Danne Lundqvist is frustrated with the SOAP functionality that comes native with PHP on one very specific subject - its handling of SOAP structures.

Handling SOAP structures in PHP can sometimes be really annoying. If an interface is defined in the WSDL as returning an array I can't be sure that I will get an array. If there is only one element in the array PHP tries to be clever and turn the wanted array into an object which, too me, isn't really smart. I don't know if this is a problem/limitation on the client side, server side or if it is just me doing something stupid in the wsdl.

He gives an example of the WSDL that was requested and the differing results from a call that returned one Map item verses several (how the objects were returned). In asking for help, it looks like he got some in the comments - an attribute called SOAP_SINGLE_ELEMENT_ARRAYS that can be added to the configuration array when creating the SoapClient object.

As mentioned by Ed Finkler, there's a list of signs your PHP needs refactoring from Soledad Penades.

I have had to go through a php application recently which has given me more than one headache and has required me to use all my possible patience. While working with it, I thought This is good material for an article, so that nobody else does the same in the future, and nobody else will need to experience the same displeasure as I have had to.

So here are the signs your PHP application needs a serious refactoring, right now

Included in the list are things like:

• Uses global variables
• Everything's an array
• The neverending switch
• Interface inconsistency

It hits on one of the thing that bugs me too, the problem of "Brackets galore" - so many subarrays that you have to resort to three or more sets of bracketed keys to get to the value you want. It's bad enough trying to follow someone else's code without having to "trace down" an array to figure out which of the values they're talking about.