Translating Data with a Property-Value Object

[iwato]

BACKGROUND:  Many moons ago it was suggested that I create a CRON job that would read into a MySQL table the results of a method call to a Matomo API call and thereby speed up the rendering of data for visitors to the Grammar Captive website.  I have since come to learn that this technique is called data translation.  The following code creates a class object that when inserted into a foreach loop is suppose to fill the properties of the object for further manipulation.  Unfortunately it does perform the intended task.

THE CLASS

	class TranslateMatomoAction {
		public $mysqli_obj;
		public $visitID;
		public $type;
		public $serverTimePretty;
		public $timestamp;
		public $url;
		public $generationTime;
		public $pageTitle;
		public $pageID;
		public $pageView_ID;
		public $pageID_Action;
		public $timeSpent;
		public $eventCategory;
		public $eventAction;
		public $eventName;

		public function __construct($property, $value) {
			if ($property === 'type') {
				$this->type = $value;
			} else if ($property === 'serverTimePretty') {
				$this->serverTimePretty = $value;
			} else if ($property === 'timestamp') {
				$this->timestamp = $value;
			} else if ($property === 'url') {
				$this->url = $value;
			} else if ($property === 'generationTimeMilliseconds') {
				$this->generationTime = $value;
			} else if ($property === 'pageTitle') {
				$this->pageTitle = $value;
			} else if ($property === 'pageId') {
				$this->pageID = $value;
			} else if ($property === 'idpageview') {
				$this->pageView_ID = $value;
			} else if ($property === 'pageIdAction') {
				$this->pageID_Action = $value;
			} else if ($property === 'timeSpent') {
				$this->timeSpent = $value;
			} else if ($property === 'eventCategory') {
				$this->eventCategory = $value;
			} else if ($property === 'eventAction') {
				$this->eventAction = $value;
			} else if ($property === 'eventName') {
				$this->eventName = $value;
			}
		}
		public function set_visitID($visitID) {
			$this->visitID = $visitID;
		}
		public function set_mysqli_obj($mysqli_obj) {
			$this->visitID = $visitID;
		}
	}

THE INSERTED CLASS AND ASSOCIATED CODE

				if (is_array($value1) && ($key1 === 'actionDetails')) {
					foreach($value1 as $key2 => $value2) {

					//LEVEL 2 - This foreach statement traverses the set of indexed arrays whose elements are a key-value pair of indices and arrays. Each array is a value of the actionDetails element of a visit.

						if (is_array($value2)) {
							$matomo_action = new TranslateMatomoAction($key3,$value3);
							foreach($value2 as $key3 => $value3) {

							//LEVEL 3 - This foreach statement traverses the elements of the associative array corresponding to the value of $key2.
		
								$matomo_action($key3, $value);
							}
						}
					}
				}

DILEMMA:  Unfortunately, the above procedure fails to fill the values of the object's property as expected.

QUESTION:  Where have I gone wrong?

Roddy

 

 

 

[Funce]

10 minutes ago, iwato said:

BACKGROUND:  Many moons ago it was suggested that I create a CRON job that would read into a MySQL table the results of a method call to a Matomo API call and thereby speed up the rendering of data for visitors to the Grammar Captive website.  I have since come to learn that this technique is called data translation.

Data translation, is that what its called? I didn't know that. 

10 minutes ago, iwato said:

QUESTION:  Where have I gone wrong?

Hey Roddy!

I guess the issue here is that you're using the object incorrectly, as its currently defined in your class.

__construct is only called when the object is created. ($matomo_action = new TranslateMatomoAction(arg1, arg2);)
I can see you're trying to be clever here, and fortunately you can be super clever with a slight tweak.

By instead defining that logic in the __invoke magic function, you can get exactly the behaviour you desire. Your level 3 action is already attempting to use it as such.

For the inserted class, all you'd need is something like this. (untested, working off brain here)

<?php				
if (is_array($value1) && ($key1 === 'actionDetails')) {
  foreach($value1 as $key2 => $value2) {

    //LEVEL 2 - This foreach statement traverses the set of indexed arrays whose elements are a key-value pair of indices and arrays. Each array is a value of the actionDetails element of a visit.

    if (is_array($value2)) {
      $matomo_action = new TranslateMatomoAction();
      foreach($value2 as $key3 => $value3) {

        //LEVEL 3 - This foreach statement traverses the elements of the associative array corresponding to the value of $key2.

        $matomo_action($key3, $value);
      }
    }
  }
}
?>

[iwato]

Hi, Funce!

Thank you for your quick response. It was you who gave me the idea of creating a data table.  And, now I have two: one for each visit and one for all of the actions and events associated with each visit.  Hooray! Hooray!

In regard to the TranslateMatomoAction class I understand now clearly about the __contructor() function.  I was trying to make it do something that it was not intended to do.  This said, I was unable to get the __invoke() function to work as you suggested.  So, I moved the contents of the __constructor() function outside of the class and changed the variable names. My object is now fully complemented with the desired information is ready for MySQL insertion.

Many thanks!

Roddy