Yii2 custom AppActiveRecord class used to extend yii\db\ActiveRecord to override populateRecord to improve performance of large find() queries.

AppActiveRecord-populateRecord.php

<?php
namespace common\models\db;

/**
 * AppActiveRecord: Extension of ActiveRecord class to override the static populateRecord function for performance.
 */
class AppActiveRecord extends \yii\db\ActiveRecord
{
    /**
     * Override private BaseActiveRecord->_attributes for use by overridden populateRecord function below.
     * @var Array 
     */
    protected $_attributes = [];
    
    /**
     * Override private BaseActiveRecord->_oldAttributes for use by overridden populateRecord function below.
     * @var Array 
     */
    protected $_oldAttributes;
    
    /**
     * Override private BaseActiveRecord->_related for use by overridden __get function below.
     * @var Array 
     */
    protected $_related = [];
    
    /**
     * Static Array of $columns arrays, indexed by Table Name, used by populateRecord below for performance.
     * @var Array 
     */
    public static $columnsByTable = [];

    /**
     * Override ActiveRecord::populateRecord and BaseActiveRecord::populateRecord for performance.
     * Purpose: Set $record->_attributes and $record->_oldAttributes from the input $row key/value pairs.
     * Skip result value type casting; Require the outside caller to cast values to (int) as needed.
     * Use the static $columnsByTable array above to cache the $columns array calculated once and reused per record.
     * 
     * @param common\models\db\AppActiveRecord $record
     * @param Array $row
     */
    public static function populateRecord($record, $row)
    {
        $tableName = $record->tableName();
        if(isset(self::$columnsByTable[$tableName])) {
            $columns = self::$columnsByTable[$tableName];
        }
        else {
            $attributes = $record->attributes();
            $columns = array_flip($attributes);
            self::$columnsByTable[$tableName] = $columns;
        }
        foreach ($row as $name => $value) {
            if (isset($columns[$name])) {
                $record->_attributes[$name] = $value;
            } elseif ($record->canSetProperty($name)) {
                $record->$name = $value;
            }
        }
        $record->_oldAttributes = $record->_attributes;
    }

    /**
     * PHP getter magic method.
     * This method is overridden so that attributes and related objects can be accessed like properties.
     *
     * @param string $name property name
     * @throws \yii\base\InvalidParamException if relation name is wrong
     * @return mixed property value
     * @see getAttribute()
     */
    public function __get($name)
    {
        if (isset($this->_attributes[$name]) || array_key_exists($name, $this->_attributes)) {
            return $this->_attributes[$name];
        } elseif ($this->hasAttribute($name)) {
            return null;
        } else {
            if (isset($this->_related[$name]) || array_key_exists($name, $this->_related)) {
                return $this->_related[$name];
            }
            $value = parent::__get($name);
            if ($value instanceof ActiveQueryInterface) {
                return $this->_related[$name] = $value->findFor($name, $this);
            } else {
                return $value;
            }
        }
    }

    /**
     * PHP setter magic method.
     * This method is overridden so that AR attributes can be accessed like properties.
     * @param string $name property name
     * @param mixed $value property value
     */
    public function __set($name, $value)
    {
        if ($this->hasAttribute($name)) {
            $this->_attributes[$name] = $value;
        } else {
            parent::__set($name, $value);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Checks if a property value is null.
     * This method overrides the parent implementation by checking if the named attribute is null or not.
     * @param string $name the property name or the event name
     * @return boolean whether the property value is null
     */
    public function __isset($name)
    {
        try {
            return $this->__get($name) !== null;
        } catch (\Exception $e) {
            return false;
        }
    }

    /**
     * Sets a component property to be null.
     * This method overrides the parent implementation by clearing
     * the specified attribute value.
     * @param string $name the property name or the event name
     */
    public function __unset($name)
    {
        if ($this->hasAttribute($name)) {
            unset($this->_attributes[$name]);
        } elseif (array_key_exists($name, $this->_related)) {
            unset($this->_related[$name]);
        } elseif ($this->getRelation($name, false) === null) {
            parent::__unset($name);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Override this function in extended classes of AppActiveRecord, to set the DB Table Name that the AR model represents.
     *
     * @return string
     */
    public function tableName()
    {
        return get_called_class();
    }

}