Referencing for objects

[Derokorian]

Hi there,
I'm trying to understand how to make my models, controllers, etc accessible within each other the way its cone in Code Igniter. For example in my gallery controller I can access my gallery model by doing $this->gallery_model->function() etc.

I'm trying to figure out how to do this myself. I think its done with referencing but I'm not sure how to actually do this, and I'm having a hard time finding a tutorial explaining it. What I'm really looking for is a good explanation of how this works. I would appreciate any hints or links.

[samuelcook]

you have probably looked at this already:
http://php.net/manual/en/language.references.php

but I would be curious to see something about this as well.

[Derokorian]

Sorry for slow response, was asleep 😛

I have read that, and either it doesn't really tell how to do that, or I don't understand English very well..

[NogDog]

You could, of course, dive into the CI code. 🙂

I'm too lazy for that, but came up with this simplistic approach for your consideration:

<?php

class Foo
{
   public function hello()
   {
      echo "<p>Hello, World.";
   }
}

abstract class Controller
{
   protected $objects = array();
   public function addClass($class, $name=null)
   {
      if($name === null) {
         $name = $class;
      }
      if(property_exists($this, $name)) {
         throw new Exception("Property $class already exists");
      }
      else {
         $this->$name = new $class();
      }
   }
}

class Bar extends Controller
{
   public function test()
   {
      $this->addClass('Foo', 'my_foo');
      $this->my_foo->hello();
   }
}

$test = new Bar();
$test->test();

[Derokorian]

Thanks so much Nog! As always your input is wonderfully appreciated! I did try to look into the CI code, however it makes no sense to me lol, it just seems things are every where.