what exactly does "->" do?

[robocop]

im new to php, but experienced with .net and java -- but im not sure what this "->" thing i see in stuff like this:

$tpl->assign("NUM_OF_TRIES", $num_of_tries);

any help would rule. :xbones:

[drew010]

it is how php represents dereferencing values inside objects.

similarly with java how you would have object.property
and with c accessing a member of a pointer object. obj->value

http://php.net/oop will have some examples of its use.

[robocop]

do you mean, how you REFERENCE values inside an object?

so, if i created an object of "car" and i wanted to control the gas level, it would be like

$car->gasLevel = 49;

am i on the right track?

thanks for the help!

[drew010]

yeah you got it...

$car = new CarType();
$car->type = 'Compact';
$car->gasLevel = 49;

and when you are actually writing the class, inside a member function, you use $this to represent the object.

class CarType {
  var $gasLevel = 100;
  var $type;

  function resetValues()
  {
    $this->gasLevel = 100;
    $this->Type = NULL;
  }
}

[robocop]

man, thank you so much!