[SOLVED] Declaring array constant

[simpli]

Hi,

I want to declare an array constant to use as JSON header.

I do the following but I get an error.

class Model_DbTable_Tree extends Zend_Db_Table_Abstract 
{ 
    protected $_name   = 'tree';
    protected $_primary = 'node_id';
const $_JSON_HEADER = array("label" => "node_name", "identifier" => "node_id");

 

but I get an error message:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE, expecting T_STRING in /Library/WebServer/Documents/budgetobjects/application/models/DbTable/Tree.php on line 8

 

I'm using Zend 1.8. Can anyone tell me how to declare that constant properly?

Thanks,

JR

[MadTechie]

Constants differ from normal variables in that you don't use the $ symbol to declare or use them.

[simpli]

Hi,

thank you for the precision. It seems there's no way to declare a const array: I get the error message:

Arrays are not allowed in class constants in

 

Is there a workaround to that?

Thanks,

JR

[MadTechie]

you could define and initialize an static array variable:

 

ie

class  Model_DbTable_Tree extends Zend_Db_Table_Abstract 
{
    protected $_name   = 'tree';
    protected $_primary = 'node_id';
    public static $_JSON_HEADER = array("label" => "node_name", "identifier" => "node_id");
}

[themarty]

This class comes very close to how you would expect constant arrays to work if they would have been implemented in PHP:

 

http://devshed.excudo.net/scripts/php/source/constant+arrays

 

There's also an example page showing a short demonstration

[Mark Baker]

define the constant as a serialized array, then unserialize when you use it:

define('MyConst','a:3:{i:0;s:16:"This is an array";i:1;s:20:"but it is serialized";i:2;s:44:"so the serialized string is a valid constant";}');

print_r(unserialize(MyConst));