Magic methods don't work inside ArrayObjects?

Question

I ran accross a problem with my code that I could not explain. The only thing I can think of is that magic methods just don't work inside of ArrayObjects. For instance, given the following class:

class foo extends ArrayObject {

    public $bar = '@@@';

    public function __construct() {
        parent::__construct(array(), ArrayObject::ARRAY_AS_PROPS);
    }

    public function __get($prop) {
        return '@@@';
    }
}

The following lines give me an error "Notice: Undefined index: test ..."

$foo = new foo();
echo $foo->test;

Yet these lines work fine:

$foo = new foo();
echo $foo->bar;

Am I crazy or is this a known issue?

Answer 1

The "magic" function you're looking for is called offsetGet^Docs, not __get:

class foo extends ArrayObject {

    public $bar = '@@@';

    public function __construct() {
        parent::__construct(array(), ArrayObject::ARRAY_AS_PROPS);
    }

    public function offsetGet($prop)
    {
        if (!parent::offsetExists($prop))
            return '@@@';
        return parent::offsetGet($prop);
    }
}

$foo = new foo();
echo $foo->test; # @@@

I don't know it for sure, but __get is not available as you're extending from an internal class that is somehow blocking it.