Using transformers

On this page

  1. Default transformers
  2. Writing your own transformers

Transformers are the heart of the package. They take a PHP class and try to make a TypeScript definition out of it.

The package comes with a few transformers out of the box:

  • EnumTransformer: this transforms a PHP 8.1 native enum
  • MyclabsEnumTransformer: this transforms an enum from the myclabs\enum package
  • SpatieEnumTransformer: this transforms an enum from the spatie\enum package
  • DtoTransformer: a powerful transformer that transforms entire classes and their properties, you can read more about it here
  • InterfaceTransformer: this transforms a PHP interface and its functions to a Typescript interface. If used, this transformer should always be included before the DtoTransformer.

The laravel package has some extra transformers:

  • SpatieStateTransformer: this transforms a state from the spatie\laravel-model-states package
  • DtoTransformer: a more Laravel specific transformer based upon the default DtoTransformer

There are also some packages with community transformers:

If you've written a transformer package, let us know, and we add it to the list!

You should supply a list of transformers the package should use in your config. The order of transformers matters and can lead to unexpected results if in the wrong order. A PHP declaration (e.g. classes, enums) will go through each transformer and stop once a transformer is able to handle it; this is a problem if DtoTransformer is listed before an enum transformer since DtoTransformer will incorrectly handle an enum as a class and never allow MyclabsEnumTransformer to handle it.

$config = TypeScriptTransformerConfig::create()
    ->transformers([MyclabsEnumTransformer::class, DtoTransformer::class])
   ...

The package ships with three enum transformers out of the box, by default these enums are transformed to TypeScript types like this:

type Language = 'JS' | 'PHP';

It is possible to transform them to native TypeScript enums by changing the config:

$config = TypeScriptTransformerConfig::create()
    ->transformToNativeEnums()
   ...

A transformed enum now looks like this:

enum Language {'JS' = 'JS', 'PHP' = 'PHP'};

We've added a whole section in the docs about writing transformers.

Describing types
Collectors
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