Using PHP, how can I access the protected _values property returned from the Stripe API?

Question

I'm integrating the Stripe API with a CMS. I need to return the _values property from queries as an array so that the data is available as template variables in the CMS, but it's always protected.

I've been using a Reflection class to get at the data, but now that I'm using Stripe's \\Stripe\\Plan::all(); , I have to call the shortcut method I wrote to handle the Reflection class multiple times. It's not exactly recursive though, because I'd have to handle it differently depending on which method I call from the Stripe API.

Is there a way to use a Reflection class truly recursively? Is there something more fitting than a Reflection class that I'm just not aware of?

---

Here's a sample var_dump() ed response of \\Stripe\\Plan::all(); :

object(Stripe\Collection)#604 (5) {
  ["_opts":protected]=>
  object(Stripe\Util\RequestOptions)#603 (2) {
    ["headers"]=>
    array(0) {
    }
    ["apiKey"]=>
    string(32) "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
  }
  ["_values":protected]=>
  array(4) {
    ["object"]=>
    string(4) "list"
    ["has_more"]=>
    bool(false)
    ["url"]=>
    string(9) "/v1/plans"
    ["data"]=>
    array(2) {
      [0]=>
      object(Stripe\Plan)#605 (5) {
        ["_opts":protected]=>
        object(Stripe\Util\RequestOptions)#603 (2) {
          ["headers"]=>
          array(0) {
          }
          ["apiKey"]=>
          string(32) "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
        }
        ["_values":protected]=>
        array(12) {
          ["id"]=>
          string(8) "my_plan"
          ["interval"]=>
          string(5) "month"
          ["name"]=>
          string(9) "My Plan"
          ["created"]=>
          int(1427441577)
          ["amount"]=>
          int(20000)
          ["currency"]=>
          string(3) "usd"
          ["object"]=>
          string(4) "plan"
          ["livemode"]=>
          bool(false)
          ["interval_count"]=>
          int(1)
          ["trial_period_days"]=>
          NULL
          ["metadata"]=>
          object(Stripe\AttachedObject)#608 (5) {
            ["_opts":protected]=>
            object(Stripe\Util\RequestOptions)#603 (2) {
              ["headers"]=>
              array(0) {
              }
              ["apiKey"]=>
              string(32) "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
            }
            ["_values":protected]=>
            array(0) {
            }
            ["_unsavedValues":protected]=>
            object(Stripe\Util\Set)#612 (1) {
              ["_elts":"Stripe\Util\Set":private]=>
              array(0) {
              }
            }
            ["_transientValues":protected]=>
            object(Stripe\Util\Set)#613 (1) {
              ["_elts":"Stripe\Util\Set":private]=>
              array(0) {
              }
            }
            ["_retrieveOptions":protected]=>
            array(0) {
            }
          }
          ["statement_descriptor"]=>
          NULL
        }
        ["_unsavedValues":protected]=>
        object(Stripe\Util\Set)#609 (1) {
          ["_elts":"Stripe\Util\Set":private]=>
          array(0) {
          }
        }
        ["_transientValues":protected]=>
        object(Stripe\Util\Set)#610 (1) {
          ["_elts":"Stripe\Util\Set":private]=>
          array(0) {
          }
        }
        ["_retrieveOptions":protected]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
      [1]=>
      object(Stripe\Plan)#611 (5) {
        ["_opts":protected]=>
        object(Stripe\Util\RequestOptions)#603 (2) {
          ["headers"]=>
          array(0) {
          }
          ["apiKey"]=>
          string(32) "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
        }
        ["_values":protected]=>
        array(12) {
          ["id"]=>
          string(9) "some_other_plan"
          ["interval"]=>
          string(5) "month"
          ["name"]=>
          string(14) "Some Other Plan"
          ["created"]=>
          int(1427431129)
          ["amount"]=>
          int(40000)
          ["currency"]=>
          string(3) "usd"
          ["object"]=>
          string(4) "plan"
          ["livemode"]=>
          bool(false)
          ["interval_count"]=>
          int(1)
          ["trial_period_days"]=>
          NULL
          ["metadata"]=>
          object(Stripe\AttachedObject)#614 (5) {
            ["_opts":protected]=>
            object(Stripe\Util\RequestOptions)#603 (2) {
              ["headers"]=>
              array(0) {
              }
              ["apiKey"]=>
              string(32) "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
            }
            ["_values":protected]=>
            array(0) {
            }
            ["_unsavedValues":protected]=>
            object(Stripe\Util\Set)#618 (1) {
              ["_elts":"Stripe\Util\Set":private]=>
              array(0) {
              }
            }
            ["_transientValues":protected]=>
            object(Stripe\Util\Set)#619 (1) {
              ["_elts":"Stripe\Util\Set":private]=>
              array(0) {
              }
            }
            ["_retrieveOptions":protected]=>
            array(0) {
            }
          }
          ["statement_descriptor"]=>
          NULL
        }
        ["_unsavedValues":protected]=>
        object(Stripe\Util\Set)#615 (1) {
          ["_elts":"Stripe\Util\Set":private]=>
          array(0) {
          }
        }
        ["_transientValues":protected]=>
        object(Stripe\Util\Set)#616 (1) {
          ["_elts":"Stripe\Util\Set":private]=>
          array(0) {
          }
        }
        ["_retrieveOptions":protected]=>
        array(0) {
        }
      }
    }
  }
  ["_unsavedValues":protected]=>
  object(Stripe\Util\Set)#606 (1) {
    ["_elts":"Stripe\Util\Set":private]=>
    array(0) {
    }
  }
  ["_transientValues":protected]=>
  object(Stripe\Util\Set)#607 (1) {
    ["_elts":"Stripe\Util\Set":private]=>
    array(0) {
    }
  }
  ["_retrieveOptions":protected]=>
  array(0) {
  }
}

Answer 1

You don't have to use the Reflection API, the Stripe\\Collection class implements ArrayAccess , you can iterate through it directly:

$collection = \Stripe\Plan::all();
foreach ($collection as $plan) {
    // Do something with the plan
}

Here is the base class the Collection class extends. This is true for almost all the classes in Stripe's PHP library, including Stripe\\Plan . So you can use any kind of recursion you would use with normal arrays.

If you want to return the _values property as an array, you can use the __toArray() method:

$array = $collection->__toArray(true);

The true argument is a recursion option.

Answer 2

To add to Victor Stanciu's answer, if you want to access only certain elements of _values array, you can use dynamic properties.

For example, if you want to access data, you can do it this way:

$collection = \Stripe\Plan::all();
$plans = $collection->data;

And then, analogously, you can retrieve any array element from each plan:

foreach ($plans as $plan) {
    print $plan->name;
}

I use this code for Stripe API version 3.