hydrator.php

<?php
<<<CONFIG
packages:
    - "zendframework/zendframework:~2.3"
CONFIG;

class Weather {
        private $time;
        private $rain;
 
        function setTime($time) {
                $this->time = $time;
        }
 
        function getTime() {
                return $this->time;
        }
 
        function setRain(Rain $rain) {
                $this->rain = $rain;
        }
 
        function getRain() {
                return $this->rain;
        }
}
 
 
class Rain {
        private $description;
        function setDescription($description) {
                $this->description = $description;
        }
 
        function getDescription() {
                return $this->description;
        }
}

class HydratorStrategy implements Zend\Stdlib\Hydrator\Strategy\StrategyInterface
{
    private $hydrator;
    private $className;

    public function __construct(Zend\Stdlib\Hydrator\HydratorInterface $hydrator, $className)
    {
        $this->hydrator = $hydrator;
        $this->className = $className;
    }

    public function extract($value)
    {
        return $this->hydrator->extract($value);
    }

    public function hydrate($value)
    {
        $object = new $this->className;
        return $this->hydrator->hydrate($value, $object);
    }
}


$rainHydrator = new Zend\Stdlib\Hydrator\ClassMethods(false);

$weatherHydrator = new Zend\Stdlib\Hydrator\ClassMethods(false);
$weatherHydrator->addStrategy('rain', new HydratorStrategy($rainHydrator, Rain::class));

$myWeatherObject = new Weather();
$myWeatherData = [
    'time' => '12:22',
    'rain' => [
        'description' => 'test'
    ]
];
var_dump($weatherHydrator->hydrate($myWeatherData, $myWeatherObject));
var_dump($weatherHydrator->extract($myWeatherObject));

result

adam@adampc:/tmp$ melody run hydrators.php 
class Weather#24 (2) {
  private $time =>
  string(5) "12:22"
  private $rain =>
  class Rain#25 (1) {
    private $description =>
    string(4) "test"
  }
}
array(2) {
  'time' =>
  string(5) "12:22"
  'rain' =>
  array(1) {
    'description' =>
    string(4) "test"
  }
}