The I18n class in CakePHP provides this method to create instances:
public static function getInstance() {
static $instance = array();
if (!$instance) {
$instance[0] = new I18n();
}
return $instance[0];
}
Among other considerations (please correct me if I'm wrong), I understand it helps to use class instances from the convenience functions:
/**
* Returns a translated string if one is found; Otherwise, the submitted message.
*/
function __($singular, $args = null) {
// ...
$translated = I18n::translate($singular);
// ...
}
echo __('Hello, World!');
This looks cleaner than having to pass the instance around as argument (or, even worse, using a randomly named global variable). But I can't imagine a reason why $instance is an array rather than a plain object.
What can be the purpose of using a one-item array to store class instances?
I would suspect this to be leftovers from older PHP4/CakePHP versions where the instances were assigned by reference.
https://github.com/cakephp/cakephp/blob/1.2.0/cake/libs/i18n.php
function &getInstance() {
static $instance = array();
if (!$instance) {
$instance[0] =& new I18n();
$instance[0]->l10n =& new L10n();
}
return $instance[0];
}
$_this =& I18n::getInstance();
Assigning by reference doesn't work with static, the reference is not being remembered, but it works when assigned to an array entry.
So this was most probably just a workaround for a PHP limitation.
One possible reason for this is to keep all singleton class instances in one global - (static is a synonym of global in this case) array variable for monitoring or not messing the global/local namespace with individual variables for each singleton. If each of the static variables were with random names e.g $translated it would be more easier to overwrite and mess its value. - bug again for me, this is extremely rear possibility.
For example the I18Nn instance would be with [0] key, other class would have other key. You should check outher singleton classes how manage the static $instance array values.
Related
I have a constructor that asks for a type of class, but it doesn't define that as a type hint. You are able to pass anything you want to it, and it will accept it. Is there a way to pass a class type to the constructor, and in the add() method it only accepts that type?
Currently what I have, is the ability to pass anything to the constructor such as an int, string, bool, etc. Is there a way to make it so that the constructor only accepts class types?
class Main{
protected $items = [];
protected $type = '';
public function __construct($type){
$this->type = $type;
}
public function add($object){
if($object instanceof $this->type){
$this->items[] = $object;
}
}
}
class Test{}
class Awesome{}
$main1 = new Main(Test::class);
$main2 = new Main(Awesome::class);
// Successful:
$main1->add(new Test());
// Fail:
$main1->add(new Awesome());
// Successful:
$main2->add(new Awesome());
// Fail:
$main2->add(new Test());
If I were to do it in C# it would look something like this:
Main main1 = new Main<Test>();
Main main2 = new Main<Awesome>();
Basically it says that add() will only allow instances of Test. Is there a way to do some
Php doesn't support template like declarations like e.g. c++.
The best way you may be able to achive this is by passing a lambda which then in return gets used in order to validate the passed parameter in add.
<?php
class Test {
private $validator = null;
public function __construct($validator) {
$this->validator = $validator;
}
public function add($value) {
$func = $this->validator;
$validated = $func($value);
echo $validated ? 'OK' : 'NG';
}
}
$obj = new Test(function($value) {
return is_int($value);
});
$obj->add(11);
$obj->add('string');
Another possibility would be to pass the type e.g. "ClassName" in your constructor and use get_class() and gettype() for the validation.
In the future there may be smarter solutions since you'll be able to write anonymous classes but I haven't really thought about that but in the end they would work similarly to lambdas.
Basically it says that add() will only allow instances of Test.
It's possible to achieve this in PHP by simply adding the type before the argument name in the function definition (similar with C/C++/C# types):
class Main {
protected $items = [];
public function add(Test $object) {
$this->items[] = $object;
}
}
PHP 5 accepts classes, interfaces, array and callable as type hints. If Test is a class then Main::add() accepts objects of class Test and its children. If Test is an interface, then the method Main::add() accepts objects that implement Test or one of its children.
PHP 7 (coming soon to a server near you) introduces type hinting for scalar types too.
PHP does not support anything similar with C++ templates or C# generics. If you want to create a class that works with objects of type A and another class that has identical behaviour but works with objects of type B you have several options but none of them is as elegant as the templates/generics:
Create two classes having identical behaviour, one for objects of type A, another for objects of type B; use different type hints (A and B) in the arguments lists of the methods of the two classes to enforce the separation - not scalable;
Something similar to your code, use the allowed class name as a string property and check it on any operation; you can also validate the argument of the constructor using class_exists() - the code becomes cluttered with tests and less readable;
Use OOP polymorphism; extend both A and B from the same class T or, even better, make A and B implement the same interface I. A PHP interface can be empty, it doesn't need to declare anything; empty interfaces used just for type hinting are common practice in PHP.
Then write a single class Main and use I as type hint for all its methods that accept objects. It will accept objects of both types A and B but if you also declare functions in I (and implement them in A and B, of course) then use them in Main you can be sure nothing breaks (I becomes a contract between Main and the objects its accepts as arguments for its methods).
I would choose option #3 because it gets the most help from the interpreter; it verifies the type of the arguments on each function call that has type hints and triggers a recoverable fatal error (in PHP 5) or throws an exception (in PHP 7).
Also some IDEs and static code analysis tools can validate the calls without running the code and help you fix it.
Is there a way to make it so that the constructor only accepts class
types?
Nope!
It is not possible in PHP. Not like C#, at least.
You need either set a type hint or set any types.
However, there's a closer solution in order to accept only class when instancing a class: Using ReflectionClass!
class Main {
protected $items = [];
protected $type = null;
public function __construct($type) {
$reflector = new ReflectionClass($type);
$this->type = $reflector->getName(); # or: $this->type = $type;
}
public function add($object) {
if($object instanceof $this->type) {
$this->items[] = $object;
}
}
}
As ReflectionClass contructor argument only accpets a string containing the name of the class to reflect, you can take advantage that, so passing scalars strings will cause an exception.
$main = new Main(Test::class); # Okay!
$main = new Main('Test'); # Okay!
However
$main = new Main('bool');
// Results
# PHP Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'ReflectionException'
# with message 'Class bool does not exist' in ...
Change your constructor to this:
public function __construct(Type $type){
$this->type = $type;
}
This is based on the assumption that $type is an instance of Type.
How to combine two variables to obtain / create new variable?
public $show_diary = 'my';
private my_diary(){
return 1;
}
public view_diary(){
return ${"this->"}.$this->show_diary.{"_diary()"}; // 1
return $this->.{"$this->show_diary"}._diary() // 2
}
both return nothing.
Your class should be like following:
class Test
{
public $show_diary;
function __construct()
{
$this->show_diary = "my";
}
private function my_diary(){
return 707;
}
public function view_diary(){
echo $this->{$this->show_diary."_diary"}(); // 707
}
}
It almost looks from your question like you are asking about how to turn simple variables into objects and then how to have one object contain another one. I could be way off, but I hope not:
So, first off, what is the differnce between an object and a simple variable? An object is really a collection of (generally) at least one property, which is sort of like a variable within it, and very often functions which do things to the properties of the object. Basically an object is like a complex variable.
In PHP, we need to first declare the strucutre of the object, this is done via a class statement, where we basicaly put the skeleton of what the object will be into place. This is done by the class statement. However, at this point, it hasn't actually been created, it is just like a plan for it when it is created later.
The creation is done via a command like:
$someVariable= new diary();
This executes so create a new variable, and lays it out with the structure, properties and functions defined in the class statement.
From then on, you can access various properties or call functions within it.
class show_diary
{
public $owner;
public function __construct()
{
$this->owner='My';
}
}
class view_diary
{
public $owner;
public $foo;
public function __construct()
{
$this->foo='bar';
$this->owner=new show_diary();
}
}
$diary= new view_diary();
print_r($diary);
The code gives us two classes. One of the classes has an instance of the other class within it.
I have used constructors, which are a special type of function that is executed each time we create a new instance of a class - basically each time we declare a variable of that type, the __construct function is called.
When the $diary= new view_diary(); code is called, it creates an instance of the view_diary class, and in doing so, the first thing it does is assigns it's own foo property to have the value 'bar' in it. Then, it sets it's owner property to be an instance of show_diary which in turn then kicks off the __construct function within the new instance. That in turn assigns the owner property of the child item to have the value 'My'.
If you want to access single properties of the object, you can do so by the following syntax:
echo $diary->foo;
To access a property of an object inside the object, you simply add more arrows:
echo $diary->owner->owner;
Like this?
$diary = $this->show_diary . '_diary';
return $this->$diary();
In perl I'm used to doing
my $foo = new WhatEver( bar => 'baz' );
and now I'm trying to figure out if PHP objects can ever be constructed this way. I only see this:
my $foo = new WhatEver();
$foo->{bar} = 'baz';
is it possible to do it in one step?
You can lay out your constructor as follows:
class MyClass {
public function __construct($obj=null) {
if ($obj && $obj instanceof Traversable || is_array($obj)) {
foreach ($obj as $k => $v) {
if (property_exists($this,$k)) {
$this->{$k} = $v;
}
}
}
}
}
This has a serie of drawbacks:
This is inefficient
The variables you create will not show up on any doc software you use
This is the open door to all forms of slackery
However, it also presents the following benefits:
This can be extended pretty safely
It allows you to lazy-implement variables
It also allows you to set private variables, provided that you know their names. It is pretty good in that respect if not abused.
The parameters passed in the parentheses (which can be omitted, by the way, if there aren't any) go to the constructor method where you can do whatever you please with them. If a class is defined, for example, like this:
class WhatEver
{
public $bar;
public function __construct($bar)
{
$this -> bar = $bar;
}
}
You can then give it whatever values you need.
$foo = new WhatEver('baz');
There are a few ways to accomplish this, but each has its own drawbacks.
If your setters return an instance of the object itself, you can chain your methods.
my $foo = new WhatEver();
$foo->setBar("value")->setBar2("value2");
class WhatEver
{
public $bar;
public $bar2;
public function setBar($bar)
{
$this->bar = $bar;
return $this;
}
public function setBar2($bar2)
{
$this->bar2 = $bar2;
return $this;
}
}
However, this doesn't reduce it to one step, merely condenses every step after instantiation.
See: PHP method chaining?
You could also declare your properties in your constructor, and just pass them to be set at creation.
my $foo = new WhatEver($bar1, $bar2, $bar3);
This however has the drawback of not being overtly extensible. After a handful of parameters, it becomes unmanageable.
A more concise but less efficient way would be to pass one argument that is an associative array, and iterate over it setting each property.
The implicit assumption here is that objects have meaningful, presumably public, properties which it is up to the calling code to provide values for. This is by no means a given - a key aspect of OOP is encapsulation, so that an object's primary access is via its methods.
The "correct" mechanism for initialising an object's state is its constructor, not a series of property assignments. What arguments that constructor takes is up to the class definition.
Now, a constructor might have a long series of named parameters, so that you could write $foo = new WhatEver(1, "hello", false, null) but if you want these to act like options, then it could take a single hash - in PHP terms, an Array - as its argument.
So, to answer the question, yes, if your constructor is of the form function __construct(Array $options) and then iterates over or checks into $options. But it's up to the constructor what to do with those options; for instance passing [ 'use_safe_options' => true ] might trigger a whole set of private variables to be set to documented "safe" values.
As of PHP 5.4 (which introduced [ ... ] as an alternative to array( ... )), it only takes a few more character strokes than the Perl version:
$foo = new WhatEver( ['bar' => 'baz'] );
Is it possible to instantiate a class from a string, without declaring another variable before ?
It's usually done writing
$className = 'myClass'
$instance = new $className();
but it could be handy to have it shorter like for example
$instance = new ${'className'}();
The purpose is to have objects created (under condition) inside a loop without use of extra vars...
Edit : $className is dynamic, it is hard coded above to explain the situation
See factory pattern.
class Foo {
static function factory($class, array $args = null) {
return new $class($args);
}
}
// class factoring; returns a new instance of requested class ($className)
Foo::factory($className);
I added optional arguments array if you want to set some class properties.
// pass some values for class constructor
Foo::factory($className, array('arg1' => 1, 'arg2' => 2, 'args3' => 3));
Furthermore, you can build "fluid" interfaces so you can "chain" methods when you use that pattern:
Foo::factory($className)->method1()->method2(array('param' => 'value'))->etc();
where method1(), method2() must return $this (the object itself) to chain multiple method calls in one line.
You could make a factory function (or class/method) that takes a class name as a parameter, and then call it with the result of your dynamic PHP code that generates the string. You might consider it a bit cleaner but it's not going to save you any memory or speed.
class foo { }
function factory($class) { return new $class(); }
foreach (...) {
$instance = factory(<some code that returns the string 'foo'>);
}
It's one extra variable, does it really make much of a difference? The answer is that unless you use eval (which comes with security issues) it isn't possible to do it any shorter than your first example.
I was looking for info about singleton pattern, I found: http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.patterns.php#95196
I don't understand:
final static public function getInstance()
{
static $instance = null;
return $instance ?: $instance = new static;
}
If it set $instance to null, why this kind of return? Why do not create $instance in the global "space" of the class without set it to null in getInstance?
You cannot initiate class variables with non-static values, so
class X {
$instance = new SomeObj();
}
is not permitted.
The code you've posted is one way of going about making sure that only ONE instance of that class is defined.
static $instance = null;
will create the variable and set it to null the first time that method is called. After that, sicne it's been declared static, PHP will ignore that line.
Then the other code can be seen as the following:
if (isnull($instance)) {
... first time through this method, so instantiate the object
$instance = new someobj;
}
return $instance;
Find following links useful for understanding singleton patterns.
Wikipedia
PHP Patterns
In this specific example, the $instance is preceded with the static keyword, inside a function call. This means the variable retain it's state (value) between calls to the function. The nullifing will only happen once, in the initial call to the function.
b.t.w. this is C way of doing singletons...