OOP Programming

Anon

Lately, I have been trying to create "good" code - mind the trying 🙂

Referring to the article of Tim (http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/tim20001010.php3?&print_mode=1) on this site, I have a couple of questions which I have to deal with for my site too.

Concerning the example code :

1) I suppose the html_lib is ment to be included in an other php script (require()). If the other page already required bug_data.php, you get an error. What is the best practice to avoid this? Never use include of other libs in a lib? (in my case, I have a lib for databases (database_lib.php)and one with several classes, which need this database_lib.php.) Where to use include()?

2) Returning the $error. If you return false, it would be wise to return the type of error too. Tim does so by setting the $errormessage global. However, if the function where the $errormessage is set, is called by an other function (eg process_form_results()), that function will not be able to read $errormessage. Good programming cannot require you to global different variabeles when you call a function, can it? How can I solve this problem? Just returning the $errormessage will not evaluate as false off course...

Can anybody give me an answer or point me to a website which might help me? Thx!

Anon

1.)Not to be a jerk or anything, but 10 seconds with the php manual finds this:

http://www.php.net/manual/function.include-once.php

which says in part:
"The include_once() statement includes and evaluates the specified file during the execution of the script. This is a behavior similar to the include() statement, with the important difference that if the code from a file has already been included, it will not be included again.

As mentioned in the require_once() description, the include_once() should be used in the cases in which the same file might be included and evaluated more than once during a particular execution of a script, and you want to be sure that it is included exactly once to avoid problems with function redefinitions, variable value reassignments, etc. "

2.)I haven't had the proper amount of coffee to properly understand your question, and I'm not really feeling like reading Tim's article right now. If I get you right he's got a class variable called $errormessage that the application looks at in the case of an error? In php this is ok practice I guess. In a stronger ooc language you'd likely want to make that a private variable and create a function that merely returns the value of the $errormessage variable (if you're concerned about "properness"). If that's not what's going on feel free to call me a moron. Just do it nicely so as not to make me all growly.