Automatic Entity cast for Parser

[SteeveDroz]

Describe the bug
Passing an Entity to the Parser displays an ErrorExceptions: Object of class (…) could not be converted to string

CodeIgniter 4 version
v4.0.0-rc.2.1

Affected module(s)
Entity or Parser, couldn't tell

Expected behavior, and steps to reproduce if appropriate
Currently, in order to be able to pass an entity to the parser, one must do the following:

// Entity:
namespace App\Entities;

class Article extends \CodeIgniter\Entity
{
    protected $casts = [
        'options' => 'array'
    ];

    // …
}

// Controller:
$article = …; // from the model or whatever
$parser = \Config\Services::parser();
$parser->setData(['article' => $article->options])->render('article.html');

It would be so convenient if the Entity class didn't need such a cast and if, when passed to a Parser, it was automatically cast into usable data.

Currently, the code below returns an ErrorException because you can't convert an Entity into a string. That simple way of doing would be very useful, though:

// Entity: nothing in particular!

// Controller:
$article = …; // from the model or whatever
$parser = \Config\Services::parser();
$parser->setData(['article' => $article])->render('article.html'); // or with compact('article')

Context

• OS: Linux Fedora 30
• Web server Apache 2.4.41
• PHP version 7.3.10

[jim-parry]

Please raise future feature requests in the forum, thanks :)

[SteeveDroz]

Will do, sorry for the quiproquo, I honestly thought this was a bug!

[MGatner]

@SteeveDroz Sorry if I am misunderstanding... but why don't you just use the Entity method toArray()? Wouldn't that get at what you want precisely, without mucking around in parser casts?

$parser->setData(['article' => $article->toArray()])->render('article.html');

[SteeveDroz]

@MGatner Because this method is undocumented and I just learn from it with your very revelant question.

The feature request issue seems to be turning into a documentation missing issue.

Thanks for the hint/answer!