What is a Constructor in PHP Used For? - php

Question

Before anyone says anything. I've been to many articles, and I just can't wrap my head around the purpose of a constructor.
I've found an example on a site. Here's the code:
<?php
class dogtag {
public $Words;
}
class dog {
public $Name;
public $DogTag;
public function bark() {
print "Woof!\n";
}
public function __construct($DogName) {
print "Creating $DogName\n";
$this->Name = $DogName;
$this->DogTag = new dogtag;
$this->DogTag->Words = "My name is $DogName. If you find me, please call 555-1234";
}
}
class poodle extends dog {
public function bark() {
print "Yip!\n";
}
}
$poppy = new poodle("Poppy");
print $poppy->DogTag->Words . "\n";
?>
It echoes out the following:
Creating Poppy My name is Poppy. If you find me, please call 555-1234
May someone please explain this code to me like I'm 5. I just don't get it.

Answer 1

A constructor is used to do any initial process required once a new class object was initiated. Ok so that was pretty fancy right? Lets break down what that means with an example. Lets first make a class, and inside that class put some variables, some functions, and a constructor! (It's easier for me to explain the concept behind a constructor with a simpler class. babysteps.)
<?php
class myInfo
{
protected $limit;
public function __construct($limit = 10)
{
$this->limit = $limit;
}
public function awesomesauce() {
//...some random code...
}
}
$variable = new myInfo();//initiating an instance of class myInfo
?>
The code $variable = new myInfo(); is initiating an object of type myInfo. When that initiation happened, the php code knows that right away, the constructor function public function __construct($limit = 10) has to be called. In this case, the value of $limit is made to be 10. However, if I later on do the following code:
$variableTwo = new myInfo(20);
The variable passed inside the parenthesis would be passed directly into the constructor function.
So depending on the specific situation I could either pass no variables when creating an instance of type myInfo, in which case the constructor function would use the default value of ($limit = 10) or I could pass a value. If php did not have the ability to use constructors, I would literally have to manually change that variable with a new line of code every time I initiated a new object of class myInfo. Now this is just a simple example. Imagine if you need to not only initiate values, but run functions that work with API's somewhere else on your server. You can definitely see the benefit of having this happen automatically instead of being forced to write multiple lines of code every single time an object is initiated.
Let me know if that helped.