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.

It also makes your life easier by ensuring every piece of data is returned in the correct type-helping. Whether you expect an int, string, bool, or even a callable, DTO gives you strict, reliable access to your data with minimal effort.

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📦 Installation

composer require maplephp/dto

📘 Documentation

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

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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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Correct Type Handling (with ease)

No more clunky is_numeric checks or intval casts. DTO makes it simple to extract values in the exact type you expect:

$orderId = $dto->order->id->toInt();
// Result: 1234 (int)

Handle flexible types cleanly with fallbacks:

$callback = $dto->settings->onReady->acceptType(['callable', 'null']);
if (is_callable($callback)) {
    $callback(); // Result: Runs a startup hook or closure
}

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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.

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