PHP Object, set multiple properties

Question

Is it possible to set multiple properties at a time for an object in php? Instead of doing:

$object->prop1 = $something;
$object->prop2 = $otherthing;
$object->prop3 = $morethings;

do something like:

$object = (object) array(
    'prop1' => $something,
    'prop2' => $otherthing,
    'prop3' => $morethings
);

but without overwriting the object.

Answer 1

Not like the way you want. but this can be done by using a loop.

$map =  array(
    'prop1' => $something,
    'prop2' => $otherthing,
    'prop3' => $morethings
);

foreach($map as $k => $v)
    $object->$k = $v;

See only 2 extra lines.

Answer 2

You should look at Object Oriented PHP Best Practices :

"since the setter functions return $this you can chain them like so:"

 $object->setName('Bob')
        ->setHairColor('green')
        ->setAddress('someplace');

This incidentally is known as a fluent interface.