Note that the property will only become accessible using the ReflectionProperty class. The property is still private or protected in the class instances.

<?php
class MyClass {
     private $myProperty = true;
}

$class = new ReflectionClass("MyClass");
$property = $class->getProperty("myProperty");
$property->setAccessible(true);

$obj = new MyClass();
echo $property->getValue($obj); // Works
echo $obj->myProperty; // Doesn't work (error)
?>

If you are using < PHP 5.3 and need to get the private attributes and values, you can use this method:

This is what you are doing:

<?php
$obj_with_privates = new MyObject();
$class     = get_class($obj_with_privates);
$vars     = get_object_vars($obj_with_privates);
//will not show private attributes
print_r($vars);

$reflection = new ReflectionClass( $class );
$attributes = $reflection->getProperties();
//still no private access!
print_r($attributes);
?>

This is what you should do:

<?php
$obj_with_privates = new MyObject();

$class         = get_class( $obj_with_privates );
$reflection = new ReflectionClass( $class );
$abstract    = $reflection->getMethods( ReflectionMethod::IS_ABSTRACT );
$priv_attr  = $reflection->getProperties( ReflectionProperty::IS_PRIVATE );
$privates   = array();
$parent     = get_parent_class( $class );
$child         = $class;
$constructor = $reflection->getConstructor();

//If the class has abstract methods you need to implement them
$abstr_methods = "";
if(sizeof($abstr_methods))
{
    foreach($abstract as $method)
    {
        $mname = $method->name;
        $abstr_methods .= "public function $mname(){return false;}";
    }
}

//Convert private attributes to public attributes
if(sizeof($priv_attr))
{
    $parseable = unserialize(str_replace("\0$class\0", "\0*\0", serialize($obj)));
    foreach($priv_attr as $attribute)
    {
        $aname = $attribute->name;
        $privates[$aname] = $parseable->$aname;
    }
}
            

$temp_child_class = "temp" . str_replace("_", "", "$class");

//You can gain access to protected attributes by extending the target class
$class_def = "
class $temp_child_class extends $class{
    $constructor
    public function reflect_getmyvars(){
        return get_object_vars(\$this);
    }
    $abstr_methods
}
";

//place class definition in memory
eval($class_def);

//generate object from dynamic class
$tcobj =@ new $temp_child_class;    
//call the method we added to the object (to access protected vars)
$vars = $tcobj->reflect_getmyvars();

$attribs = array_merge($vars, $privates);

//will now show private attributes
print_r($attribs);
?>

Have you tried:

<?php

echo "PHP Version: ".phpversion()."\n";

class Foo 
{
    private   $bar  = "private";
    protected $bar2 = "protected";
    public    $bar3 = "public";
}

$obj = new Foo;

$arr = (array)$obj;

print_r($arr);
?>

Output:

PHP Version: 5.2.12
Array
(
    [Foobar] => private
    [*bar2] => protected
    [bar3] => public
)

PHP Version: 5.1.6
Array
(
    [Foobar] => private
    [*bar2] => protected
    [bar3] => public
)