Just wondering, epic or not so epic?

Tohou

I've been a PHP Developer for 2 years now, and last year I discovered how to use classes efficiently, but something felt cumbersome about it, so I came up with this today.

index.php / Probably going to be main or base.php in includes/ when active..

<?php


class site {

function __construct() {
@include 'classes.php';
reset($class);

while (list($key, $val) = each($class))
  {
  @include 'modules/' . $val . '.php';
  $this->$val = new $val;
  }
}

}



$site = new site;
echo $site->system->outty();
?>

classes.php

<?php
$class = array();
$class['system'] = 'system';
$class['sql'] = 'sql';
$class['security'] = 'security';
?>

system.php

<?php
class system {

function outty() {
return 'Booya';
}
}
?>

Other scripts are empty classes right now, no need to post them.
So is this less code/epic?

It echo's "Booya" of course.

bradgrafelman

What's wrong with simply [man]autoload[/man]ing ?

Tohou

I think of it like this, say you add a new class xxxwhatever.php

you have to put in the __construct portion

include 'xxxwhatever.php
then
$this->xxxwhatever = new xxxwhatever;

this takes out the need for more lines of mentioned above, instead adding a variable
$class['xxxwhatever'] = 'xxxwhatever';

say you have

system
security
usersys
language
gzip / or something
content for uploads / posts

it adds up after a while
and would be:

include 'modules/system.php'; 
$this->system = new system;
include 'modules/security.php'; 
$this->security = new security;
include 'modules/usersys.php'; 
$this->usersys = new usersys;
include 'modules/language.php';
$this->language = new language; 
include 'modules/gzip.php'; 
$this->gzip = new gzip;
include 'modules/content.php';
$this->content = new content;

12 in comparison to

@include 'classes.php';
reset($class);

while (list($key, $val) = each($class)) {
  @include 'modules/' . $val . '.php';
  $this->$val = new $val;
  }

6 lines

You're reducing code length for new classes by 50% if you have huge platforms to write like I do.

bradgrafelman

...or you just use [man]autoload[/man] to automatically load the right class file without adding any new lines of code anywhere, e.g.

function __autoload($class) {
    if(file_exists("modules/$class.php"))
        include_once "modules/$class.php";
}

Tohou

Oh.. lolz, like I said I only learned the basic usage of classes a year ago, and construct about 3 months ago, that is actually useful and it pwns better than what I had going.. if autoload didn't exist my code would be epic.. lol

Tohou

Actually (sorry for double posting) I can't use that, it's a function that cannot be used INSIDE a class

Basically [HEAD]->[CLASS]->[FUNCTION]
is how I wanna do things, php doesn't seem to have an autoload for classes inside a class.

Head being just the tree, class being the branches, functions being the apples

This is to make coding easier when you have over 50000 lines of code to edit,

Thanks for telling me about the function though, if I ever make a simple script a function that loads all outside classes(not within one), I'll be sure to use it.

$site->system->blargh
is better than having a billion different variables used up in memory in different classes like

$system->function
$usersys->function
$language->function
It doesn't make coding easier on me in the long run.

jeremyphphaven

cool man - good luck with that.

The one thing I'd change is loading every class... every time. If it's just a contact us form, or static webpage, no need to load every class. It would be cool to be able to specify which classes to load (or not load) from a default set.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you have an object oriented approach, sort of a re-invention of the wheel, but I personally congratulate you, it's unique! And I think it's a pretty bad-ass wheel. =OP

Keep going man, keep going!

EDIT - and if you can re-work it a tad to loop in autoloading... try it. =O) Just reading around the forums for awhile... bradgrafelman is a pretty smart dood!

Tohou

Turns out you're right, he is indeed smart.
You can't even do as I wanted in my method either so I wrote a work around to acquire my desired result.

<?php
function __autoload($class) {
    require_once 'modules/' . $class . '.php';
}
include 'classes.php';
reset($class);
while (list($key, $val) = each($class)) $site->$key = new $val;

$site->security->clean_videos();
$site->security->setCookieVal($_COOKIE);
$site->security->clean_sessions();
$site->security->check_key($site->security->getCookieData($site->system->settings['cookie_user']), $site->security->getCookieData($site->system->settings['cookie_code']));
$uniqueid = explode("@", $_COOKIE['UNIQUE_ID']);
$site->security->set_settings($uniqueid[0]);
$task = (isset($_GET['act'])) ? htmlspecialchars($_GET['act'], ENT_QUOTES) : 'index';
if ($mode != 'upload') $site->content->loadpage($task);
?>

Shrike

The main issue I would have with this is ending up with a god class, which is a Bad Thing. Objects should be grouped together because they relate to each other, not because it's convenient. There are several design patterns which possibly address what you are trying to achieve (Factory, Registry, Dependecy Injection).

Tohou

I wouldn't call this anything but a shortcut to true objects, nothing god-object like.

$site = fake while $site->class does something
$site is just holding the class objects, You have to call particular classes to do anything. ie: $site(does nothing) while $site->class does. means you have to see $site->sql and $site->system as two different variables to do the same thing(reach a particular class).

$site->system cannot do functions from $site->sql or $site->content, but can do functions contained within it's own class, god-like would be $site->dofunction and it does the function from all classes holding function dofunction()

Shrike

The point is that each component in your design is dependent on $site. I wonder what happens if the "sql" object needs a reference to the "system" object? Do you create a circular reference to $site?

Design considerations aside, an optimisation you might consider is to "lazy-load" each component rather than pre-loading them all up front.

Tohou

In sql or any class that need access to another class contains this:

<?php

class sql {
	public $system;
public function __construct() {
			$this->system = new system();
			$this->sql = mysql_pconnect($this->system->settings['mysql_host'], $this->system->settings['mysql_user'], $this->system->settings['mysql_pass']) or die(mysql_error());
			$this->db = mysql_select_db($this->system->settings['mysql_db']) or die(mysql_error());
			if ( ($this->sql) && ($this->db) ) return true;
			else die('<b>Error</b>: Unable to connect to MySQL DB.');
}

}

?>

It has to be defined and called. it's not god like at all.

Shrike

It is a god class because to give a particular component access to another component you make both dependent on "system". It's godlike because it has its finger in every pie. It has all ten fingers and toes in every pie.

However, your example is somewhat puzzling. You create an instance of "system" inside of the class "sql", and then another instance of "system" to hold the instance of "sql"?

Tohou

It does not have a finger in every pie, it has a finger in one other pie, when there is 5 pies.
syatem,sql,content,user and security classes are all unique classes all separate.

If you don't understand what it does why assume it's a god-object, when it is no where near that? When it has to be TOLD to use another class and how to use it.

If I take out public $system and $this->system = new system(); the class would not connect to the DB, thus it isn't god-like, it's only given access for that particular object.

Tohou

Sorry again for double posting, but it's got me thinking, you believe system is a global class that holds everything, this is false.

system which is a class holds main system functions unrelated to other functions, ie: configuration directives, etc.

hanging outside class sql, wants those configuration directives, so I tell it the way to get them for this instance only, to use system to get the configuration to connect to the mysql db.

Most of the system will require system to work, but only will work by telling it where to go, god-object oriented would be that it knows where to go without me telling it to. ie, I can use put $site->system->settings['mysql_host'] inside of it without any other pre-written instructions, which it does not.

Shrike

I think you are missing the point. By putting so many different types of object into this one container you are effectively creating a cast iron dependency on the class "site". This is why "site" can be considered a god object. To do anything, I have to create an instance of Site and know which property holds the object I want.

What you are describing is actually the Registry design pattern. It's not something new. Although in this case the registry is rather ineffecient as it pre-loads every resource whether it's needed or not.

Furthermore, in your implementation, as each class creates it's own instance of "site" there is a possible state issue to contend with. You really need to be passing the same object to each dependent, otherwise if one changes state then that change will not be visible to other objects.

To achieve loose coupling each object should recieve it's dependencies as parameters, and only those parameters it cares about.

class Sql
{
  function __construct( $params )
  {
    $this->db = mysql_connect( $params['host'] ...etc );
  }
}
$site = new Site;
$site->sql = new Sql( $site->system->settings );

Tohou

Nvm, I'll make something different, I need to be able to pass the functions without having to link the classes repeatedly in my methods, I get what you're saying now.

Tohou

So I've re written it, and it has one consistent state throughout the classes.

<?php

class site {

function __construct() {
		include 'classes.php';
		reset($class);
while (list($key, $val) = each($class)) {
if (file_exists('modules/' . $val . '.php')) {
require_once('modules/' . $val . '.php');
$this->$key = new $val($this);
}

}

}

}

$site = new site;
$site->security->clean_videos();
$site->security->setCookieVal($_COOKIE);
$site->security->clean_sessions();
$site->security->check_key($site->security->getCookieData($site->system->settings['cookie_user']), $site->security->getCookieData($site->system->settings['cookie_code']));
$uniqueid = explode("@", $_COOKIE['UNIQUE_ID']);
$site->security->set_settings($uniqueid[0]);
$task = (isset($_GET['act'])) ? htmlspecialchars($_GET['act'], ENT_QUOTES) : 'index';
if ($mode != 'upload') $site->content->loadpage($task);
?> 

// Now we have SQL.

<?php

class sql {
	var $site;
function __construct(&$site) {
			$this->site = &$site;
			$this->sql = mysql_pconnect($this->site->system->settings['mysql_host'], $this->site->system->settings['mysql_user'], $this->site->system->settings['mysql_pass']) or die(mysql_error());
			$this->db = mysql_select_db($this->site->system->settings['mysql_db']) or die(mysql_error());
			if ( ($this->sql) && ($this->db) ) return true;
			else die('<b>Error</b>: Unable to connect to MySQL DB.');
}

}

?>