stellarwp / models
A library for a simple model structure.
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pkg:composer/stellarwp/models
Requires
- stellarwp/db: ^1.0.3
Requires (Dev)
- codeception/module-asserts: ^1.0
- codeception/module-cli: ^1.0
- codeception/module-db: ^1.0
- codeception/module-filesystem: ^1.0
- codeception/module-phpbrowser: ^1.0
- codeception/module-rest: ^1.0
- codeception/module-webdriver: ^1.0
- codeception/util-universalframework: ^1.0
- lucatume/wp-browser: ^3.0.14
- phpstan/phpstan: ^2.1
- phpunit/phpunit: ~6.0
This package is auto-updated.
Last update: 2025-10-07 18:56:38 UTC
README
A library for a simple model structure.
Table of Contents
- Installation
- Notes on examples
- Configuration
- Creating a model
- Interacting with a model
- Attribute validation
- Data transfer objects
- Classes of note
- Contracts of note
Installation
It's recommended that you install Schema as a project dependency via Composer:
composer require stellarwp/models
We actually recommend that this library gets included in your project using Strauss.
Luckily, adding Strauss to your
composer.json
is only slightly more complicated than adding a typical dependency, so checkout our strauss docs.
Notes on examples
Since the recommendation is to use Strauss to prefix this library's namespaces, all examples will be using the Boomshakalaka
namespace prefix.
Configuration
This library requires some configuration before its classes can be used. The configuration is done via the Config
class.
use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\Config; add_action( 'plugins_loaded', function() { Config::setHookPrefix( 'boom-shakalaka' ); } );
Creating a model
Models are classes that hold data and provide some helper methods for interacting with that data.
A simple model
This is an example of a model that just holds properties. Properties can be defined in one or both of the following ways:
Using the shorthand syntax:
namespace Boomshakalaka\Whatever; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\Model; class Breakfast_Model extends Model { /** * @inheritDoc */ protected static $properties = [ 'id' => 'int', 'name' => ['string', 'Default Name'], // With default value 'price' => 'float', 'num_eggs' => 'int', 'has_bacon' => 'bool', ]; }
Using property definitions for more control:
namespace Boomshakalaka\Whatever; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\Model; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\ModelPropertyDefinition; class Breakfast_Model extends Model { /** * @inheritDoc */ protected static function properties(): array { return [ 'id' => ModelPropertyDefinition::create() ->type('int') ->required() 'name' => ModelPropertyDefinition::create() ->type('string') ->default('Default Name') ->nullable(), 'price' => ModelPropertyDefinition::create() ->type('float') ->requiredOnSave(), ]; } }
Property definition options:
type(string ...$types)
- Set one or more types (int, string, bool, float, array, or class names)default($value)
- Set a default value (can be a closure)nullable()
- Allow null valuesrequired()
- Property must be provided during constructionrequiredOnSave()
- Property must be set before savingreadonly()
- Property can only be set during construction, cannot be modified afterwardcastWith(callable $callback)
- Custom casting function for the property value
A persistable model
This is a model that includes persistence operations (create, find, save, delete). Ideally, the actual persistence operations should be deferred to and handled by
a repository class, but the model should provide a simple interface for interacting with the repository. We get a persistable
model by implementing the Contracts\ModelPersistable
contract.
namespace Boomshakalaka\Whatever; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\Contracts; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\Model; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\ModelQueryBuilder; class Breakfast_Model extends Model implements Contracts\ModelPersistable { /** * @inheritDoc */ protected static $properties = [ 'id' => 'int', 'name' => 'string', 'price' => 'float', 'num_eggs' => 'int', 'has_bacon' => 'bool', ]; /** * @inheritDoc */ public static function create( array $attributes ) : Model { $obj = new static( $attributes ); return App::get( Repository::class )->insert( $obj ); } /** * @inheritDoc */ public static function find( $id ) : Model { return App::get( Repository::class )->get_by_id( $id ); } /** * @inheritDoc */ public function save() : Model { return App::get( Repository::class )->update( $this ); } /** * @inheritDoc */ public function delete() : bool { return App::get( Repository::class )->delete( $this ); } /** * @inheritDoc */ public static function query() : ModelQueryBuilder { return App::get( Repository::class )->prepareQuery(); } }
Interacting with a model
Change tracking
Models track changes to their properties and provide methods to manage those changes:
$breakfast = new Breakfast_Model([ 'name' => 'Original Name', 'price' => 5.99, ]); // Check if a property is dirty (changed) $breakfast->setAttribute('name', 'New Name'); if ($breakfast->isDirty('name')) { echo 'Name has changed!'; } // Get all dirty values $dirtyValues = $breakfast->getDirty(); // ['name' => 'New Name'] // Commit changes (makes current values the "original") $breakfast->commitChanges(); // or use the alias: $breakfast->syncOriginal(); // Revert a specific property change $breakfast->setAttribute('price', 7.99); $breakfast->revertChange('price'); // price is back to 5.99 // Revert all changes $breakfast->setAttribute('name', 'Another Name'); $breakfast->setAttribute('price', 8.99); $breakfast->revertChanges(); // All properties back to original // Get original value $originalName = $breakfast->getOriginal('name'); $allOriginal = $breakfast->getOriginal(); // Get all original values
Checking if properties are set
The isSet()
method checks if a property has been set. This is different from PHP's isset()
because it considers null
values and default values as "set":
$breakfast = new Breakfast_Model(); // Properties with defaults are considered set if ($breakfast->isSet('name')) { // true if 'name' has a default value echo 'Name is set'; } // Properties without defaults are not set until assigned if (!$breakfast->isSet('price')) { // false - no default and not assigned echo 'Price is not set'; } // Setting a property to null still counts as set $breakfast->setAttribute('price', null); if ($breakfast->isSet('price')) { // true - explicitly set to null echo 'Price is set (even though it\'s null)'; } // PHP's isset() behaves differently with null if (!isset($breakfast->price)) { // false - isset() returns false for null echo 'PHP isset() returns false for null values'; }
Key differences from PHP's isset()
:
isSet()
returnstrue
for properties with default valuesisSet()
returnstrue
for properties explicitly set tonull
isSet()
returnsfalse
only for properties that have no default and haven't been assigned
Creating models from query data
Models can be created from database query results using the fromData()
method:
// From an object or array $data = DB::get_row("SELECT * FROM breakfasts WHERE id = 1"); $breakfast = Breakfast_Model::fromData($data); // With different build modes $breakfast = Breakfast_Model::fromData($data, Breakfast_Model::BUILD_MODE_STRICT); $breakfast = Breakfast_Model::fromData($data, Breakfast_Model::BUILD_MODE_IGNORE_MISSING); $breakfast = Breakfast_Model::fromData($data, Breakfast_Model::BUILD_MODE_IGNORE_EXTRA);
Build modes:
BUILD_MODE_STRICT
: Throws exceptions for missing or extra propertiesBUILD_MODE_IGNORE_MISSING
: Ignores properties missing from the dataBUILD_MODE_IGNORE_EXTRA
: Ignores extra properties in the data (default)
Readonly properties
Properties marked as readonly()
can only be set during construction and cannot be modified afterward:
use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\Model; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\ModelPropertyDefinition; class User_Model extends Model { protected static function properties(): array { return [ 'id' => ModelPropertyDefinition::create() ->type('int') ->readonly(), // Can only be set during construction 'email' => ModelPropertyDefinition::create() ->type('string'), ]; } } // Set readonly property during construction $user = new User_Model(['id' => 1, 'email' => 'user@example.com']); // This works fine $user->setAttribute('email', 'newemail@example.com'); // This throws ReadOnlyPropertyException $user->setAttribute('id', 2); // Error: Cannot modify readonly property "id" // This also throws ReadOnlyPropertyException unset($user->id); // Error: Cannot unset readonly property "id"
Readonly properties are useful for:
- Primary keys that shouldn't change after creation
- Timestamps that are set once
- Any immutable identifiers or values
Extending model construction
Models can perform custom initialization after construction by overriding the afterConstruct()
method:
class Breakfast_Model extends Model { protected function afterConstruct() { // Perform custom initialization if ($this->has_bacon && $this->num_eggs > 2) { $this->setAttribute('name', $this->name . ' (Hearty!)'); } } }
Model Relationships
Models can define relationships to other models, similar to how properties are defined. Relationships support lazy loading and caching.
Defining Relationships
Relationships can be defined using either shorthand syntax or the fluent ModelRelationshipDefinition
API:
Using shorthand syntax:
namespace Boomshakalaka\Whatever; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\Model; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\ValueObjects\Relationship; class Product_Model extends Model { /** * @inheritDoc */ protected static $relationships = [ 'category' => Relationship::BELONGS_TO, 'reviews' => Relationship::HAS_MANY, 'tags' => Relationship::MANY_TO_MANY, ]; /** * Define how to load the category relationship. */ protected function category() { return Category_Model::query()->where('id', $this->category_id); } /** * Define how to load the reviews relationship. */ protected function reviews() { return Review_Model::query()->where('product_id', $this->id); } /** * Define how to load the tags relationship. */ protected function tags() { return Tag_Model::query() ->select('tags.*') ->join('product_tags', 'product_tags.tag_id', 'tags.id') ->where('product_tags.product_id', $this->id); } }
Using relationship definitions for more control:
namespace Boomshakalaka\Whatever; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\Model; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\ModelRelationshipDefinition; class Product_Model extends Model { /** * @inheritDoc */ protected static function relationships(): array { return [ 'category' => (new ModelRelationshipDefinition('category')) ->belongsTo(), 'reviews' => (new ModelRelationshipDefinition('reviews')) ->hasMany(), 'tags' => (new ModelRelationshipDefinition('tags')) ->manyToMany() ->disableCaching(), // Don't cache this relationship ]; } // Define relationship loaders as above... }
Relationship Types
Five relationship types are available:
Relationship::HAS_ONE
- Model has one related modelRelationship::HAS_MANY
- Model has many related modelsRelationship::BELONGS_TO
- Model belongs to another modelRelationship::BELONGS_TO_MANY
- Model belongs to many related modelsRelationship::MANY_TO_MANY
- Many-to-many relationship
Accessing Relationships
Relationships are loaded lazily when accessed as properties:
$product = Product_Model::find(1); // First access loads from database and caches result $category = $product->category; // Subsequent accesses use cached value (if caching enabled) $category = $product->category; // No additional query // Access multiple relationship $reviews = $product->reviews; // Returns array of Review_Model instances
Relationship Caching
By default, relationships are cached after the first load. You can control caching behavior:
class Product_Model extends Model { protected static function relationships(): array { return [ // Cached (default) 'category' => (new ModelRelationshipDefinition('category')) ->belongsTo(), // Not cached - always loads fresh 'stock' => (new ModelRelationshipDefinition('stock')) ->hasOne() ->disableCaching(), ]; } }
Managing Relationship Cache
Models provide methods to manage relationship caching:
$product = Product_Model::find(1); // Manually set a cached relationship value $product->setCachedRelationship('category', $newCategory); // Clear a specific relationship cache $product->purgeRelationship('category'); $category = $product->category; // Reloads from database // Clear all relationship caches $product->purgeRelationshipCache();
Customizing Relationship Loading
Override the fetchRelationship()
method to customize how relationships are loaded:
class Product_Model extends Model { /** * Custom relationship loading logic. */ protected function fetchRelationship(string $key) { // Add custom logic before loading if ($key === 'category' && !$this->category_id) { return null; } // Default loading behavior return parent::fetchRelationship($key); } }
Attribute validation
Sometimes it would be helpful to validate attributes that are set in the model. To do that, you can create validate_*()
methods that will execute any time an attribute is set.
Here's an example:
namespace Boomshakalaka\Whatever; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\Model; class Breakfast_Model extends Model { /** * @inheritDoc */ protected static $properties = [ 'id' => 'int', 'name' => 'string', 'price' => 'float', 'num_eggs' => 'int', 'has_bacon' => 'bool', ]; /** * Validate the name. * * @param string $value * * @return bool */ public function validate_name( $value ): bool { if ( ! preg_match( '/eggs/i', $value ) ) { throw new \Exception( 'Breakfasts must have "eggs" in the name!' ); } return true; } }
Data Transfer Objects
Data Transfer Objects (DTOs) are classes that help with the translation of database query results (or other sources of data)
into models. DTOs are not required for using this library, but they are recommended. Using these objects helps you be more
deliberate with your query usage and allows your models and repositories well with the ModelQueryBuilder
.
Here's an example of a DTO for breakfasts:
namespace Boomshakalaka\Whatever; use Boomshakalaka\Whatever\StellarWP\Models\DataTransferObject; use Boomshakalaka\Whatever\Breakfast_Model; class Breakfast_DTO extends DataTransferObject { /** * Breakfast ID. * * @var int */ public int $id; /** * Breakfast name. * * @var string */ public string $name; /** * Breakfast price. * * @var float */ public float $price; /** * Number of eggs in the breakfast. * * @var int */ public int $num_eggs; /** * Whether or not the breakfast has bacon. * * @var bool */ public bool $has_bacon; /** * Builds a new DTO from an object. * * @since TBD * * @param object $object The object to build the DTO from. * * @return Breakfast_DTO The DTO instance. */ public static function fromObject( $object ): self { $self = new self(); $self->id = $object->id; $self->name = $object->name; $self->price = $object->price; $self->num_eggs = $object->num_eggs; $self->has_bacon = (bool) $object->has_bacon; return $self; } /** * Builds a model instance from the DTO. * * @since TBD * * @return Breakfast_Model The model instance. */ public function toModel(): Breakfast_Model { $attributes = get_object_vars( $this ); return new Breakfast_Model( $attributes ); } }
Repositories
Repositories are classes that fetch from and interact with the database. Ideally, repositories would be used to
query the database in different ways and return corresponding models. With this library, we provide
Deletable
, Insertable
, and Updatable
contracts that can be used to indicate what operations a repository provides.
You may be wondering why there isn't a Findable
or Readable
contract (or similar). That's because the fetching needs
of a repository varies with the usecase. However, in the Repository
abstract class, there is an abstract prepareQuery()
method. This method should return a ModelQueryBuilder
instance that can be used to fetch data from the database.
namespace Boomshakalaka\Whatever; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\Contracts\Model; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Models\ModelQueryBuilder; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Repositories\Repository; use Boomshakalaka\StellarWP\Repositories\Contracts; use Boomshakalaka\Whatever\Breakfast_Model; use Boomshakalaka\Whatever\Breakfast as Table; class Breakfast_Repository extends Repository implements Contracts\Deletable, Contracts\Insertable, Contracts\Updatable { /** * {@inheritDoc} */ public function delete( Model $model ): bool { return (bool) DB::delete( Table::table_name(), [ 'id' => $model->id ], [ '%d' ] ); } /** * {@inheritDoc} */ public function insert( Model $model ): Breakfast_Model { DB::insert( Table::table_name(), [ 'name' => $model->name, 'price' => $model->price, 'num_eggs' => $model->num_eggs, 'has_bacon' => (int) $model->has_bacon, ], [ '%s', '%s', '%d', '%d', ] ); $model->id = DB::last_insert_id(); return $model; } /** * {@inheritDoc} */ function prepareQuery(): ModelQueryBuilder { $builder = new ModelQueryBuilder( Breakfast_Model::class ); return $builder->from( Table::table_name( false ) ); } /** * {@inheritDoc} */ public function update( Model $model ): Model { DB::update( Table::table_name(), [ 'name' => $model->name, 'price' => $model->price, 'num_eggs' => $model->num_eggs, 'has_bacon' => (int) $model->has_bacon, ], [ 'id' => $model->id ], [ '%s', '%s', '%d', '%d', ], [ '%d' ] ); return $model; } /** * Finds a Breakfast by its ID. * * @since TBD * * @param int $id The ID of the Breakfast to find. * * @return Breakfast_Model|null The Breakfast model instance, or null if not found. */ public function find_by_id( int $id ): ?Breakfast_Model { return $this->prepareQuery()->where( 'id', $id )->get(); } }
Interacting with the Repository
Querying
$breakfast = App::get( Breakfast_Repository::class )->find_by_id( 1 ); // Or, we can fetch via the model, which defers to the repository. $breakfast = Breakfast_Model::find( 1 );
Inserting
$breakfast = new Breakfast_Model( [ 'name' => 'Bacon and Eggs', 'price' => 5.99, 'num_eggs' => 2, 'has_bacon' => true, ] ); $breakfast->save();
Updating
$breakfast = Breakfast_Model::find( 1 ); $breakfast->setAttribute( 'price', 6.99 ); $breakfast->save();
Deleting
$breakfast = Breakfast_Model::find( 1 ); $breakfast->delete();
Unsetting properties
$breakfast = Breakfast_Model::find( 1 ); unset($breakfast->price); // Unsets the price property
Classes of note
Model
This is an abstract class to extend for your models.
ModelQueryBuilder
This class extends the stellarwp/db
QueryBuilder
class so that it returns
model instances rather than arrays or stdClass
instances.
DataTransferObject
This is an abstract class to extend for your DTOs.
Repositories\Repository
This is an abstract class to extend for your repositories.
Contracts of note
Contracts\ModelPersistable
Provides definitions of methods for persistence operations in a model (create, find, save, delete, query).
Repositories\Contracts\Deletable
Provides method signatures for delete methods in a repository.
Repositories\Contracts\Insertable
Provides method signatures for insert methods in a repository.
Repositories\Contracts\Updatable
Provides method signatures for update methods in a repository.