Method Chaining PHP - php

Question

I have a quick question that's killing my head.
I'm trying to make a Form Validation System with Method Chaining in PHP
What I want to do is to be able to call for example (please check the code comments):
$firstname = $OBJECT->Forms->Field("First Name", "firstname"); //This one doesn't validate, but just puts what's on firstname field on to $firstname. But this way doesn't work for me, because I have to return the object so it can be chainable and not the variable of the POST. How can I do this?
$firstname = $OBJECT->Forms->Field("First Name", "firstname")->Validate(); //this one validates if the field is not empty and if it's empty it'll insert the first parameter ("First Name") onto an array to display the errors.
$email = $OBJECT->Forms->Field("Email", "email")->Validate()->Email(); //This one does the same as above but validates Email and inserts the value of the email field onto $email
but I prefer the next one...
$email = $OBJECT->Forms->Field("Email", "email")->Validate->Email(); //I'd rather prefer this method but I don't know how to do it without using the parenthesis on the Validate method.
I can only make it work like this
$firstname = $OBJECT->Forms->Field("First Name", "firstname")->Validate();
and
$firstname = $OBJECT->Forms->Field("First Name", "firstname")->Validate()->Email();
Without ->Validate(); I can't seem to make it work (Like this: $firstname = $OBJECT->Forms->Field("First Name", "firstname");)
The code is kinda mess to share. But the code is simple... I have a forms.class.php and a validate.class.php.
The forms.class.php creates an instance of Validate class from validate.class.php and the Forms Object is passed through the Validate class on the constructor.
I want to be able to do:
$OBJECT->Forms->Field();
$OBJECT->Forms->Field()->Validate();
$OBJECT->Forms->Field()->Validate()->Email;
$OBJECT->Forms->Field()->Validate()->Telephone;
or this preferebly:
$OBJECT->Forms->Field();
$OBJECT->Forms->Field()->Validate;
$OBJECT->Forms->Field()->Validate->Email;
$OBJECT->Forms->Field()->Validate->Telephone;
Only figured out:
$OBJECT->Forms->Field()->Validate();
$OBJECT->Forms->Field()->Validate()->Email();
$OBJECT->Forms->Field()->Validate()->Telephone();
But any form is OK
Thank you.

Answer 1

See if this is what you are trying to do:
<?php
class FormValidate
{
protected $args;
public $valid;
public function Forms()
{
// Don't know what this function is supposed to do....
return $this;
}
public function Validate()
{
$numargs = func_num_args();
$this->args = array();
if($numargs == 2) {
$vals = func_get_args();
$this->args[$vals[1]] = $vals[0];
$this->valid = true;
}
else
$this->valid = false;
if(isset($this->args['firstname']) && !empty($this->args['firstname']))
return true;
return $this;
}
public function Email()
{
if(isset($this->args['email'])) {
if(filter_var($this->args['email'],FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL))
return $this->valid = $this->args['email'];
}
return $this->valid = false;
}
public function Telephone()
{
if(isset($this->args['telephone'])) {
if(preg_match('/^[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{4}$/',$this->args['telephone']))
return $this->valid = $this->args['telephone'];
}
return $this->valid = false;
}
}
$test = new FormValidate();
// These will throw a fatal error on the base Validate('First Name','firstname')
// if you add another method to the chain like so: ->Validate('First Name','firstname')->Email();
echo $test->Forms()->Validate('123-876-0987','telephone')->Telephone();
?>