Object Oriented Programming (OOP)

[prondou]

Here's my situation...I am taking an online PHP course. I thought knew alot about computers but it turns out that I don't! Our latest assignment is the one that stumped me. Here is what is being ask:

" Create a class Company on your web page. Create global variables and functions and place them into this class.

In addition to your existing variables, add the following properties to your class:
$company_url which will hold the web address of your web page. In this case it will be http://www.college1.com/users/[e-mail]
$company_email which will be set to your email address [e-mail]

At this point we have written quite a bit of code. It is important to develop your code in a consistent and organized manner. Use comments and blank lines to separate each lab. Here is one possible way to keep your code organized. I have laid out the basic code for this assignment, you still need to complete the code:

// ---------------------------------- lab 7 --------------------------------

print "<h2>Lab 7 Assignment</h2>";
class Company {
// copy and paste global variables

// copy and paste functions

} // end class company

// build Company object
$companyobject = new Company();

// call methods using the company object

print "<hr />";

// ---------------------------------- lab 6 --------------------------------

BE SURE TO USE THE OBJECTS PROPERTIES IN ALL YOUR METHODS. Inside the class you will access the variables using $this and outside the class you will use $companyobject. For example, to access the $company_url variable inside the class use $this->company_url, outside of the class you would use $companyobject->company_url. Same for methods, inside the class call them using $this and outside of the class use $companyobject. Inside the class you will need to change some of the code in the methods/functions to account for this difference.
Finally, and most important build after building a Company object beneath the "Lab 7Assignment" headline call and/or print the getHeader(), create_array_cars/houses/vacations, displayProduct() and getFooter() methods in that order. USE THE OBJECT TO CALL THE METHODS."

Here are the variable I have thus far:

global $vacation_array;
$vacation_array = array();
$vacation_array1[] = array( "54321", "Maui Magic in Hawaii", "1999.00", "Best beaches, best snorkeling" );
$vacation_array2[] = array( "87654", "Cruise in Style", "4500.00", "Luxury ship, ocean view with balcony." );
$vacation_array3[] = array( "09876", "London and Paris", "3999.00", "I see London, I see France" );
$vacation_array4[] = array( "32198", "Ski Aspen", "1500.00", "Swoosh, Swish, cut an edge in Aspen" );
$company_name = "Paige Vacations";
$company_address = "522 Broadway, Santa Cruz, California, 91234";
$mycolor="purple";

$company_url=http://www.college1.com/users/[e-mail];
$company_email=[e-mail];

I really need help creating this. Any advice would be great. Thanks

[mzanimephp]

Well, I can't be of too much help, cause I'm new at this too, but here's a good example which might help you.

http://www.zend.com/manual/language.oop5.basic.php

[NogDog]

Here's an introductory article on OOP in PHP that might help you: http://devzone.zend.com/node/view/id/638

[bretticus]

Don't forget to read the manual on classes. Just a heads-up, you haven't actually created a class yet. Hopefully you'll read up on the links that you have been given and become an expert. In the meantime, I'll try and give you some fundamentals on OOP in PHP. Keep in mind, I have little experience with PHP5 classes (if your course is covering PHP5 only), but a whole lot with PHP4. Besides, the basic construction is not so very different for the many languages out there. Thus, once you understand the concept, you can apply it over and over as you learn new languages in the future.

Another name for a class is an object (it's the first O in OOP.) Say we have an object named Company. Companies do certain things and companies have specific attributes. A company may launch a new product. A company attribute might be it's size. Thus, in OOP, an action is called a method and an attribute is called a property. Syntactically, you can think of a method as a function as that is exactly what it is. You can think of a class (or object) as a collection of functions. A class also contains many variables. These variables are called, you guessed it, properties. So here is our class below:

<?php
class Company
{
	var $size;
	function Company()
	{
		//set default size.
                $this->size="really big";
	}
	function launch_product()
	{
		echo "Here's our great new " .  $this->size  . " product!";
	}
}
?>

You're probably wondering what the Company function is for. You see, every class has what is called a constructor. In PHP, it becomes the constructor by having the same name as the class it is contained in. The constructor allows us to run code when we create a new object (call a class.) This lets us initialize the variables in the class. Furthermore, I used it to initialize the property: size to "really big". ($this-> is a pointer that means the property or method can be found within the same class.) This means when we call the class, the "size" variable will already be set to "really big." We cannot use a class until we call it. Here's how:

<?php
$mycompany = new Company();
$mycompany->launch_product();
?>

Notice that after I instantiated (created) a new Company, I was able to call the method: launch_product(). This will echo out: "Here's our great new really big product!" Yet, I exaggerated a little bit on the company "size." No worries, I'll just change it:

<?php
$mycompany->size = "not so big";
$mycompany->launch_product();
?>

Now out result is "Here's our great new not so big product!"

Classes give developers a very useful tool to model attributes and behaviors for specific components of a overall program. They are reusable, portable, extensible, and a big time saver if used correctly.

Good luck!