Nette PHP Generator

✅ Need to generate PHP code for classes, functions, etc.?
✅ Supports all the latest PHP features like enums, attributes, etc.
✅ Allows you to easily modify existing classes
✅ PSR-12 compliant output
✅ Highly mature, stable, and widely used library

Installation

composer require nette/php-generator

For PHP compatibility, see the table. Documentation even for older versions can be found on the library's website.

Support Me

Do you like PHP Generator? Are you looking forward to the new features?

Thank you!

Classes

Let's start with a straightforward example of generating class using ClassType:

$class = new Nette\PhpGenerator\ClassType('Demo');

$class
	->setFinal()
	->setExtends(ParentClass::class)
	->addImplement(Countable::class)
	->addComment("Description of class.\nSecond line\n")
	->addComment('@property-read Nette\Forms\Form $form');

// to generate PHP code simply cast to string or use echo:
echo $class;

It will render this result:

/**
 * Description of class.
 * Second line
 *
 * @property-read Nette\Forms\Form $form
 */
final class Demo extends ParentClass implements Countable
{
}

We can also use a printer to generate the code, which, unlike echo $class, we will be able to further configure:

$printer = new Nette\PhpGenerator\Printer;
echo $printer->printClass($class);

We can add constants (Constant) and properties (Property):

$class->addConstant('ID', 123)
	->setProtected() // constant visiblity
	->setFinal();

$class->addProperty('items', [1, 2, 3])
	->setPrivate() // or setVisibility('private')
	->setStatic()
	->addComment('@var int[]');

$class->addProperty('list')
	->setType('array')
	->setNullable()
	->setInitialized(); // prints '= null'

It generates:

final protected const ID = 123;

/** @var int[] */
private static $items = [1, 2, 3];

public ?array $list = null;

And we can add methods with parameters:

$method = $class->addMethod('count')
	->addComment('Count it.')
	->addComment('@return int')
	->setFinal()
	->setProtected()
	->setReturnType('int') // method return type
	->setReturnNullable() // nullable return type
	->setBody('return count($items ?: $this->items);');

$method->addParameter('items', []) // $items = []
		->setReference()           // &$items = []
		->setType('array');        // array &$items = []

It results in:

/**
 * Count it.
 * @return int
 */
final protected function count(array &$items = []): ?int
{
	return count($items ?: $this->items);
}

Promoted parameters introduced by PHP 8.0 can be passed to the constructor:

$method = $class->addMethod('__construct');
$method->addPromotedParameter('name');
$method->addPromotedParameter('args', [])
		->setPrivate();

It results in:

public function __construct(
	public $name,
	private $args = [],
) {
}

Readonly properties introduced by PHP 8.1 can be marked via setReadOnly().

If the added property, constant, method or parameter already exist, it throws exception.

Members can be removed using removeProperty(), removeConstant(), removeMethod() or removeParameter().

You can also add existing Method, Property or Constant objects to the class:

$method = new Nette\PhpGenerator\Method('getHandle');
$property = new Nette\PhpGenerator\Property('handle');
$const = new Nette\PhpGenerator\Constant('ROLE');

$class = (new Nette\PhpGenerator\ClassType('Demo'))
	->addMember($method)
	->addMember($property)
	->addMember($const);

You can clone existing methods, properties and constants with a different name using cloneWithName():

$methodCount = $class->getMethod('count');
$methodRecount = $methodCount->cloneWithName('recount');
$class->addMember($methodRecount);

Types

Each type or union/intersection type can be passed as a string, you can also use predefined constants for native types:

use Nette\PhpGenerator\Type;

$member->setType('array'); // or Type::ARRAY;
$member->setType('array|string'); // or Type::union('array', 'string')
$member->setType('Foo&Bar'); // or Type::intersection(Foo::class, Bar::class)
$member->setType(null); // removes type

The same applies to the method setReturnType().

Interface or Trait

You can create interfaces and traits:

$interface = Nette\PhpGenerator\InterfaceType('MyInterface');
$trait = Nette\PhpGenerator\TraitType('MyTrait');

Using traits:

$class = new Nette\PhpGenerator\ClassType('Demo');
$class->addTrait('SmartObject');
$class->addTrait('MyTrait')
	->addResolution('sayHello as protected')
	->addComment('@use MyTrait<Foo>');
echo $class;

Result:

class Demo
{
	use SmartObject;
	/** @use MyTrait<Foo> */
	use MyTrait {
		sayHello as protected;
	}
}

Enums

You can easily create the enums that PHP 8.1 brings:

$enum = Nette\PhpGenerator\EnumType('Suit');
$enum->addCase('Clubs');
$enum->addCase('Diamonds');
$enum->addCase('Hearts');
$enum->addCase('Spades');

echo $enum;

Result:

enum Suit
{
		case Clubs;
		case Diamonds;
		case Hearts;
		case Spades;
}

You can also define scalar equivalents for cases to create a backed enum:

$enum->addCase('Clubs', '♣');
$enum->addCase('Diamonds', '♦');

It is possible to add a comment or attributes to each case using addComment() or addAttribute().

Printers and PSR compliance

PHP code is generated by Printer objects. There is a PsrPrinter whose output conforms to PSR-2 and PSR-12 and uses spaces for indentation, and a Printer that uses tabs for indentation.

$class = new Nette\PhpGenerator\ClassType('Demo');
// ...

$printer = new Nette\PhpGenerator\PsrPrinter;
echo $printer->printClass($class); // 4 spaces indentation

Need to customize printer behavior? Create your own by inheriting the Printer class. You can reconfigure these variables:

class MyPrinter extends Nette\PhpGenerator\Printer
{
	public int $wrapLength = 120;
	public string $indentation = "\t";
	public int $linesBetweenProperties = 0;
	public int $linesBetweenMethods = 2;
	public string $returnTypeColon = ': ';
}

Literals

With Literal you can pass arbitrary PHP code to, for example, default property or parameter values etc:

use Nette\PhpGenerator\Literal;

$class = new Nette\PhpGenerator\ClassType('Demo');

$class->addProperty('foo', new Literal('Iterator::SELF_FIRST'));

$class->addMethod('bar')
	->addParameter('id', new Literal('1 + 2'));

echo $class;

Result:

class Demo
{
	public $foo = Iterator::SELF_FIRST;

	public function bar($id = 1 + 2)
	{
	}
}

You can also pass parameters to Literal and have it formatted into valid PHP code using special placeholders:

new Literal('substr(?, ?)', [$a, $b]);
// generates, for example: substr('hello', 5);

Anonymous Class

Give null as the name and you have an anonymous class:

$class = new Nette\PhpGenerator\ClassType(null);
$class->addMethod('__construct')
	->addParameter('foo');

echo '$obj = new class ($val) ' . $class . ';';

Result:

$obj = new class ($val) {

	public function __construct($foo)
	{
	}
};

Global Function

Code of functions will generate class GlobalFunction:

$function = new Nette\PhpGenerator\GlobalFunction('foo');
$function->setBody('return $a + $b;');
$function->addParameter('a');
$function->addParameter('b');
echo $function;

// or use PsrPrinter for output compatible with PSR-2 / PSR-12
// echo (new Nette\PhpGenerator\PsrPrinter)->printFunction($function);

Result:

function foo($a, $b)
{
	return $a + $b;
}

Closure

Code of closures will generate class Closure:

$closure = new Nette\PhpGenerator\Closure;
$closure->setBody('return $a + $b;');
$closure->addParameter('a');
$closure->addParameter('b');
$closure->addUse('c')
	->setReference();
echo $closure;

// or use PsrPrinter for output compatible with PSR-2 / PSR-12
// echo (new Nette\PhpGenerator\PsrPrinter)->printClosure($closure);

Result:

function ($a, $b) use (&$c) {
	return $a + $b;
}

Arrow Function

You can also print closure as arrow function using printer:

$closure = new Nette\PhpGenerator\Closure;
$closure->setBody('$a + $b');
$closure->addParameter('a');
$closure->addParameter('b');

// or use PsrPrinter for output compatible with PSR-2 / PSR-12
echo (new Nette\PhpGenerator\Printer)->printArrowFunction($closure);

Result:

fn($a, $b) => $a + $b

Attributes

You can add PHP 8 attributes to all classes, methods, properties, constants, enum cases, functions, closures and parameters.

$class = new Nette\PhpGenerator\ClassType('Demo');
$class->addAttribute('Deprecated');

$class->addProperty('list')
	->addAttribute('WithArguments', [1, 2]);

$method = $class->addMethod('count')
	->addAttribute('Foo\Cached', ['mode' => true]);

$method->addParameter('items')
	->addAttribute('Bar');

echo $class;

Result:

#[Deprecated]
class Demo
{
	#[WithArguments(1, 2)]
	public $list;


	#[Foo\Cached(mode: true)]
	public function count(#[Bar] $items)
	{
	}
}

Method and Function Body Generator

The body can be passed to the setBody() method at once or sequentially (line by line) by repeatedly calling addBody():

$function = new Nette\PhpGenerator\GlobalFunction('foo');
$function->addBody('$a = rand(10, 20);');
$function->addBody('return $a;');
echo $function;

Result

function foo()
{
	$a = rand(10, 20);
	return $a;
}

You can use special placeholders for handy way to inject variables.

Simple placeholders ?

$str = 'any string';
$num = 3;
$function = new Nette\PhpGenerator\GlobalFunction('foo');
$function->addBody('return substr(?, ?);', [$str, $num]);
echo $function;

Result:

function foo()
{
	return substr('any string', 3);
}

Variadic placeholder ...?

$items = [1, 2, 3];
$function = new Nette\PhpGenerator\GlobalFunction('foo');
$function->setBody('myfunc(...?);', [$items]);
echo $function;

Result:

function foo()
{
	myfunc(1, 2, 3);
}

You can also use PHP 8 named parameters using placeholder ...?:

$items = ['foo' => 1, 'bar' => true];
$function->setBody('myfunc(...?:);', [$items]);

// myfunc(foo: 1, bar: true);

Escape placeholder using slash \?

$num = 3;
$function = new Nette\PhpGenerator\GlobalFunction('foo');
$function->addParameter('a');
$function->addBody('return $a \? 10 : ?;', [$num]);
echo $function;

Result:

function foo($a)
{
	return $a ? 10 : 3;
}

Namespace

Classes, traits, interfaces and enums (hereinafter classes) can be grouped into namespaces (PhpNamespace):

$namespace = new Nette\PhpGenerator\PhpNamespace('Foo');

// create new classes in the namespace
$class = $namespace->addClass('Task');
$interface = $namespace->addInterface('Countable');
$trait = $namespace->addTrait('NameAware');

// or insert an existing class into the namespace
$class = new Nette\PhpGenerator\ClassType('Task');
$namespace->add($class);

If the class already exists, it throws exception.

You can define use-statements:

// use Http\Request;
$namespace->addUse(Http\Request::class);
// use Http\Request as HttpReq;
$namespace->addUse(Http\Request::class, 'HttpReq');
// use function iter\range;
$namespace->addUseFunction('iter\range');

To simplify a fully qualified class, function or constant name according to the defined aliases, use the simplifyName method:

echo $namespace->simplifyName('Foo\Bar'); // 'Bar', because 'Foo' is current namespace
echo $namespace->simplifyName('iter\range', $namespace::NameFunction); // 'range', because of the defined use-statement

Conversely, you can convert a simplified class, function or constant name to a fully qualified one using the resolveName method:

echo $namespace->resolveName('Bar'); // 'Foo\Bar'
echo $namespace->resolveName('range', $namespace::NameFunction); // 'iter\range'

Class Names Resolving

When the class is part of the namespace, it is rendered slightly differently: all types (ie. type hints, return types, parent class name, implemented interfaces, used traits and attributes) are automatically resolved (unless you turn it off, see below). It means that you have to use full class names in definitions and they will be replaced with aliases (according to the use-statements) or fully qualified names in the resulting code:

$namespace = new Nette\PhpGenerator\PhpNamespace('Foo');
$namespace->addUse('Bar\AliasedClass');

$class = $namespace->addClass('Demo');
$class->addImplement('Foo\A') // it will simplify to A
	->addTrait('Bar\AliasedClass'); // it will simplify to AliasedClass

$method = $class->addMethod('method');
$method->addComment('@return ' . $namespace->simplifyType('Foo\D')); // in comments simplify manually
$method->addParameter('arg')
	->setType('Bar\OtherClass'); // it will resolve to \Bar\OtherClass

echo $namespace;

// or use PsrPrinter for output compatible with PSR-2 / PSR-12
// echo (new Nette\PhpGenerator\PsrPrinter)->printNamespace($namespace);

Result:

namespace Foo;

use Bar\AliasedClass;

class Demo implements A
{
	use AliasedClass;

	/**
	 * @return D
	 */
	public function method(\Bar\OtherClass $arg)
	{
	}
}

Auto-resolving can be turned off this way:

$printer = new Nette\PhpGenerator\Printer; // or PsrPrinter
$printer->setTypeResolving(false);
echo $printer->printNamespace($namespace);

PHP Files

Classes, functions and namespaces can be grouped into PHP files represented by the class PhpFile:

$file = new Nette\PhpGenerator\PhpFile;
$file->addComment('This file is auto-generated.');
$file->setStrictTypes(); // adds declare(strict_types=1)

$class = $file->addClass('Foo\A');
$function = $file->addFunction('Foo\foo');

// or
// $namespace = $file->addNamespace('Foo');
// $class = $namespace->addClass('A');
// $function = $namespace->addFunction('foo');

echo $file;

// or use PsrPrinter for output compatible with PSR-2 / PSR-12
// echo (new Nette\PhpGenerator\PsrPrinter)->printFile($file);

Result:

<?php

/**
 * This file is auto-generated.
 */

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace Foo;

class A
{
}

function foo()
{
}

Generate using Reflection

Another common use case is to create class or function based on existing one:

$class = Nette\PhpGenerator\ClassType::from(PDO::class);

$function = Nette\PhpGenerator\GlobalFunction::from('trim');

$closure = Nette\PhpGenerator\Closure::from(
	function (stdClass $a, $b = null) {}
);

Function and method bodies are empty by default. If you want to load them as well, use this way (it requires nikic/php-parser to be installed):

$class = Nette\PhpGenerator\ClassType::from(PDO::class, withBodies: true);

$function = Nette\PhpGenerator\GlobalFunction::from('dump', withBody: true);

Load class from file

You can also load classes directly from a PHP file that is not already loaded or string of PHP code:

$class = Nette\PhpGenerator\ClassType::fromCode(<<<XX
	<?php

	class Demo
	{
		public $foo;
	}
	XX);

Loading the entire PHP file, which may contain multiple classes or even multiple namespaces:

$file = Nette\PhpGenerator\PhpFile::fromCode(file_get_contents('classes.php'));

This requires nikic/php-parser to be installed.

Variables Dumper

The Dumper returns a parsable PHP string representation of a variable. Provides better and clearer output that native functon var_export().

$dumper = new Nette\PhpGenerator\Dumper;

$var = ['a', 'b', 123];

echo $dumper->dump($var); // prints ['a', 'b', 123]

Compatibility Table

PhpGenerator 4.0 is compatible with PHP 8.0 to 8.1
PhpGenerator 3.6 is compatible with PHP 7.2 to 8.1
PhpGenerator 3.2 – 3.5 is compatible with PHP 7.1 to 8.0
PhpGenerator 3.1 is compatible with PHP 7.1 to 7.3
PhpGenerator 3.0 is compatible with PHP 7.0 to 7.3
PhpGenerator 2.6 is compatible with PHP 5.6 to 7.3

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 509 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
src/PhpGenerator		src/PhpGenerator
tests		tests
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
composer.json		composer.json
license.md		license.md
ncs.php		ncs.php
phpstan-baseline.neon		phpstan-baseline.neon
phpstan.neon		phpstan.neon
readme.md		readme.md

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Nette PHP Generator

Installation

Support Me

Classes

Types

Interface or Trait

Enums

Printers and PSR compliance

Literals

Anonymous Class

Global Function

Closure

Arrow Function

Attributes

Method and Function Body Generator

Namespace

Class Names Resolving

PHP Files

Generate using Reflection

Load class from file

Variables Dumper

Compatibility Table

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Nette PHP Generator

Installation

Support Me

Classes

Types

Interface or Trait

Enums

Printers and PSR compliance

Literals

Anonymous Class

Global Function

Closure

Arrow Function

Attributes

Method and Function Body Generator

Namespace

Class Names Resolving

PHP Files

Generate using Reflection

Load class from file

Variables Dumper

Compatibility Table

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License

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