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Dynamic Properties & Property Overloading

Dynamic properties are properties that are not explicitly declared in the class definition. Before PHP 8.2, all classes have dynamic properties. After PHP 8.2, only classes extending stdClass and those marked with #[AllowDynamicProperties] have dynamic properties.

Mapper Semantic for Dynamic Properties​

Mapper supports classes with #[AllowDynamicProperties], including stdClass and all classes that extends stdClass, with the following semantics.

If the target is stdClass (or an object with #[AllowDynamicProperties]), then all properties of the source will be mapped to the target. If the target has explicit properties, then they will be respected as usual.

If the source is a stdClass (or an object with #[AllowDynamicProperties]) and the target is a regular object, then the mapping will take place for each property of the target that has a matching property on the source side.

If the source is a stdClass (or an object with #[AllowDynamicProperties]) and an argument of the target constructor is mandatory, then Mapper will assume the source value is null.

Classes With Overloading, or __get() and __set() Methods​

Classes that use overloading, or have __get() and __set() methods generally work the same way with Mapper as classes with dynamic properties as above.

You can throw BadMethodCallException in your __get() and __set() methods if you want to indicate that the property being accessed does not exist.