ParamsReturnRelatedSource
Converts a `Collection` object to another type of object, or a simple type such as an array. The supported values of `$format` depend on the format handlers registered in the static property `Collection::$_formats`. The `Collection` class comes with built-in support for array conversion, but other formats may be registered.
Once the appropriate handlers are registered, a `Collection` instance can be converted into any handler-supported format, i.e.: {{{ $collection->to('json'); // returns a JSON string $collection->to('xml'); // returns an XML string }}} _Please note that Lithium does not ship with a default XML handler, but one can be configured easily._

Parameters

  • string $format By default the only supported value is `'array'`. However, additional format handlers can be registered using the `formats()` method.
  • array $options Options for converting this collection: - `'internal'` _boolean_: Indicates whether the current internal representation of the collection should be exported. Defaults to `false`, which uses the standard iterator interfaces. This is useful for exporting record sets, where records are lazy-loaded, and the collection must be iterated in order to fetch all objects.

Returns

mixed The object converted to the value specified in `$format`; usually an array or string.

Source

						public function to($format, array $options = array()) {
		$defaults = array('internal' => false);
		$options += $defaults;
		$data = $options['internal'] ? $this->_data : $this;

		if (is_object($format) && is_callable($format)) {
			return $format($data, $options);
		}

		if (isset(static::$_formats[$format]) && is_callable(static::$_formats[$format])) {
			$handler = static::$_formats[$format];
			$handler = is_string($handler) ? explode('::', $handler, 2) : $handler;

			if (is_array($handler)) {
				list($class, $method) = $handler;
				return $class::$method($data, $options);
			}
			return $handler($data, $options);
		}

		foreach (static::$_formats as $key => $handler) {
			if (!is_int($key)) {
				continue;
			}
			if (in_array($format, $handler::formats($format, $data, $options))) {
				return $handler::to($format, $data, $options);
			}
		}
	}