Getting variable out of a class

bunner_bob

I have a number of classes that generate a paragraph of text on a page. Different classes run different numbers of times - some may run only once, others may loop through a number of instances. Altogether this generates a page with several paragraphs.

What I want to do is include a spacer graphic before each paragraph, but not if it's the first paragraph (don't need space before the first paragraph). What I'd like to do is set a variable before the classes run (call it "$nospacer"), have the classes check the variable to see if it's set. If it is, don't include the spacer. This is easy enough using the "global" keyword.

After the first paragraph runs, I'd like to unset the variable from within the class. Can I do that?

Alternately, I could start with no variable set, then have each class return a variable - but that doesn't seem to be working either. Suggestions?

Thanks,
Bob

nlhowell

If you want to use your first idea, unset($GLOBALS['myvar']);

I'm not sure if global $myvar; unset($myvar); will work, as global might just create a reference, which would be broken by unset, instead of deleting the actual var.

Another option is to use a counting var:

$count = 0;
class Paragraph
{
    function __toString()
    {
        return $this->string.($GLOBALS['count']==0?"<br><img src='bar.gif'>":"");
    }
    function Paragraph($string)
    {
        $this->string = $string;
    }
}
for($paragraph=0;$paragraph<$total;$paragraph++)
{
    $object = new Paragraph("This is a sample paragraph.");
    print $object->__toString();
}

bunner_bob

Sorry - some of that's beyond me, but I realize that's because I'm using PHP 4. That _toString() method is in 5 I think.

Anyway, I figured it out. Each class, after it runs, spits out a "$do_spacer = true". I start with an "unset($do_spacer)", so after the first instance of any of my classes, the spacer gets turned on and stays on.