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Reading attributes ​

Every reflector class in the package uses the Attributable trait, so reading PHP attributes works exactly the same way on a class, method, property, parameter or function. This is the mechanism the rest of Raxos relies on for attribute driven behavior, from ORM column mapping to router route discovery.

Instantiated attributes ​

getAttribute() returns a single instantiated attribute, or null when it is absent. getAttributes() returns every matching instance as an array, including subclasses of the requested attribute.

php
<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

use function Raxos\Reflection\reflect;

$reflector = reflect(User::class);

$table = $reflector->getAttribute(Table::class);   // ?Table
$columns = $reflector->getProperty('id')->getAttributes(Column::class); // Column[]

Raw attributes ​

When you only need the raw ReflectionAttribute (for example to inspect its arguments without constructing it), use getRawAttribute() and getRawAttributes(). These never call newInstance().

php
$raw = $reflector->getRawAttribute(Table::class); // ?ReflectionAttribute

foreach ($reflector->getRawAttributes(Column::class) as $attribute) {
    // $attribute->getArguments()
}

Checking for presence ​

hasAttribute() reports whether an attribute is present without instantiating it. Pass instanceOf: true to also match subclasses of the given attribute.

php
if ($reflector->hasAttribute(Table::class)) {
    // ...
}

if ($reflector->hasAttribute(Relation::class, instanceOf: true)) {
    // matches HasMany, BelongsTo and any other Relation subclass
}

Recursive lookups ​

On a ClassReflector, getAttribute() accepts a recursive flag. When set and the attribute is not found on the class itself, the lookup walks up the implemented interfaces and then the parent class chain until it finds a match.

php
$attribute = $reflector->getAttribute(Serializable::class, recursive: true);

INFO

The recursive walk only applies to ClassReflector. On the other reflectors the recursive argument has no effect, since methods, properties and parameters do not have a class style hierarchy of their own.