Output Formatters Laravel Package

Getting Started

Begin by installing via Composer: composer require consolidation/output-formatters. The core use case is transforming PHP arrays or objects into formatted CLI output (e.g., tables, JSON). Start with FormatterManager, register default formatters (e.g., table, json, csv), then call format($data, $format, $options). For example:

$manager = new FormatterManager();
$manager->addFormatter(new TableFormatter());
$data = [['name' => 'Alice', 'role' => 'Admin']];
echo $manager->format($data, 'table');

The /docs folder (if present in the repo) or FormatterManager source is the best first reference.

Implementation Patterns

• Inject FormatterManager into Symfony Console or Robo commands; set format dynamically via --format= option (e.g., --format=json), and apply transforms via options like ['table' => ['header' => false]].
• Register custom formatters by implementing FormatterInterface and calling addFormatter(). Ideal for domain-specific output (e.g., Slack blocks, Markdown tables).
• Use setFormat() to define a default format context-wide (e.g., json in API-like CLI tools), avoiding repeated format strings.
• Pre-process complex objects with symfony/property-access to flatten into arrays before formatting—avoids in-formatter reflection overhead.
• Combine with symfony/console’s OutputInterface to stream large datasets incrementally (though note the library lacks built-in streaming support).

Gotchas and Tips

• Formatter options must be nested: ['json' => ['pretty_print' => true]], not ['pretty_print' => true]—a frequent source of silent misformatting.
• The csv formatter fails on non-string scalars; cast all values explicitly ((string) $value) or sanitize in a pre-formatter transform layer.
• hasFormatter($name) is essential before calling format(), as invalid format names silently produce empty output or fallback to null.
• Custom formatters must avoid throwing exceptions inside format()—errors may be swallowed by the manager’s try/catch block. Log internally instead.
• Given the low stars (196) and moderate score, audit commits/PRs for activity; consider vendor-forking if long-term maintenance is critical, especially for security or format updates.