Convert Mage_Customer_Model_Customer Object to an array and convert again to object

Question

I had encrypted customer's firstname ,lastname and email and need to decrypt data to show in front end.
I will be Overriding public function getCustomer() located at app/code/core/Mage/Model/Session.php file. Customer Data retrieved from $customer = Mage::getModel('customer/customer') ->setWebsiteId(Mage::app()->getStore()->getWebsiteId()); $customer->load($this->getId());

UPDATE

When ever i use print_r($customer) to print data of logged in customer i get Mage_Customer_Model_Customer Object.

Problem

I want to replace decrypted value of firstname,lastname and email with an array $customer['_origData:protected'] and $customer['_Data:protected'] since methods are protected so i have converted object into an array and converted again into an Object after passing decryption function , but converted Object is without protected methods. I'm getting Fatal Error when converted Object is passed to function $this->setCustomer($customer);

What I want Replace three encrypted values firstname , lastname and email in Object Mage_Customer_Model_Customer Object

Basic Question is :- How to Replace values in an object ?

Answer 1

Use setData($key, $value) to change _data and setOrigData($key, $value) to change _origData.

Also, instead of setData('firstname', 'John') you can always write setFirstname('John'), even though the method is not declared, thanks to the "magic" getters and setters in Varien_Object.

Answer 2

I don't exactly understand your question, but if you want to convert an array to a stdClass instance here is a simple way to do it.

$arr = YOUR ARRAY HERE;
$encoded = json_encode($arr);
$obj = json_decode($encoded);