CakePhp Component: write arrays to database and back, with tests.

DatabaseArrayComponent.php

<?php

namespace App\Controller\Component;

use Cake\Controller\Component;

class DatabaseArrayComponent extends Component
{
    public function decode_array ($string, $level = 0)
    {
        preg_match('/\%'.($level).'(.*)\/\%'.($level).'/', $string, $matches);
        $config = array();
        $main = $matches[1];

        $thisLevel = preg_replace('/(\%'.($level+1).')([a-zA-Z0-9: ,\/\.&]*)(\/\%'.($level+1).')/', '$1', $main);

        $items = explode('&', $thisLevel);

        preg_match_all('/(\%'.($level+1).'[a-zA-Z0-9: ,\/\.&]*\/\%'.($level+1).')/', $string, $subMatches);
        $sub_config = array();
        foreach ($subMatches[0] as $subMatch)
        {
            if (isset($subMatch[0]))
            {
                $sub_config[] = $this->decode_array($subMatch, $level+1);
            }
        }
        $sub_config = array_reverse($sub_config);

        // var_dump($sub_config);
        $count = count($items);
        foreach ($items as $item) {
            $attribute = explode(':', $item, 2);
            if (stripos($attribute[1], '%'.($level+1)) !== false)
            {
                $config[$attribute[0]] = array_pop($sub_config);
            }
            else if ($count > 0)
            {
                $config[$attribute[0]] = $attribute[1];
            }
            $count--;
        }
        return $config;

    }

    public function encode_array ($fields, $level = 0)
    {
        $str = "";
        foreach($fields as $key => $value)
        {
            if(is_array($value))
            {
                $tmp = $this->encode_array($value, $level+1);
            }
            else
            {
              $tmp = $value;
            }
            $str .=  $key.":".$tmp."&";
        }
        $str = substr($str,0,strlen($str)-1);
        return '%'.$level.$str.'/%'.$level;
    }
}

DatabaseArrayComponentTest.php

<?php
namespace App\Test\TestCase\Controller\Component;

use App\Controller\Component\AnimationConfigParserComponent;
use Cake\Controller\Controller;
use Cake\Controller\ComponentRegistry;
use Cake\Network\Request;
use Cake\Network\Response;
use Cake\TestSuite\TestCase;

class DatabaseArrayComponentTest extends TestCase
{
    public $component = null;
    public $controller = null;

    public function setUp()
    {
        parent::setUp();
        // Setup our component and fake test controller
        // $request = new Request();
        // $response = new Response();
        $this->controller = $this->getMockBuilder('Cake\Controller\Controller')
            ->setMethods(null)
            ->getMock();
        $registry = new ComponentRegistry($this->controller);
        $this->component = new AnimationConfigParserComponent($registry);
    }

    public function testEncode_array()
    {
        $this->assertEquals('%0image:%1value:config/bla/ba.com&type:string/%1&time:%1value:100&type:int/%1&age:testing extras/%0', $this->component->encode_array([
                'image'=> [
                    'value' => 'config/bla/ba.com',
                    'type' => 'string'
                ],
                'time' => [
                    'value'=> 100,
                    'type' => 'int'
                ],
                'age' => 'testing extras'
            ]));
        $this->assertEquals(
            "%0images:%1name:Images&type:imageArray&value:33,34,35/%1&timer:%1name:Animation Time&type:timeline&value:50/%1/%0",
            $this->component->encode_array([
            "images" => [
                "name"=> "Images",
                "type"=> "imageArray",
                "value" => "33,34,35"
            ],
            "timer" => [
                "name" => "Animation Time",
                "type"=> "timeline",
                "value"=> "50"
            ]
        ]));

        $this->assertEquals("%0images:%1name:Images&type:imageArray/%1&timer:%1name:Animation Time&type:timeline/%1/%0", $this->component->encode_array(["images" => ["name" => "Images", "type"=> "imageArray"], "timer" => ["name" => "Animation Time", "type"=> "timeline"]]));
        $this->assertEquals('%0image:/%0', $this->component->encode_array(['image'=>'']));
    }

    public function testDecode_array()
    {
        $this->assertEquals([
                'image'=> [
                    'value' => 'config/bla/ba.com',
                    'type' => 'string'
                ],
                'time' => [
                    'value'=> 100,
                    'type' => 'int'
                ],
                'age' => 'testing extras'
            ],
            $this->component->decode_array('%0image:%1value:config/bla/ba.com&type:string/%1&time:%1value:100&type:int/%1&age:testing extras/%0')
        );
        $this->assertEquals([
            "images" => [
                "name"=> "Images",
                "type"=> "imageArray",
                "value" => "33,34,35"
            ],
            "timer" => [
                "name" => "Animation Time",
                "type"=> "timeline",
                "value"=> "50"
            ]
        ], $this->component->decode_array("%0images:%1name:Images&type:imageArray&value:33,34,35/%1&timer:%1name:Animation Time&type:timeline&value:50/%1/%0"));

        $this->assertEquals(
            [
                "images" => [
                    "name" => "Images",
                    "type"=> "imageArray"
                ],
                "timer" => [
                    "name" => "Animation Time",
                    "type"=> "timeline"
                ]
            ],
            $this->component->decode_array("%0images:%1name:Images&type:imageArray/%1&timer:%1name:Animation Time&type:timeline/%1/%0")
        );
        $this->assertEquals([
                'image'=> [
                    'value' => 'config/bla/ba.com',
                    'type' => 'string'
                ],
                'time' => [
                    'value'=> 100,
                    'type' => 'int'
                ]
            ],
            $this->component->decode_array('%0image:%1value:config/bla/ba.com&type:string/%1&time:%1value:100&type:int/%1/%0')
        );

        $this->assertEquals(
            ['image'=>'config/bla/ba.com', 'time' => '100'],
            $this->component->decode_array('%0image:config/bla/ba.com&time:100/%0')
        );

        $this->assertEquals(
            ['image'=>''],
            $this->component->decode_array('%0image:/%0')
        );
    }


    public function tearDown()
    {
        parent::tearDown();
        // Clean up after we're done
        unset($this->component, $this->controller);
    }
}