How to dump SuiteCRM $bean

Question

I am new to suitecrm. I am needing to use the logic hooks to connect to external data base. My first thought was to look at what data is available in the $bean variable when the event is fired off. So I put a

class testAccount_class
{
        function testingAccount($bean, $event, $arguments)
        {
                #$bean->first_name=strtoupper($bean->first_name);
                error_log("Account Before Save\nBean:\n" . print_r($bean, TRUE));                
                error_log("====================================\n");
        }
}
 

in the hook class file. However all I see in the dump this:

Account Before Save
Bean:
Account Object
(
    [field_name_map] => Array
        (
            [id] => Array
                (
                    [name] => id
                    [vname] => LBL_ID
                    [type] => id
                    [required] => 1
                    [reportable] => 1
                    [comment] => Unique identifier
                    [inline_edit] => 
                )

            [name] => Array
                (
                    [name] => name
                    [type] => name
                    [dbType] => varchar
                    [vname] => LBL_NAME
                    [len] => 150
                    [comment] => Name of the Company
                    [unified_search] => 1
                    [full_text_search] => Array
                        (
                            [boost] => 3
                        )

                    [audited] => 1
                    [required] => 1
                    [importable] => required
                    [merge_filter] => selected
                )

            [date_entered] => Array
                (
                    [name] => date_entered
                    [vname] => LBL_DATE_ENTERED
                    [type] => datetime
                    [group] => created_by_name
                    [comment] => Date record created
                    [enable_range_search] => 1
                    [options] => date_range_search_dom
                    [inline_edit] => 
                )
..... cut off the rest ....

I don't see any record data as I was expecting. What might I be doing wrong here? Do I need to call another method to acutally get the data?

Thank you,

Answer 1

That is the correct approach, some notes

1. $bean->id will be empty when the record is new.
2. make sure you read all the print_r output, its very extensive but contains the data you are looking for.
3. $bean->column_fields returns an array with the bean fields, you can use that array for accessing the data, something like $bean->$column_field_item