Modify language grammar to allow commas to skip defaulted parameters.

2008/7/26 David Zülke david.zuelke@bitextender.com

Am 22.07.2008 um 16:37 schrieb Richard Quadling:

Actually, would allowing PHP to skip defaulted parameters be a better

facility to add?

function foo($opt1 = Null, $opt2 = Null){}

foo(,True);

Hmm. Doesn't look good does it. But, useful. Having to supply the default
value if you don't want to override the default is sort of
counter-intuitive. Suppling nothing should equal the default value.

That would be totally brilliant, since it means that one wouldn't have to
know the default value in order to skip an argument.

We looked into this a couple of months ago and the info I got from the
engineer that dug into the code was that it would be relatively complicated
to implement in the engine (we were considering a keyword back then, sth
like foo(default, true);).

But if it can be done... I'm all for it. It's definitely useful.

David

Since the inception of SPL, you can use a combination of func_get_args and
reflection to gather all the params that the function will use (be they ones
that have been supplied or default ones).

So, the components are there. I just don't have the C skills to merge these
two facilities. I think there needs to be another internal type though. To
differentiate between a userland NULL being supplied nothing being supplied
(VOID ?)

I use this userland function to gather all the parameters.

function getArgs($s_FunctionOrMethod, array $a_SuppliedParams = array()) {
$a_Arguments = array();

// Determine if we are examining a function or a method.
// As function names cannot contain ::, we should be OK with this.
list($s_Class, $s_Method) = split('::', $s_FunctionOrMethod);
if (function_exists($s_FunctionOrMethod) || method_exists($s_Class,
$s_Method)) {
// Create the appropriate reflector.
if (function_exists($s_FunctionOrMethod)) {
$rf_This = new ReflectionFunction($s_FunctionOrMethod);
} else {
$rf_This = new ReflectionMethod($s_Class, $s_Method);
}

// Shortcut the counts and the parameters.
$i_Supplied = count($a_SuppliedParams);
$i_Declared = $rf_This->getNumberOfParameters();
$a_Params   = $rf_This->getParameters();

// Process the largest number (either Supplied or Declared)
for ($i_Arg = 0, $i_Args = max($i_Supplied, $i_Declared) ; $i_Arg <

$i_Args ; ++$i_Arg) {
// Is this is a Declared param?
if ($i_Arg < $i_Declared) {
// Determine the parameter name.
$s_ParamName = $a_Params[$i_Arg]->getName();

    // Get the Default value.
     if ($a_Params[$i_Arg]->isDefaultValueAvailable()) {
       $a_Arguments[$s_ParamName] =

$a_Params[$i_Arg]->getDefaultValue();
}

    // Overwrite with the Supplied value if it exists.
     if ($i_Arg < $i_Supplied) {
       $a_Arguments[$s_ParamName] = $a_SuppliedParams[$i_Arg];
     }
  // Otherwise this is a Supplied param without a declaration.
  } else {
    // Add the Supplied param to the results.
    $a_Arguments[] = $a_SuppliedParams[$i_Arg];
  }
}

}

return $a_Arguments;
}

I use this as ...

$a_Args = getArgs(METHOD, func_get_args());

inside the method of function. I rely on the fact that METHOD returns
something sensible when used in a function.

It wouldn't work as is if missed params were allowed. But if func_get_args()
returned the params keyed to the params position, the gaps in the index/key
would signify a missed param.

I hope one of the core-devs sees this.

Richard.

--

Richard Quadling
Zend Certified Engineer : http://zend.com/zce.php?c=ZEND002498&r=213474731
"Standing on the shoulders of some very clever giants!"