REQUEST: Changing array_merge() into array_merge_recursive() in \Illuminate\Support\ServiceProvider\mergeConfigFrom()

[aschwin]

Hi,

Is there any objection to change array_merge() to array_merge_recursive in mentioned method?

array_merge() will only merge on a shallow level, while the recursive one will do it properly (as far as I can see).

Any thoughts?

[crynobone]

http://jontai.me/blog/2011/12/array_merge_recursive-vs-array_replace_recursive/

array_replace_recursive were once merged in but had was reverted due to breaking changes AFAIK. See #1225

[GrahamCampbell]

We very intentionally don't do this recursively.

[GrahamCampbell]

Otherwise, how could you override a config entry with an empty array if it had other stuff there?

[Levivb]

Although this request is closed I'd like to show how it would be possible.

For a bit of background
I'm using pingpong modules for a project and needed to overrule certain nested module-config values in the app.

Every module has a [moduleName]ServiceProvider (ex. PageServiceProvider) which extends a custom ModuleServiceProvider which in turn extends Illuminate\Support\ServiceProvider.

the mergeConfigFrom in ModuleServiceProvider contains the following:

protected function mergeConfigFrom($path, $key)
    {
        //Get module app config
        $config = $this->app['config']->get($key, []);
        //Get module config
        $module_config = require $path;
        //recursive replace (also merges). Prefer app-specific config
        $combined_config = array_replace_recursive($module_config, $config);

        //Recursive closure which removes null from the config
        $filter_nulls = null;
        $filter_nulls = function ($input) use (&$filter_nulls) {
            if (is_array($input)) {
                foreach ($input as &$value) {
                    // is_callable check just for IDE error supression, since the function itself should be callable
                    if (is_array($value) && is_callable($filter_nulls)) {
                        $value = $filter_nulls($value);
                    }
                }
            }
            // Keep not-null values
            return array_filter($input, function ($v) {
                return !is_null($v);
            });
        };
        // Apply filter
        $filtered_config = $filter_nulls($combined_config);
        // And set
        $this->app['config']->set($key, $filtered_config);
    }

In short, it recursively removes null values from the config. It might not be backwards compatible nor Laravel worthy. But for whoever stumbles across this thread, it might be useful. On the downside... you can't have null values in your config.

As for an example:

$moduleConfig = [
    'first_setting' => [
        'inner_setting_1' => true,
        'inner_setting_2' => [
            'nested_inner_setting_2' => 'some_value',
        ],
    ],
    'redundant_array' => [
        'redundant_inner_setting_1' => true,
        'redundant_inner_setting_2' => false,
    ],
];

$appConfig = [
    'new_setting' => 'customization',
    'first_setting' => [
        'inner_setting_1' => false
    ],
    'redundant_array' => [
        'redundant_inner_setting_1' => null,
        'redundant_inner_setting_2' => null,
    ],
];

Results in:

$moduleConfig = [
    'new_setting' => 'customization',
    'first_setting' => [
        'inner_setting_1' => false,
        'inner_setting_2' => [
            'nested_inner_setting_2' => 'some_value',
        ],
    ],
    'redundant_array' => [
    ],
];