Special Types

Returning parsed value from Static Files

By default, any value in the static files (*.env) are parsed as string.

You can parse to a specific types using this syntax:

PARAM1=!parser VALUE

Where !parser is one of the pre-defined parsers:

Parser	Description	Example
!bool	Parse to boolean	PARAM=!bool true
!int	Parse to integer	PARAM=!int 10
!float	Parse to float	PARAM=!float 3.5
!jsondecode	Parse to JSON and transform to an array	PARAM=!jsondecode {"a":"b"}
!array	Parse to array	PARAM=!array 1,2,3,4
!dict	Parse to dictionary (associative array)	PARAM=!dict a=1,b=2
!unesc	Unescape the value	PARAM=!unesc a\nb
!file	Load the content of a file	PARAM=!file /path/to/file

Adding a new Parser

You can add a new special type:

<?php

if (!ParamParser::hasParser('mytype') {
    ParamParser::addParser('mytype', function ($value) {
        return 'mytype:' . $value;
    });
}

Then you can use:

PARAM1=!mytype 123

Dependency Injection with a contructor parameter as array getting from the config

Normally when we need to pass to the constructor of the scalar value we use the Param::get() method, like this:

return [
    Square::class => DI::bind(Square::class)
        ->withConstructorArgs([Param::get('side')])
        ->toInstance(),

However, if you need to pass an array, and inside the array you need to get a value from the config, we will get an error, because the Param::get() isn't change values inside the array.

The exemple below will not work, because when we get EXAMPLE_ARRAY the Param::get() inside it will not be executed:

return [
    'custom_side' => 4,
    
    EXAMPLE_ARRAY => [
        'name' => 'Square',
        'side' => Param::get('custom_side'),
    ],
    
    Square::class => DI::bind(Square::class)
        ->withConstructorArgs([Param::get('EXAMPLE_ARRAY')])
        ->toInstance(),

To solve this problem, we need to convert EXAMPLE_ARRAY into a closure. The clousure is lazy and will be executed only when the value is requested allowing us to use container inside the array (see Good Practices).

return [
    'custom_side' => 4,
    
    EXAMPLE_ARRAY => function () {
        return [
            'name' => 'Square',
            'side' => Psr11::container()->get('custom_side'),
        ]
    },
    
    Square::class => DI::bind(Square::class)
        ->withConstructorArgs([Param::get('EXAMPLE_ARRAY')])
        ->toInstance(),