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PHP Fatal error: Using $this when not in object context
(9 answers)
Closed 8 years ago.
I have seen registry pattern questions on here, but right now I'm being thrown off by the error message I'm receiving: Using $this when not in object context...
I took the code sample from http://avedo.net/101/the-registry-pattern-and-php/ and I have pored over these lines of code, but I just can't wrap my head around the problem.
EDIT: I get the feeling from the answers that the article I've linked to shouldn't be considered "working code"...
Here is a snippet of my registry class code:
class registry {
//Holds variables, objects, etc.
private $reg = array();
private static $instance = null;
public static function getInstance() {
if($this->instance === null) { //THROWS THE FATAL ERROR
$this->instance = new registry();
}
return $this->instance;
}
//Disallow creation of new objects, forcing use of the Singleton
private function __construct() {}
private function __clone() {}
What I'm not really understanding is WHY this is throwing that error. The way I understood $this was that it referred to whatever called the method, which is this snippet from my init.php file:
//Instantiate registry
$registry = registry::getInstance();
I'm feeling a little burned out from reading and coding (these past few days I've been dedicated to teaching myself how MVC works by building my own barebones little web framework). I must be missing something simple, but it also seems to me that this is exactly what the article illustrates. For what it's worth, I'm using PHP 5.x.
If anyone feels they need to clear up some of these concepts for me, please feel free. :) As always, thanks for taking the time to read this.
You are referencing the $this context variable, which is not available when calling a method statically.
You are using the class context (calling foo::bar()) rather than the object context ($obj->foo())
As it is a singleton you should be referencing the static property using the self:: operator.
For example:
public static function getInstance() {
if(null == self::$instance) {
self::$instance = new self();
}
return self::$instance;
}
You can't call $this inside a static method.
http://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.static.php
You have a static function and accessing a static var, use:
self::$instance
$this-> is used in object context, self:: is used to access static class members.
It throws an error for the exact reason that it says it does.
You are not in an object context when you call a STATIC function, therefore $this does not exist.
self::$instance will work for you instead.
I think you're getting confused between instance and class methods. class methods can be called without instantiating an object of that class. instance methods are called from the object, or instance, of a class. think of $this as referring to this instance of the class.
e.g.: $obj = new MyClass();
$obj->myInstanceMethod();
for class (static) methods, there is no instance, therefore, there is not this
e.g.: $returnVal = MyClass::myClassMethod();
you would want to use self instead of this with class methods
let me know if you want anymore clarifications! this is one of the trickier pieces of OO to grasp at first
Related
I just started learning OOPS in php. I wrote a simple program for implementing inheritance. I am getting a fatal error of $this when not in object context. Can anyone explain me this error, what does it mean?
here is my code:
<?php
class human{
public $gender;
public function _construct($gender)
{
$this->gender=$gender;
echo $this->get_gender();
}
public function get_gender()
{
return $this->gender;
}
}
class person extends human{
public $name;
public $surname;
public static function set_name($name)
{
$this->name=$name;
}
public static function set_surname($surname)
{
$this->surname=$surname;
}
public static function get_name()
{
return $this->name;
}
public static function get_surname()
{
return $this->surname;
}
}
$john = new person('male');
$john->set_name('John');
$john->set_surname('Williams');
echo $john->get_name().' '.$john->get_surname().'is a '.$john->get_gender();
?>
There are two problems here:
You have defined your methods as static. You should not do that as they are not, they depend on being called on an object as you want to use the objects non-static properties.
You have a typo in your constructor function. The correct name for the constructor is __construct, notice the two _ at the beginning.
In a static function, $this does not exist. You can refer to the class itself with self::. So, instead of $this->surname, use self::surname. As noted below, this will change your error to a new error as it requires the variables to be declared static as well.
Of course, you really need to figure out WHY you made those functions static. Should they be static?
You're trying to access the $this property from a static method. You cannot do this, as anything static can be accessed without instantiating the class, therefore the $this variable would not make sense, as you are not in an actual class instance.
The this keyword refers to the current object you are working with, e.g. if you were to make 5 instances of person, each $this would refer to that specific instance of person, and you could change each objects properties freely.
When you use static you are not referring to any instance, you are simply accessing static variables and calling static methods of that class. All these variables and methods are 'class wide'. That means if you change the static property in one instance of the class, the static property will change in all the classes.
Another way to imagine this is, take when calling the new keyword, you create a new instance of the object. Every instance will have its own copy of all the properties and methods you describe in the class, EXCEPT for the static ones. Imagine that when you access a static method or a static property you are accessing one object always.
That's why it would not make sense to access $this from a static context. You are not referring to any specific instance, only the class itself.
I hope I've explained this well enough, it's a very important concept to grasp in OOP, and it does give some people a lot of trouble to understand the concept.
I understand OOP. What I understand so far is that private and protected cannot be referenced from outside the class using $this->blah notation. If that is correct, how can the following code work?
<?php
class test {
protected $a = "b";
public static function oo(){
$instance = new static();
echo $instance->a;
}
}
test::oo();
Gives me an output of b! Now, how in Lord's name can that happen?
In PHP 5.3, a new feature called late static bindings was added – and this can help us get the polymorphic behavior that may be preferable in this situation. In simplest terms, late static bindings means that a call to a static function that is inherited will “bind” to the calling class at runtime. So, if we use late static binding it would mean that when we make a call to “test::oo();”, then the oo() function in the test class will be called.after that you return $instance->a; static keyword allows the function to bind to the calling class at runtime.so if you use static then whatever access modifier(private,public,protected) you use it's just meaning less...
please read this link,another
That happens because you're "presenting it" by echo'ing it. You can't reference it like this for example:
class test {
private $a = 'b';
function __construct() {
echo 'instantiated';
}
}
$test = new test();
echo $test->a; // This line won't work, since it's a private var.
It would give you an error message that looks like this:
Fatal error: Cannot access private property test::$a
Example (https://eval.in/226435)
As I said before, you're accessing it from within the class itself, so you CAN view it. (That's the $instance you have there.) If you modify your code to use it like this:
class test {
protected $a = "b";
public static function oo(){
$instance = new static();
return $instance;
}
}
echo test::oo()->a;
Example of the above (https://eval.in/226439)
You'll get that "private acess blah blah" error.
You're understanding the statement wrong. "private and protected cannot be referenced from outside the class" means that as the examples above show, you CAN NOT access the variables outside the class, but with your example, you're accessing it from INSIDE the class, which means they'll do as you require (echo'ing out as you did)
What I understand so far is that private and protected cannot be referenced from outside the class
As follows, since oo is defined in the same type as a, oo has access to a.
This is actually a very good question, and shouldn't be down-voted.
From what I understand, the reason why you can access a protected/private property from within a static method of the same class, is because "the implementation specific details are already known when inside this class". I rephrased this a little from what is documented on the official page on Visibility:
Objects of the same type will have access to each others private and protected members even though they are not the same instances. This is because the implementation specific details are already known when inside those objects.
This makes sense. Visibility access is meant to only expose things that are safe for the public to use. But if you already have access to the code of the Class you're using, then there is no point of preventing you to use what you already see. Hope that makes sense..
This question already has answers here:
PHP: Static and non Static functions and Objects
(5 answers)
Closed 8 years ago.
I am still learning OOP PHP and I keep swapping and changing between the following way of calling methods within an object
$obj = new Model();
$obj->method($param);
against
Model::method($params);
I understand the difference when I within the method as I can use $this in the first example, and I have to use self:: in the second.
Which is the correct way and what are the reasons of using each way
The reason I ask is I cannot find a suitable search term to research. I am currently reading a book on OOP and it will probably tell at some point, but would be nice to know now.
Foo::bar() calls the static class method, while $foo->bar() calls the instance method on an object. These are two completely different things. You do not need an object instance to call Foo::bar(), and in fact you do not have access to instance data when doing so. Foo::bar() is essentially nothing else but a regular function call like bar(), except that the function is attached to a class.
Instance methods act on a specific object instance:
class User {
protected $name;
public function __construct($name) {
$this->name = $name;
}
public function getName() {
return $this->name;
}
public static function hi() {
// no access to $this->name here, since static
// methods are not bound to specific instances
echo 'Hi';
}
}
$dave = new User('Dave');
$mary = new User('Mary');
echo $dave->getName(); // Dave
echo $mary->getName(); // Mary
User::hi(); // Hi
Unless you understand this, you know nothing about OOP.
First example is a non-static call to the method, second a static call.
The first is better if you want to access private variables of your Model, second is better if you use the method like a normal function.
In general you should declare methods of the first type as static (public static function method(){}).
First case is invocation of method on class instance, second case is call of static method.
See http://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.static.php
There is no "proper" way because both call types serve different purposes.
The first call type is the standard way of handling objects: You initialize a concrete instance of a class. This instance can have its own internal values and each instance can use these values to create a different result when you call the method with the same parameter.
The second call type is called static and operates directly on the class, there is no instance (hence no $this). There are some use cases for it, see this answer for Java, it's the same for PHP.
This question already has answers here:
Closed 10 years ago.
Possible Duplicate:
PHP: self vs. $this
I've found that I can call class methods by $this:: prefix. example:
class class1 {
public function foo()
{
echo "1";
}
public function bar()
{
$this::foo();
//in this example it acts like $this->foo() and displays "2"
//using self::foo() displays "1"
}
}
class class2 {
public function foo()
{
echo "2";
}
public function bar()
{
class1::bar();
}
}
$obj = new class2();
$obj->bar(); // displays "2"
class1::bar(); // Fatal error
I want to know whats the diffrence of calling method with $this-> and $this:: prefixes.
ps:
There is a page about diffrence of $this->foo() and self::foo() in this link:
When to use self over $this?
The answer that you linked tells you exactly what you're looking for ;).
Basically, there are two concepts that some people have a tough time differentiating in programming languages: objects and classes.
A class is abstract. It defines a structure of an object. The properties and methods that an object would contain, if an object were built from that class. Creating an object is what you do when you call new class1(). This is instructing PHP to create a new object with all of the properties and methods on the class1 class.
The important thing to note about creating an object is that it also has its own scope. This is really where $this vs static:: (note: do not use self:: or $this::, please use static:: (more on this later)) come in to play. Using $this is instructing PHP to access the properties and methods of your current object. Using static:: is instructing PHP to access the properties and methods of the base class that your object is constructed from.
Here's an example:
class MyClass {
public $greeting;
public static $name;
public greet() {
print $this->greeting . " " . static::$name;
}
}
$instance1 = new MyClass();
$instance1->greeting = 'hello';
$instance2 = new MyClass();
$instance2->greeting = 'hi';
MyClass::$name = 'Mahoor13';
$instance1->greet();
$instance2->greet();
I didn't test the above, but you should get:
hello Mahoor13
hi Mahoor13
That should give to a general idea of the difference between setting a class property and setting an instance property. Let me know if you need additional help.
Edit
$this:: appears to just be a side effect of the way that PHP handles scopes. I would not consider it valid, and I wouldn't use it. It doesn't appear to be supported in any way.
the $this-> is called from instance , so you have to have an instance of the object to use this call.
but $this:: is a static method inside the class you can call it without instance so you do not need to alloc an instance of the class to call it like
myclass::doFoo();
public static function doFoo(){ .... }
and the do function should be static function to call it like this or the php will give error in the newer versions
I am using PHP 5.2
I have the following code:
class MyClass {
public function __construct() {}
public static function stuff() {
echo 'This is static! <br />';
}
}
$myClass = new MyClass();
MyClass::stuff(); // Reference by class.
$myClass->stuff(); // Reference by instance of class.
The output works in both cases here is the output:
This is static!
This is static!
Is there a problem using the 2nd way of referencing versus the 1st?
Since I am not allowed to have a non-static function with the same signature as the static one above that won't be an issue. I want the function to be static because there is also a speed boost when using static functions.
Am I missing anything or is the only issue here regarding the semantics of how the -> dereference syntax does not indicate this is a static function?
The docs explicitly say it's okay:
A property declared as static can not
be accessed with an instantiated class
object (though a static method can).
However, it's clearer to use ::. I also question the idea that the static method is significantly faster, particularly when no instance fields are used. You should do profiling before you start altering the semantics of your application for performance.