Can a class Extend or Override himself? - php

Question

Suppose we have a class. We create an object from the class and when we do the class Extends himself base on the object initialization value..
For example:
$objectType1 = new Types(1);
$objectType1->Activate(); // It calls an activation function for type 1
$objectType2 = new Types(2);
$objectType2->Activate(); // It calls an activation function for type 2
I don't want to use the standard procedure of class extending:
class type1 extends types{}

Answer 1

You cannot extend a class at runtime. Use an instance variable to distinct the two type or use a factory.
Example for instance variable:
class Types() {
private $type;
public function __construct($type) {
$this->type = $type;
}
public function activate() {
if($this->$type == 1) {
// do this
}
else if($this->type == 2) {
// do that
}
}
}
Example for factory pattern:
abstract class BaseClass {
// Force Extending class to define this method
abstract public function activate();
// Common method
public function printOut() {
echo "Hello World";
}
}
class Type1 extends BaseClass {
public function activate() {
// do something
}
}
class Type2 extends BaseClass {
public function activate() {
// do something else
}
}
class TypeFactory {
public static function getType($tpye) {
if($type == 1) {
return new Type1();
}
else if($type == 2) {
return new Type2();
}
}
}
then you do:
$obj = TypeFactory::getType($1);
$obj->activate();
Update:
Since PHP 5.3 you can use anonymous functions. Maybe you can make use of this.