Properties, public or private OOP PHP - php

Question

I have the following two classes (I have not included the interfaces)
ConditionsRefer
namespace PG\Referrer\Single\Post;
class ConditionsRefer implements ConditionsReferInterface
{
/**
* #var $authorReferrer = null
*/
private $isAuthorReferrer = null;
/**
* #var $dateReferrer = null
*/
private $isDateReferrer = null;
/**
* #var $searchReferrer = null
*/
private $isSearchReferrer = null;
/**
* #var $taxReferrer = null
*/
private $isTaxReferrer = null;
/**
* #param array $values = null;
*/
public function __construct(array $values = null)
{
if ($values)
$this->setBulk($values);
}
/**
* Bulk setter Let you set the variables via array or object
*/
public function setBulk($values)
{
global $wp_query;
if (!is_array($values) && !$values instanceof \stdClass) {
throw new \InvalidArgumentException(
sprintf(
'%s needs either an array, or an instance of \\stdClass to be passed, instead saw %s',
__METHOD__,
is_object($values) ? get_class($values) : gettype($values)
)
);
}
foreach ($values as $name => $value) {//create setter from $name
if (array_key_exists($value, $wp_query->query_vars)) { //Check that user don't set a reserved query vars
throw new \InvalidArgumentException(
sprintf(
'%s is a reserved query_vars and cannot be used. Please use a unique value',
$value
)
);
}
$setter = 'set' . $name;
$condition = isset($_GET[$value]);
if ($setter !== 'setBulk' && method_exists($this, $setter)) {
$this->{$setter}($condition);//set value (bool)
}
}
return $this;
}
/**
* #param $authorReferrer
* #return $this
*/
public function setAuthorReferrer($isAuthorReferrer)
{
$this->isAuthorReferrer = $isAuthorReferrer;
return $this;
}
/**
* #param $dateReferrer
* #return $this
*/
public function setDateReferrer($isDateReferrer)
{
$this->isDateReferrer = $isDateReferrer;
return $this;
}
/**
* #param $searchReferrer
* #return $this
*/
public function isSearchReferrer($isSearchReferrer)
{
$this->isSearchReferrer = $isSearchReferrer;
return $this;
}
/**
* #param $taxReferrer
* #return $this
*/
public function setTaxReferrer($isTaxReferrer)
{
$this->isTaxReferrer = $isTaxReferrer;
return $this;
}
}
QueryArgumentsRefer
namespace PG\Referrer\Single\Post;
class QueryArgumentsRefer implements QueryArgumentsReferInterface
{
private $referrer;
public function __construct(ConditionsReferInterface $referrer, array $values = array())
{
$this->referrer = $referrer;
$this->referrer->setBulk($values);
}
public function getReferrer()
{
return $this->referrer;
}
public function b()
{
$test = (object) $this->referrer;
if($test->isAuthorReferrer === false)
return 'This is just a test';
}
}
This is how I use it in a file
$a = new QueryArgumentsRefer(new ConditionsRefer(), ['authorReferrer' => 'aq']);
?><pre><?php var_dump($a->b()); ?></pre><?php
In function b() in class QueryArgumentsRefer, I need to use the properties of class ConditionsRefer.
This is the result of $test, which is the expected result, so this is working
object(PG\Referrer\Single\Post\ConditionsRefer)#522 (4) {
["isAuthorReferrer":"PG\Referrer\Single\Post\ConditionsRefer":private]=>
bool(false)
["isDateReferrer":"PG\Referrer\Single\Post\ConditionsRefer":private]=>
NULL
["isSearchReferrer":"PG\Referrer\Single\Post\ConditionsRefer":private]=>
NULL
["isTaxReferrer":"PG\Referrer\Single\Post\ConditionsRefer":private]=>
NULL
}
If I try to use $test->isAuthorReferrer, I get the following error
Fatal error: Cannot access private property PG\Referrer\Single\Post\ConditionsRefer::$isAuthorReferrer
which is expected I guess. The only way to make this work in my mind is setting the properties in ConditionsRefer to public
I've read properties should be private, and not public. How can I properly work around this problem, or do I have to make my properties public
EDIT
I have tried setting my properties to protected, but that does noet help as this also gives me a fatala error

Answer 1

Use protected and your child classes can use it. This way you can still have access to it in children classes without making it public. private means only the base class may use it.
Also, as a side note, all variables in a class without a default value will default to null
/**
* #var $authorReferrer = null
*/
protected $isAuthorReferrer;

Answer 2

Solve this issue. I'm still new to OOP and had a slight misunderstanding about setters and getter.
What I did is, I created a getter for each setter in the ConditionsRefer class, and instead of trying to use the properties of this class in the QueryArgumentsRefer class (which caused the initial error), I used the getters to get my info from the ConditionsRefer class inside the QueryArgumentsRefer class like
$this->conditionalReferrer->isAuthorReferrer();