PHP overloading - avoid Notice: Trying to get property of non-object - php

Question

I'm using __get and __set methods for variable overloading.
In some cases I will assign another object to a variable, for example:
$object->name->another = $another_object;
$object, has the __get and __set methods. When I try to access $object->name->another before it's been set, I get the error
Notice: Trying to get property of non-object
Is there anyway around this using overloading? without having to check isset on the variable.
Thanks!

Answer 1

While this doesn't answer your question, it addresses an important aspect:
It's worth noting that you ought not allow your magic __get and __set methods to raise that notice. The "best practice" is to throw one of the new(ish) SPL Exception types specifically designed for this purpose. For example:
public function __get($name)
{
if (isset($this->vals[$name])) {
return $this->vals[$name];
} else {
$msg = "Invalid property: '$name' does not exist";
throw new OutOfBoundsException($msg);
}
}
And for __set ...
public function __set($name, $val)
{
if (isset($this->vals[$name])) {
$this->vals[$name] = $val;
} else {
$msg = "Invalid property: '$name' does not exist";
throw new OutOfBoundsException($msg);
}
}
Here's a link to a helpful article on the subject of the new SPL Exception types.

Answer 2

Not $object but $object->name needs to have the overloading with __get()/__set() if you want to interact to prevent the error in question:
$object->name->another = 'something';
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
For example you can make $object::__get() return an empty stdClass object, PHP would then automatically assign a public member to it in this case.

Answer 3

Just make sure you are returning an overloaded class for "name". PHP will fetch the property, then try to set the second property on the resulting object.
<?php
class Bob {
public function __get($name) {
return new Jim();
}
}
class Jim extends Bob {
public function __get($name) {
return 12;
}
}
$b = new Bob();
echo $b->someJim->apples;