Darn Tidy Object (DTO)

DTO stands for Darn Tidy Object, a playful twist on the traditional Data Transfer Object. But this isn’t your average DTO. It’s a fully-loaded toolkit for traversing, transforming, and tidying up structured data in PHP with style, power, and simplicity.

📦 Installation

composer require maplephp/dto

📘 Documentation

• Why DTO?
• Traverse Collection
• Format string
• Format Number
• Format Clock
• Format Dom

How It Works

DTO wraps your data arrays into a powerful, fluent object structure. Instead of cluttered array access, your code becomes expressive and self-documenting.

Before DTO

$name = isset($data['user']['profile']['name'])
    ? ucfirst(strip_tags($data['user']['profile']['name']))
    : 'Guest';

With DTO

$name = $obj->user->profile->name
    ->strStripTags()
    ->strUcFirst()
    ->fallback('Guest')
    ->get();

Much tidier, right?

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✨ Core Features

Smart Data Traversal

Access deeply nested data without ever worrying about undefined keys.

echo $obj->article->tagline->strToUpper();  
// Result: 'HELLO WORLD'

echo $obj->article->content->strExcerpt()->strUcFirst();  
// Result: 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...'

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Built-In Data Transformation

Transform values directly using built-in helpers like:

Strings (str)

echo $obj->title->strSlug();  
// Result: 'my-awesome-title'

Numbers (num)

echo $obj->filesize->numToFilesize();  
// Result: '1.95 kb'

echo $obj->price->numRound(2)->numToCurrency("USD");  
// Result: $1,999.99

Dates (clock)

echo $obj->created_at->clockFormat('d M, Y', 'sv_SE');  
// Result: '21 augusti 2025'

echo $obj->created_at->clockIsToday();  
// Result: true

HTML DOM Builder (dom)

echo $obj->heading->domTag("h1.title");  
// Result: <h1 class="title">My Heading</h1>

Or nest elements with ease:

echo $obj->title->domTag("h1.title")->domTag("header");  
// Result: <header><h1 class="title">Hello</h1></header>

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Built-In Collection Support

Work with arrays of objects just as cleanly:

foreach ($obj->users->fetch() as $user) {
    echo $user->firstName->strUcFirst();
}

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Modify Data on the Fly

Change values directly without verbose conditionals:

$updated = $obj->shoppingList->replace([0 => 'Shampoo']);
print_r($updated->toArray());

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Now go forth, write cleaner code, and let DTO handle the messy parts.