print_r to get object methods in PHP?

Question

I'm working with Views 2 in Drupal 6, and I am having difficulty finding documentation on the methods of the View object. Is there any PHP function like print_r that outputs methods as well as fields?

Answer 1

I believe you're looking for get_class_methods. If this is the case, get_class_vars may also interest you.

Answer 2

The Reflection API might be of interest to you (if it's not overkill). Specifically:-

<?php
    Reflection::export(new ReflectionClass('View'));
?>

Check out the manual for more in-depth examples.

Answer 3

Besides the functions mentioned by Mathachew you can also take a look at Reflection, especially the ReflectionClass class.

$class = new ReflectionClass('YourViewClass');
$class->getMethods();
$class->getProperties();

Answer 4

I wrote this simple function which not only displays the methods of a given object, but also shows its properties, encapsulation and some other useful information like release notes if given.

function TO($object){ //Test Object
                if(!is_object($object)){
                    throw new Exception("This is not a Object"); 
                    return;
                }
                if(class_exists(get_class($object), true)) echo "<pre>CLASS NAME = ".get_class($object);
                $reflection = new ReflectionClass(get_class($object));
                echo "<br />";
                echo $reflection->getDocComment();

                echo "<br />";

                $metody = $reflection->getMethods();
                foreach($metody as $key => $value){
                    echo "<br />". $value;
                }

                echo "<br />";

                $vars = $reflection->getProperties();
                foreach($vars as $key => $value){
                    echo "<br />". $value;
                }
                echo "</pre>";
            }

To show you how it works I created some random example class. Lets create a class called Person and place some release notes just above the class declaration:

        /**
         * DocNotes -  This is description of this class if given else it will display false
         */
        class Person{
            private $name;
            private $dob;
            private $height;
            private $weight;
            private static $num;

            function __construct($dbo, $height, $weight, $name) {
                $this->dob = $dbo;
                $this->height = (integer)$height;
                $this->weight = (integer)$weight;
                $this->name = $name;
                self::$num++;

            }
            public function eat($var="", $sar=""){
                echo $var;
            }
            public function potrzeba($var =""){
                return $var;
            }
        }

Now lets create a instance of a Person and wrap it with our function.

    $Wictor = new Person("27.04.1987", 170, 70, "Wictor");
    TO($Wictor);

This will output information about the class name, parameters and methods, including encapsulation info and number and names of parameters for each method, method location and lines of code where it exists. See the output below:

CLASS NAME = Person
/**
             * DocNotes -  This is description of this class if given else it will display false
             */

Method [  public method __construct ] {
  @@ C:\xampp\htdocs\www\kurs_php_zaawansowany\index.php 75 - 82

  - Parameters [4] {
    Parameter #0 [  $dbo ]
    Parameter #1 [  $height ]
    Parameter #2 [  $weight ]
    Parameter #3 [  $name ]
  }
}

Method [  public method eat ] {
  @@ C:\xampp\htdocs\www\kurs_php_zaawansowany\index.php 83 - 85

  - Parameters [2] {
    Parameter #0 [  $var = '' ]
    Parameter #1 [  $sar = '' ]
  }
}

Method [  public method potrzeba ] {
  @@ C:\xampp\htdocs\www\kurs_php_zaawansowany\index.php 86 - 88

  - Parameters [1] {
    Parameter #0 [  $var = '' ]
  }
}


Property [  private $name ]

Property [  private $dob ]

Property [  private $height ]

Property [  private $weight ]

Property [ private static $num ]

Hope you will find it useful. Regards.