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VERSIONS_DEV/Class_Entity.md

+# Class_Entity
+
+## Description
+
+In PHP we have StdClass on which we can set and get any direct property
+
+```php
+$o = new StdClass();
+$o->title = 'my title';
+echo $o->title; // -> my title
+```
+
+_Class_Entity_ provides same functionality with getter and setter methods
+
+
+```php
+$o = new Class_Entity();
+$o->setTitle('my title');
+echo $o->getTitle(); // -> my title
+```
+
+## Implementation
+
+Any call to set*() will be catched to populate an internal key => value array, it will return $this to chain calls.
+Any call to get*() will look for an existing key in internal array and will return its value or null if not found.
+
+Keys of internal array are not transformed in any way
+* setMyValue will produce a 'MyValue' key
+* set_my_value will produce a '_my_value' key
+* setmyvalue will produce a 'myvalue' key
+
+You can define default values by setting
+
+```php
+protected $_attribs = ['MyValue' => ''];
+```
+
+Then a getMyValue() call will return an empty string instead of null if not set.
+
+## Use cases
+
+### In tests
+
+When you have an API relying on getter and setter methods you can provide a _Class_Entity_ as a mock and easily verify that an attribute has been set or prepare it with attributes needed by tested code.
+
+### In general
+
+When you are modeling an object and don't want to write all those standard getters and setters just extend Class_Entity.
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