Awesome

PHP enumeration libraries comparison

This project provides an unified feature comparison between most popular PHP enumeration (enum) libraries.

Libraries

• thunderer/platenum,
• bensampo/laravel-enum,
• commerceguys/enum,
• dasprid/enum,
• elao/enum,
• eloquent/enumeration,
• esky/enum,
• greg0ire/enum,
• happy-types/enumerable-type,
• konekt/enum,
• marc-mabe/php-enum,
• myclabs/php-enum,
• spatie/enum.

Process

Each vendor implementation defines an equivalent of two enumerations:

final class FirstEnum
{
    public const VALID_A = 'valid-a';
    public const VALID_B = 'valid-b';

    public const PUBLIC_A = 'public-a';
    public const PUBLIC_B = 'public-b';
    protected const PROTECTED_A = 'protected-a';
    protected const PROTECTED_B = 'protected-b';
    private const PRIVATE_A = 'private-a';
    private const PRIVATE_B = 'private-b';
}

final class OtherEnum
{
    public const OTHER = 'other';
}

and an implementation of VendorInterface which provides all kinds of callbacks to verify the claims listed below. First two enum members (VALID_A, VALID_B) must be defined so that it's possible to create instances with these values, the rest must be provided as-is to verify other claims.

Features

Features are divided into groups, based on the common use cases. Feature "passes" if the library allows to complete certain requirement with a simple call to its methods - dedicated manipulation of the returned value in order to match the expectations is not allowed. All tests are listed below:

• information about...
  • downloads the number of Packagist downloads,
  • updated the date of last GitHub commit,
  • stars number of GitHub repository stars,
  • version last stable release version number,
  • sources available sources for enumerations members,
• guarantee that...
  • verify-unique: only one instance of given member can exist in the runtime,
  • verify-ctor: re-calling __construct() does not break the instance,
  • verify-base: there is no generic typehint for all derived enums,
• create enum value with...
  • create-key: member name only,
  • create-value: member value only,
  • create-constant: Enum::MEMBER() syntax,
  • create-enum: other enum value,
• convert enum to...
  • to-key: member name,
  • to-value: member value,
  • to-string: member value by casting to string (string)$enum,
  • to-json: JSON by calling json_encode($enum) to get member value,
• compare with other enums using...
  • equals-instanceof: instanceof operator,
  • equals-strict: strict comparison operator ===,
  • equals-loose: loose comparison operator ==,
  • equals-method: dedicated equals method or equivalent,
• check whether given enum...
  • check-key: member name is valid,
  • check-value: member value is valid,
  • has-key: instance represents given member name,
  • has-value: instance represents given member value,
• fetch enum...
  • key-to-value: value using key,
  • value-to-key: key using value,
  • list-keys: member names,
  • list-values: member values,
  • list-assoc: members and values as an associative array,
• magic...
  • magic-serialize: (un)serialize() with __sleep() and __wakeup(),
  • magic-clone: block __clone(),
  • magic-invoke: block __invoke(),
  • magic-call: block __call(),
  • magic-props: block __set(), __get(), __isset(), and __unset().

Ideas

• miscellaneous:
  • misc-doctrine Doctrine ORM type mapping tooling,
  • misc-type verify that all member values are of the same type,
  • misc-unique all members values should be unique,
  • misc-qa quality control tools used (Psalm, PHPStan, InfectionPHP, etc.),
  • misc-sources allows creation of enumerations from multiple sources,
  • misc-exception allows throwing custom exceptions,
  • misc-external allows sourcing members from external world,
  • misc-warmup allows instantiating all members at once.
• verify-unique: enum should contain unique members with unique values,
• magic-export: call var_export() and restore instance during __set_state(),
• magic-debug: call var_dump() and see what is inside using __debugInfo(),
• create-map: dynamic enums using provided members and values,
• create-ordinal: enums without explicit values with assigned ordinals,
• create-gen: generating code for classes using members and values,
• create-docblock: take members from @method docblock.

Links

• Reddit: Why are there no proper enums in PHP,
• Reddit: Thoughts on userland enum implementations,
• Reddit: Approach to saving enum data types in PHP,
• Reddit: Enumerations and PHP,
• Reddit: PHP Enum implementation inspired from SplEnum.