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==== Properties attributes ====
==== Properties attributes ====


There are a few other attributes available apart from the mandatory ''type'' one.
;type
 
: The only mandatory attribute. It must be one of the many ''PARAM_*'' constants.
;default
;default
: The default value to attach to the property when it hasn't been provided. Alternatively this can be a ''Closure'' returning the default value.
: The default value to attach to the property when it hasn't been provided. Alternatively this can be a ''Closure'' returning the default value.

Revision as of 09:50, 13 December 2016

Persistents

Moodle persistents are equivalent to models (or active records). They represent an object stored in the database and provide the methods to create, read, update, and delete those objects. Additionally, the persistents validate its own data against automatic and custom validation rules.

Persistents extend the abstract class core\persistent.

Properties

Defining properties can be done by defining the method protected static define_properties(). It returns an array where the keys are the names of the fields (and database columns), and their details. The type of each field must be specified using one of the PARAM_* constants. This type will be used to automatically validate the property's value.

/**

* Return the definition of the properties of this model.
*
* @return array
*/

protected static function define_properties() {

   return array(
       'userid' => array(
           'type' => PARAM_INT,
       ),
       'message' => array(
           'type' => PARAM_RAW,
       )
   );

}

Properties attributes

type
The only mandatory attribute. It must be one of the many PARAM_* constants.
default
The default value to attach to the property when it hasn't been provided. Alternatively this can be a Closure returning the default value.
null
Either of the constants NULL_ALLOWED or NULL_NOT_ALLOWED determining if the null value is accepted. This defaults to NULL_NOT_ALLOWED.
message
The default error message (as a lang_string instance) to return when the validation of this field fails.
choices
An array of values which the property must fall in.

'messageformat' => array(

   'type' => PARAM_INT,
   'default' => FORMAT_PLAIN,
   'choices' => array(FORMAT_PLAIN, FORMAT_HTML, FORMAT_MOODLE, FORMAT_MARKDOWN)

), 'location' => array(

   'type' => PARAM_ALPHANUMEXT,
   'null' => NULL_ALLOWED,
   'message' => new lang_string('invaliddata', 'error'),
   'default' => function() {
       return get_config('default_location');
   },

),

Note that you should always use a Closure for the default value when you cannot guarantee that it will not change since the start of the request. The list of properties and their attributes is cached, and so failure to use a Closure can result in using an outdated default value.

Mandatory properties

Four fields are always added to your persistent and should be reflected in your database table. You must not define those properties inThose are:

id (non-null integer)
The primary key of the record.
usermodified (non-null integer)
The user who created/modified the object. It is automatically set.
timecreated (non-null integer)
The timestamp at which the record was modified. It is automatically set.
timemodified (non-null integer)
The timestamp at which the record was modified. It is automatically set, and defaults to 0.

Attaching to the database

While the persistent class is helpful for database interactions, it does not automatically fetch the properties from the database, nor does it create the tables. You will need to create the table yourself, as well as pointing the persistent to it. This can be done by defining the constant TABLE.

/** Table name for the persistent. */ const TABLE = 'status';

The table name must not contain the Moodle prefix. Also it is common practice to always refer to your table name using the constant.

Reading property values

This can be done using the method get(), or the magic method get_ followed by the property name. Alternatively you can also use to_record() which exports the whole object.

// Create a new object. $persistent = new status();

// Get the user ID using persistent::get(). $userid = $persistent->get('userid');

// Get the user ID using the magic getter. $userid = $persistent->get_userid();

// Get all the properties in an stdClass. $data = $persistent->to_record();

You may override the magic getters to implements your own custom logic. For instance you could convert the data in another format automatically as a convenience for developers. However, use this sparingly as it may lead to confusion: what you get is not what is stored in the database. Note that you cannot guarantee that your getter will be used, remember that it is possible for developers to call the alternative get() which will not use your custom logic.

It is, however, encouraged to add convenience methods such as the following:

/**

* Returns the user object of the author.
*
* @return stdClass
*/

public function get_author() {

   return core_user::get_user($this->get('userid'));

}

Assigning values to properties

There are a few methods to do so.

You use an object (stdClass) to assign a bunch of properties at once. Use it with the constructor, or the method from_record().

$data = (object) array('userid' => 2, 'message' => 'Hello world!');

// Instantiates a new object with value for some properties. $persistent = new status(0, $data);

// Is similar to. $persistent = new status(); $persistent->from_record($data);

Or you can use the set() method on an instance.

// Instantiates a blank object. $persistent = new status();

// Assign a new value to the 'message' property. $persistent->set('message', Hello new world!');

Finally you can use the magic setters set_ followed by the property name.

// Instantiates a blank object. $persistent = new status();

// Assign a new value to the 'message' property. $persistent->set_message('Hello new world!');

Defining a custom setter

Though you don't have to for the code to work, you can define your own setter methods which will override the magic setters. They are useful if you want to extract the data out of a more complex object prior to assigning it. Though note that those setters will then have to use the set() method to assign the values.

/**

* Convenience method to set the user ID.
*
* @param object|int $idorobject The user ID, or a user object.
*/

public function set_userid($idorobject) {

   $userid = $idorobject;
   if (is_object($idorobject)) {
       $userid = $idorobject->id;
   }
   $this->set('userid', $userid);

}

In the above example we will accept an object or an ID, as a convenience for developers we will extract the ID value out of the object passed if any.

Just like custom getters, you cannot guarantee that they will be used. Developers can directly call the set() method. Therefore you must not use a custom setter to reliably transform the data added to a property. For instance do not add a custom setter to remove HTML tags out of a text field, it may not always happen.

You can obviously create your own setters which aren't based on any properties just as a convenience. For instance we could have created set_userid_from_user(object $user) which is more verbose and more predictable

Read, save and delete entries

The methods to create, read, update and delete are eponymous. Your object will be validated before you create or update it. The update, delete and read methods require your object to contain its ID. And you also won't be allowed to create an entry which already had an ID defined.

Here are some code examples:

// Fetches an object from database based on its ID. $id = 123; $persistent = new status($id);

// Create previously instantiated object in the database. $persistent->create();

// Load an object from the database, and update it. $id = 123; $persistent = new status($id); $persistent->set_message('Hello new world!'); $persistent->update();

// Reset the instance to the values in the database. $persistent->read();

// Permanently delete the object from the database. $persistent->delete();

Fetching records

Once you start using persistents you should never directly interact with the database outside of your class. The persistent class comes with a few handy methods allowing you to retrieve your objects.

// Use the constructor to fetch one object from its ID. $persistent = new status($id);

// Get one record from a set of conditions. $persistent = status::get_record(['userid' => $userid, 'message' => 'Hello world!']);

// Get multiple records from a set of conditions. $persistents = status::get_records(['userid' => $userid]);

// Count the records. $count = status::count_records(['userid' => $userid]);

// Check whether a record exists. $exists = status::record_exists($id);

Make sure to also check their additional parameters and their variants (record_exists_select(), count_records_select, get_records_select, ...).

Custom fetching

It's always a good idea to add more complex queries directly within your persistent. By convention you should always return an instance of your persistent and never an stdClass. Here we add a custom method which allows to directly fetch all records by username.

/**

* Get all records by a user from its username
*
* @param string $username The username.
* @return status[]
*/

public static function get_records_by_username($username) {

   global $DB;
   $sql = 'SELECT s.*
             FROM {' . static::TABLE . '} s
             JOIN {user} u
               ON u.id = s.userid
            WHERE u.username = :username';
   $persistents = [];
   $recordset = $DB->get_recordset_sql($sql, ['username' => $username]);
   foreach ($recordset as $record) {
       $persistents[] = new static(0, $record);
   }
   $recordset->close();
   return $persistents;

}

If you need to join persistents together and be able to extract their respective properties in a single database query, you should have a look at the following methods:

get_sql_fields(string $alias, string $prefix = null)
Returns the SQL statement to include in the SELECT clause to prefix columns.
extract_record(stdClass $row, string $prefix = null)
Extracts all the properties from a row based on the given prefix.

// Minimalist example. $sqlfields = status::get_sql_fields('s', 'statprops'); $sql = "SELECT $sqlfields, u.username

         FROM {" . status::TABLE . "} s
         JOIN {user} ON s.userid = u.id
        WHERE s.id = 1";

$row = $DB->get_record($sql, []); $statusdata = status::extract_record($row, 'statprops'); $persistent = new status(0, $statusdata);

Validating

Basic validation of the properties values happens automatically based on their type (PARAM_* constant), however this is not always enough. In order to implement your own custom validation, simply define a protected method starting with validate_ followed with the property name. This method will be called whenever the model needs to be validated and will receive the data to validate.

A validation method must always return either true or an instance of lang_string which contains the error message to send to the user.

/**

* Validate the user ID.
*
* @param int $value The value.
* @return true|lang_string
*/

protected function validate_userid($value) {

   if (!core_user::is_real_user($value, true)) {
       return new lang_string('invaliduserid', 'error');
   }
   return true;

}

The above example ensures that the userid property contains a valid user ID.

Note that the basic validation is always performed first, and thus your custom validation method will not be called when the value did not pass the basic validation.

Validation results

The validation of the object automatically happens upon create and update. If the validation did not pass, an invalid_persisten_exception will be raised. You can validate the object prior to saving the object and get the validation results if you need to.

// We can catch the invalid_persistent_exception. try {

   $persistent = new status();
   $persistent->create();

} catch (invalid_persistent_exception $e) {

   // Whoops, something wrong happened.

}

// Check whether the object is valid. $persistent->is_valid(); // True or false.

// Get the validation errors. $persistent->get_errors(); // Array where keys are properties and values are errors.

// Validate the object. $persistent->validate(); // Returns true, or an array of errors.

Hooks

You can define the following methods to be notified prior to, or after, something happened:

before_validate()
Do something before the object is validated.
before_create()
Do something before the object is inserted in the database. Note that values assigned to properties are not longer validated at this point.
after_create()
Do something right after the object was added to the database.
before_update()
Do something before the object is updated in the database. Note that values assigned to properties are not longer validated at this point.
after_update(bool $result)
Do something right after the object was updated in the database.
before_delete()
Do something right before the object is deleted from the database.
after_delete(bool $result)
Do something right after the object was deleted from the database.

Full example

namespace example;

use core\persistent; use core_user; use lang_string;

class status extends persistent {

   /** Table name for the persistent. */
   const TABLE = 'status';
   /**
    * Return the definition of the properties of this model.
    *
    * @return array
    */
   protected static function define_properties() {
       return array(
           'userid' => array(
               'type' => PARAM_INT,
           ),
           'message' => array(
               'type' => PARAM_RAW,
           ),
           'messageformat' => array(
               'type' => PARAM_INT,
               'default' => FORMAT_PLAIN,
               'choices' => array(FORMAT_PLAIN, FORMAT_HTML, FORMAT_MOODLE, FORMAT_MARKDOWN)
           ),
           'location' => array(
               'type' => PARAM_ALPHANUMEXT,
               'null' => NULL_ALLOWED,
               'message' => new lang_string('invaliddata', 'error'),
               'default' => function() {
                   return get_config('default_location');
               },
           ),
       );
   }
   /**
    * Returns the user object of the author.
    *
    * @return stdClass
    */
   public function get_author() {
       return core_user::get_user($this->get('userid'));
   }
   /**
    * Convenience method to set the user ID.
    *
    * @param object|int $idorobject The user ID, or a user object.
    */
   public function set_userid($idorobject) {
       $userid = $idorobject;
       if (is_object($idorobject)) {
           $userid = $idorobject->id;
       }
       $this->set('userid', $userid);
   }
   /**
    * Validate the user ID.
    *
    * @param int $value The value.
    * @return true|lang_string
    */
   protected function validate_userid($value) {
       if (!core_user::is_real_user($value, true)) {
           return new lang_string('invaliduserid', 'error');
       }
       return true;
   }
   /**
    * Get all records by a user from its username
    *
    * @param string $username The username.
    * @return status[]
    */
   public static function get_records_by_username($username) {
       global $DB;
       $sql = 'SELECT s.*
                 FROM {' . static::TABLE . '} s
                 JOIN {user} u
                   ON u.id = s.userid
                WHERE u.username = :username';
       $persistents = [];
       $recordset = $DB->get_recordset_sql($sql, ['username' => $username]);
       foreach ($recordset as $record) {
           $persistents[] = new static(0, $record);
       }
       $recordset->close();
       return $persistents;
   }

}