gistfile1.inc

<?php

class DomainObject
{
	public function __construct($arr = array())
	{
		foreach($arr as $key => $value)
			$this->$key = $value;
		
		$this->_attributes = new Attributes();
		$this->_relationships = new Relationships();
		if (is_callable(array($this, 'configure')))
			$this->configure($attributes, $relationships); 
	}
	
	public static function new($arr = array())
	{
		return new static($arr);
	}
}

class User extends DomainObject
{
	public function configure($attributes, $relationships)
	{
		$attributes
			->field('userid', Serial(), array('primary'=>true))
			->field('firstname', String(255))
			->field('lastname', String(255))
			;
		
		// .. or with some __call() magic ..
		
		$attributes
			->userid(Serial(), array('primary'=>true))
			->firstname(String(255))
			->lastname(String(255))
			;
			
		$relationships
			->hasOne('Group', 'groupid')
			->hasMany(...)
			->belongsTo(...)
			;
	}
}

// alternatives for creating objects:
$user = new User();
$user->firstname = 'Franklin';
$user->lastname = 'Brown';
$user->age = 27;

$user = User::new(array(
	'firstname' => 'Franklin',
	'lastname' => 'Brown',
	'age' => 27,
));

$user = new User(array(
	'firstname' => 'Franklin',
	'lastname' => 'Brown',
	'age' => 27,
));


// alternatives for saving objects:
$user->save();
User::save($user);
User::mapper()->save($user);
Pheasant::mapper($user)->save();


// simple relationship lookups:

$group = $user->group; // equivalent to Group::findOneBySql('groupid = ?', $user->groupid)
                       // .. might be too deceptive because it hides the fact it's actually a db query

$group = $user->getGroup();
$groups = $user->getGroups(); // Plural name magic, one to many lookup

One small note, User::new won't work, PHP will bitch because it's a special word and its parser can't handle it. I've settled on using a static construct method e.g. User::construct instead.