PHP 8.3 Enums for Video Category Management

#webdev #php #beginners #tutorial

PHP 8.3 enums are perfect for managing fixed sets of values like video categories, regions, and cache policies. Here's how I use them in TopVideoHub.

Why Enums?

Before enums, we used string constants:

// Before: fragile, no type safety
class Categories {
    const MUSIC = 'music';
    const GAMING = 'gaming';
    const ENTERTAINMENT = 'entertainment';
}

function getVideos(string $category): array { /* ... */ }
getVideos('musci'); // Typo compiles fine, fails silently

With enums:

// After: type-safe, IDE support, exhaustive matching
enum Category: string {
    case Music = 'music';
    case Gaming = 'gaming';
    case Entertainment = 'entertainment';
}

function getVideos(Category $category): array { /* ... */ }
getVideos(Category::Music); // Type-safe

Video Categories

YouTube has fixed category IDs. I map them to a PHP enum:

enum VideoCategory: int {
    case FilmAnimation = 1;
    case AutosVehicles = 2;
    case Music = 10;
    case PetsAnimals = 15;
    case Sports = 17;
    case ShortMovies = 18;
    case TravelEvents = 19;
    case Gaming = 20;
    case Videoblogging = 21;
    case PeopleBlogs = 22;
    case Comedy = 23;
    case Entertainment = 24;
    case NewsPolitics = 25;
    case HowtoStyle = 26;
    case Education = 27;
    case ScienceTech = 28;
    case NonprofitsActivism = 29;
    case Movies = 30;
    case AnimeAnimation = 31;
    case ActionAdventure = 32;
    case Classics = 33;
    case Documentary = 35;
    case Shorts = 42;

    public function label(): string {
        return match($this) {
            self::FilmAnimation => 'Film & Animation',
            self::Music => 'Music',
            self::Gaming => 'Gaming',
            self::Entertainment => 'Entertainment',
            self::NewsPolitics => 'News & Politics',
            self::ScienceTech => 'Science & Tech',
            self::HowtoStyle => 'How-to & Style',
            self::Education => 'Education',
            self::Comedy => 'Comedy',
            self::Sports => 'Sports',
            self::PeopleBlogs => 'People & Blogs',
            default => $this->name,
        };
    }

    public function slug(): string {
        return strtolower(preg_replace('/[^a-z0-9]+/i', '-', $this->label()));
    }

    public function icon(): string {
        return match($this) {
            self::Music => 'music-note',
            self::Gaming => 'gamepad',
            self::Entertainment => 'star',
            self::NewsPolitics => 'newspaper',
            self::ScienceTech => 'flask',
            self::Sports => 'trophy',
            default => 'play-circle',
        };
    }

    /**
     * Categories displayed in the navigation bar.
     */
    public static function navCategories(): array {
        return [
            self::Music,
            self::Gaming,
            self::Entertainment,
            self::NewsPolitics,
            self::ScienceTech,
            self::Sports,
            self::HowtoStyle,
            self::Education,
            self::Comedy,
            self::PeopleBlogs,
        ];
    }
}

Region Enum

enum Region: string {
    case US = 'US';
    case GB = 'GB';
    case JP = 'JP';
    case KR = 'KR';
    case TW = 'TW';
    case SG = 'SG';
    case VN = 'VN';
    case TH = 'TH';
    case HK = 'HK';

    public function label(): string {
        return match($this) {
            self::US => 'United States',
            self::GB => 'United Kingdom',
            self::JP => 'Japan',
            self::KR => 'South Korea',
            self::TW => 'Taiwan',
            self::SG => 'Singapore',
            self::VN => 'Vietnam',
            self::TH => 'Thailand',
            self::HK => 'Hong Kong',
        };
    }

    public function flag(): string {
        // Convert country code to flag emoji
        $chars = str_split($this->value);
        return implode('', array_map(
            fn(string $c) => mb_chr(ord($c) - ord('A') + 0x1F1E6),
            $chars
        ));
    }

    public function hreflang(): string {
        return match($this) {
            self::JP => 'ja',
            self::KR => 'ko',
            self::TW => 'zh-TW',
            self::HK => 'zh-HK',
            self::VN => 'vi',
            self::TH => 'th',
            default  => 'en',
        };
    }
}

Using Enums in Practice

The best part about enums is exhaustive matching. If you add a new region, PHP tells you everywhere you need to handle it:

// This match is exhaustive — add a new Region case
// and PHP warns you about every unhandled match
function cronInterval(Region $region): string {
    return match($region) {
        Region::US, Region::GB => '*/2 * * * *',
        Region::JP, Region::KR => '*/3 * * * *',
        Region::TW, Region::SG, Region::HK => '*/4 * * * *',
        Region::VN, Region::TH => '*/6 * * * *',
    };
}

At TopVideoHub, enums eliminated an entire class of bugs — typos in region codes, invalid category IDs, and misconfigured cache policies. If you're on PHP 8.1+, there's no reason not to use them.

Typed Constants (PHP 8.3)

PHP 8.3 added typed constants, which complement enums nicely:

class CacheConfig {
    const int HOME_TTL = 10800;
    const int WATCH_TTL = 21600;
    const int SEARCH_TTL = 600;
    const int CATEGORY_TTL = 86400;
    const string CACHE_DIR = 'data/pagecache';
}