value.md

Values

value() declares a ready-made value as a service and returns its Ref<T>. Use it for anything you already hold — configuration, a constant, a pre-built object — so it can be injected, imported or exported like any other service:

$timeout = $dic->value(30); // Ref<int>

$dic
    ->object(HttpClient::class)
    ->arg('timeout', $timeout);

The Ref<T> keeps T inferred from the value, so a value(30) is a Ref<int> and the argument it feeds stays type-checked.

Refs inside values

A value may itself be a Ref, or an array mixing plain values and refs at any depth. Every nested ref is resolved when the value is built, in place:

$redis = $dic->object(RedisCache::class);
$apcu = $dic->object(ApcuCache::class);

$caches = $dic->value([
    'redis' => $redis, // Ref, resolved to a RedisCache
    'apcu' => $apcu,   // Ref, resolved to an ApcuCache
    'default' => 'redis',
]);

The service built from $caches is the same array with each ref replaced by its service: ['redis' => RedisCache, 'apcu' => ApcuCache, 'default' => 'redis']. Wrapping a Ref in value() is a no-op pass-through — value($ref) builds to exactly what $ref builds to.

Binding a value

A ValueConfig can be bound to a type for autowiring, tagged or given a disposer. This makes value() the natural way to autowire a scalar or array:

$dic
    ->value(30)
    ->bind(intT); // every int parameter now autowires to 30

Lifetime

A value has no lifetime of its own, so it exposes no singleton() / scoped() / canBeScoped(). It is a transparent carrier that takes on the lifetime of the refs it holds: plain data (or a value holding only singletons) is a singleton, while a value that carries a scoped service is itself scoped — and so cannot be captured by a singleton.