How to pass variable value to another file via class' - php

Question

I have my main (user visible) file which displays posts, and I need to set-up pagination.
It would be easy if I fetch DB in the same file (but I want to avoid that), that is why I created a seperate (user hidden) file which contains class' which are then called from main file(blog.php):
BLOG.php(simplified):
<?php
require 'core.php';
$posts_b = new Posts_b();
$posts_bx = $posts_b->fetchPosts_b();
foreach($posts_hx as $posts_hy){
echo $posts_hy['title'];
}
?>
core.php(simplified);
class Posts_b extends Core {
public function fetchPosts_b(){
$this->query ("SELECT posts_id, title FROM posts");
//return
return $this->rows();
}
}
This works like a charm, but now I need to do the count within query, which works fine, and which gives me a variable $pages=5 (handled inside class posts_b - in file core.php),
core.php(simplified-with variable);
class Posts_b extends Core {
public function fetchPosts_b(){
$this->query ("SELECT posts_id, title FROM posts");
$pages=5;
//return
return $this->rows();
}
}
Now I need a way to return this variable value to blog.php (the way I return rows())
Please help, anyone,
Thank you...

Answer 1

A function can only have a single return value.
There are ways to get around this though. You can make your return value be an array that contains all of the values you want. For example:
return array("pages"=>$pages, "rows"=>$this->rows());
Then in your code
require 'core.php';
$posts_b = new Posts_b();
$posts_bx = $posts_b->fetchPosts_b();
$pages = $posts_bx["pages"];
foreach($posts_hx["rows"] as $posts_hy){
echo $posts_hy['title'];
}
?>
Or you can adjust a input parameter provided it was supplied as a reference
public function fetchPosts_b(&$numRows){
$this->query ("SELECT posts_id, title FROM posts");
//return
return $this->rows();
}
In your code
require 'core.php';
$posts_b = new Posts_b();
$pages = 0;
$posts_bx = $posts_b->fetchPosts_b(&$pages);
foreach($posts_hx["rows"] as $posts_hy){
echo $posts_hy['title'];
}
?>
Or you can opt to figure out your pagination outside of the fetchPosts_b method.
$posts_bx = $posts_b->fetchPosts_b();
$pages = floor(count($posts_bx)/50);