How to use method chaining in PHP7 with proper error handling

Question

I have nested objects and method calls like this for an XML web service:

$value = $object->getData()->getSomething()->getValue();

The problem is, if one nested object does not exists, there is an Error thrown like this:

Call to a member function getData() on null

Can I avoid having silly code like this:

if ($object && $object->getData() && $object->getData()->getSomething()) {
   $value = $object->getData()->getSomething()->getValue();
}

or catching an Error:

try {
   $value = $object->getData()->getSomething()->getValue();
} catch (Error $e) {

}

The best would be something like:

if (isset($object->getData()->getSomething())) {
   $value = $object->getData()->getSomething()->getValue();
}

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 01 '20 at 09:07

Starting with PHP 8 it is possible now:

$value = $object?->getData()?->getSomething()?->getValue();

When the left hand side of the operator evaluates to null the execution of the entire chain will stop and evalute to null.

1 Answers1