PHP serialization with non-serializable parts

Question

I have a PHP class that stores database query results, but also contains a PDO object so that the results can be updated/re-inserted/etc on the fly. A makeshift ORM, if you will.

Problem is, I need to serialize this class but instances of PDO cannot be serialized. I'm ok with that; by the time the object gets serialized, I have no need for the PDO instance.

Is there a way to mark a variable for exclusion from serialization within a class, like there are with some other languages? I understand I could manually unset() the PDO variable before I want to serialize the class, but with the current structure of the code, that would be a bit of a nightmare.

My saving grace here would be a __serialize() method that could be overridden, but it doesn't appear anything like that exists.

Does this answer your question? "Transient" properties in a PHP class? — Ortho
– Ortho, Commented Dec 1, 2023 at 14:48

Ionuț G. Stan · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-15 23:45:56Z

7

There's __sleep() and __wakeup().

Alternatively, you could implement Serializable.

edited Dec 15, 2014 at 23:45

answered Jun 15, 2009 at 14:34

Ionuț G. Stan

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1 Comment

Tom Frost Over a year ago

Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks, Ionut G. Stan!

deltragon · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-31 11:26:46Z

Starting with PHP 7.4, there is also __serialize and __unserialize (see the Documentation) as a more usable alternative.

The Serializable interface might also be deprecated, and generally the magic methods are preferred (see also this).

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