3.1.7. Record and RecordSet Behaviors

Atlas makes it easy to add your own behaviors to both Records and RecordSets. To accomplish this, you need a Record class for custom Record logic, and a RecordSet class for custom RecordSet logic. The Atlas CLI script (installable via composer using atlas/cli), can create these classes for you, saving you from manually writing them.

Consult the Atlas CLI documentation.

It's important to note that the Record and RecordSet objects described below should only be used for very simple behaviors. Any non-trivial domain work may be an indication that you need a domain layer. See the documentation on Domain Models for examples of how you can use Atlas to build a domain layer.

Here is an example using the atlas/cli package and the --full option.

./vendor/bin/atlas-skeleton.php \
    --conn=/path/to/conn.php \
    --dir=src/App/DataSource \
    --table=threads \
    --full \
    App\\DataSource\\Thread

Upon completion, you will have a folder layout as follows:

-- src
   -- App
      -- DataSource
         -- Thread
            -- ThreadMapper.php
            -- ThreadMapperEvents.php
            -- ThreadRecord.php
            -- ThreadRecordSet.php
            -- ThreadTable.php
            -- ThreadTableEvents.php

Once you have a Record Class (ThreadRecord.php), you can create custom methods to call from your Record object.

<?php
namespace App\DataSource\Thread;

use Atlas\Orm\Mapper\Record;

/**
 * @inheritdoc
 */
class ThreadRecord extends Record
{
    // Format the date_created property
    public function formatDate($format = 'M jS, Y')
    {
        $dateTime = new \DateTime($this->date_created);
        return $dateTime->format($format);
    }
}
$thread = $atlas->fetchRecord(ThreadMapper::CLASS, $id);
echo $thread->formatDate(); // outputs something like `Aug 21st, 2017`

The same concept is available for RecordSets using the RecordSet class. In our example ThreadRecordSet.php.

<?php
namespace App\DataSource\Thread;

use Atlas\Orm\Mapper\RecordSet;

/**
 * @inheritdoc
 */
class ThreadRecordSet extends RecordSet
{
    public function foo()
    {
        $data = []
        foreach ($this as $record) {
            $data[] = $record->title;
        }

        return implode('; ', $data);
    }
}
$threads = $atlas->fetchRecordSet(ThreadMapper::CLASS, [1, 2, 3]);

echo $threads->foo();