how to get PHP coding that will declare a php array

[sfullman]

Hi this is pretty simple in concept but I don't know how to do it. I bet PHP has a way to, I'm familiar with print_r() but that is not what I want exactly.

I have an array that is created or present in a php script. It may be a query from a database for example but could be anohter type of array.

What i want to do is export PHP code that would declare that exact array. So for example, this array may have been developed dynamically vs. being hard coded:

$availableCols[$datasetGroup][$modApType][$modApHandle]=array(
	'version'=>1.0,
	'description'=>'This is the first array implementation of relatebase_views and _views_items',
	'scheme'=>array(
		/*list these in order they would normally appear; analogous to Tbird's list of all inbox cols available */
		'RepCode'=>array(
			'method'=>'field',
			'fieldExpressionFunction'=>'RepCode',
			'header'=>'Rep',
			'orderBy'=>'RepCode $asc, LastName $asc, FirstName $asc',
			'visibility'=>COL_VISIBLE,
			'colposition'=>1
		),
		'StatusHandle'=>array(
			'method'=>'field', /* the default */
			'fieldExpressionFunction'=>'StatusHandle', /* the default */
			'format'=>'default', /* use field attributes themselves*/
			'datatype'=>'text', /* could be email, phone number, URL, link, popup - conflicts possible */
			'sortable'=>true, /* the default */
			'sortTitle'=>'Sort by member status',
			'header'=>'Status',
			/* this called AFTER $sort and $asc present but before the query, for sort=Status */
			'orderBy'=>'StatusHandle $asc, /* extra stuff is nice :) */ LastName $asc, FirstName $asc',
			/* ------- etc., etc., etc. -------- */
			'colorCoding'=>NULL,
			'visibility'=>COL_VISIBLE,
			'colposition'=>2
		)
);//etc

so, what i want is THAT CODE ITSELF including the $'s the indents ideally, and the brackets and quotes (comments not needed).

How do I do this?

Thanks,
Samuel

[halojoy]

The closest to php array format
that I know about is [man]var_export[/man]

But I wonder if not some (Simple)XML PHP Class would do the job ....
This I do know so much about 🙂

This var_export() example based on what you posted
will output what you see below

<?php

 $availableCols = array(
    'version'=>1.0,
    'description'=>'This is the first array implementation of relatebase_views and _views_items',
    'scheme'=>array(
        /*list these in order they would normally appear; analogous to Tbird's list of all inbox cols available */
        'RepCode'=>array(
            'method'=>'field',
            'fieldExpressionFunction'=>'RepCode',
            'header'=>'Rep',
            'orderBy'=>'RepCode $asc, LastName $asc, FirstName $asc',
            'visibility'=>'COL_VISIBLE',
            'colposition'=>1
        ),
        'StatusHandle'=>array(
            'method'=>'field', /* the default */
            'fieldExpressionFunction'=>'StatusHandle', /* the default */
            'format'=>'default', /* use field attributes themselves*/
            'datatype'=>'text', /* could be email, phone number, URL, link, popup - conflicts possible */
            'sortable'=>true, /* the default */
            'sortTitle'=>'Sort by member status',
            'header'=>'Status',
            /* this called AFTER $sort and $asc present but before the query, for sort=Status */
            'orderBy'=>'StatusHandle $asc, /* extra stuff is nice :) */ LastName $asc, FirstName $asc',
            /* ------- etc., etc., etc. -------- */
            'colorCoding'=>'NULL',
            'visibility'=>'COL_VISIBLE',
            'colposition'=>2
        )
)

);

echo '<pre>';
var_export( $availableCols ); // var_export array

?>

array (
  'version' => 1,
  'description' => 'This is the first array implementation of relatebase_views and _views_items',
  'scheme' => 
  array (
    'RepCode' => 
    array (
      'method' => 'field',
      'fieldExpressionFunction' => 'RepCode',
      'header' => 'Rep',
      'orderBy' => 'RepCode $asc, LastName $asc, FirstName $asc',
      'visibility' => 'COL_VISIBLE',
      'colposition' => 1,
    ),
    'StatusHandle' => 
    array (
      'method' => 'field',
      'fieldExpressionFunction' => 'StatusHandle',
      'format' => 'default',
      'datatype' => 'text',
      'sortable' => true,
      'sortTitle' => 'Sort by member status',
      'header' => 'Status',
      'orderBy' => 'StatusHandle $asc, /* extra stuff is nice :) */ LastName $asc, FirstName $asc',
      'colorCoding' => 'NULL',
      'visibility' => 'COL_VISIBLE',
      'colposition' => 2,
    ),
  ),
)

[sfullman]

that was what I needed - as long as I can export it like this it's fine, this is a snapshot of what is there.