities\Cast\CastBase64::class,
    ];
}

// ...

$entity->key = 'test'; // dGVzdA==
echo $entity->key;     // test

If you don’t need to change values when getting or setting a value. Then just don’t implement the appropriate method:

<?php

namespace App\Entities\Cast;

use CodeIgniter\Entity\Cast\BaseCast;

class CastBase64 extends BaseCast
{
    public static function get($value, array $params = [])
    {
        return base64_decode($value, true);
    }
}

Parameters

In some cases, one type is not enough. In this situation, you can use additional parameters. Additional parameters are indicated in square brackets and listed with a comma.

type[param1, param2]

<?php

namespace App\Entities;

use CodeIgniter\Entity\Entity;

class MyEntity extends Entity
{
    // Defining a type with parameters
    protected $casts = [
        'some_attribute' => 'class[App\SomeClass, param2, param3]',
    ];

    // Bind the type to the handler
    protected $castHandlers = [
        'class' => 'SomeHandler',
    ];
}

<?php

namespace App\Entities\Cast;

use CodeIgniter\Entity\Cast\BaseCast;

class SomeHandler extends BaseCast
{
    public static function get($value, array $params = [])
    {
        var_dump($params);
        /*
         * Output:
         * array(3) {
         *   [0]=>
         *   string(13) "App\SomeClass"
         *   [1]=>
         *   string(6) "param2"
         *   [2]=>
         *   string(6) "param3"
         * }
         */
    }
}

Note

If the casting type is marked as nullable ?bool and the passed value is not null, then the parameter with the value nullable will be passed to the casting type handler. If casting type has predefined parameters, then nullable will be added to the end of the list.

Checking for Changed Attributes 

You can check if an Entity attribute has changed since it was created. The only parameter is the name of the attribute to check:

<?php

$user = new \App\Entities\User();
$user->hasChanged('name'); // false

$user->name = 'Fred';
$user->hasChanged('name'); // true

Or to check the whole entity for changed values omit the parameter:

<?php

$user->hasChanged(); // true