Using Builder Pattern to standardize Return data

Question

Would it make sense for me to use a builder pattern to return data from an API? Currently I'm just creating the array structure and returning it. In more detail, I have 3 exit places for my class that should be accounted for (one of them being empty results).

Basically it is just a multidimensional array in PHP like below. I'm not sure if I should create a global array, a struct like class, or builder. I would love some input on this for my future work.

$arr['pagination']['total']
$arr['pagination']['page']
$arr['inventory_data']
$arr['errors']

UPDATE: I'm trying it out like so :

public function getMeSomething($input)
{
    // -- return 'empty' objects if problems etc. --
    if (!$input) {
        return (array) (new myBuilderStruct())
            ->error('the input is missing')
            ->build();
    }
    // <method code here>

    // -- Return results --
    return (array) (new myBuilderStruct())
        ->total($totalRecords)
        ->current_page($page)
        ->limit($limit)
        ->error((!empty($error)) ? $error : "")
        ->build();
}

Just to give some more detail I'm using it just to return a data structure from a method, but I want all of my methods that return this data to be the same .

Answer 1

Pros of your approach

• it works

• it is readable

Cons:

• it is probably overdesigned.

The last point is something we cannot really tell you - you need to decide for yourself if implementing this fluent interface is really worth the hassle (especially if you currently have just 3 places where you could use it in your application). If you had 30 or 300, I would say yes, it makes sense.

But for 3? I have some doubts. A simple, reusable function with default parameters maybe sufficient for the purpose of creating a uniform return value in all those 3 places, and not necessarily less readable. But maybe the situation is more complex than shown in the question, and I we don't see the whole picture, only you can tell.

Moreover, an array like

$arr['pagination']['total']
$arr['pagination']['page']
$arr['inventory_data']
$arr['errors']

looks like a code smell to me - using a class with members errors, inventory_data, and pagination would probably be more expressive and less error prone.