OOP and PHP

[NZ_Kiwis]

So I've been reading up on PHP classes and objects. I've used these before in C# WinForms but I have one basic PHP question.

1. On a page I might create a new instance of my object and call it $ClinetX

How can I store $ClientX and reference them again later in future pages without having to declare them agian and set their properties again.

[NogDog]

You can store an object in $_SESSION, but you then need to be sure to load its class definition before session_start() in any page that might try to use it.

[traq]

Or use an object's [man]__destruct/man method.

As long as you have a plan for keeping track of object references (perhaps using an [man]SPLObjectStorage[/man]), you can expand this to as many instance of whichever class(es) you like - just make [font=monospace]$_SESSION[CLASS][/font] an array.

session_start();

if( !empty( $_SESSION['test'] ) ){
    $t = unserialize( $_SESSION['test'] );
    $t->count++;
    print "test has been unserialized {$t->count} times.";
}else{
    $t = new test;
}

class test{ 
    public $count = 0; 

public function __destruct(){
    $_SESSION[__CLASS__] = serialize( $this );
}
}

[Lord_Yggdrasill]

traq;11024727 wrote:

Or use an object's [man]__destruct/man method.

As long as you have a plan for keeping track of object references (perhaps using an [man]SPLObjectStorage[/man]), you can expand this to as many instance of whichever class(es) you like - just make [font=monospace]$_SESSION[CLASS][/font] an array.

session_start();

if( !empty( $_SESSION['test'] ) ){
    $t = unserialize( $_SESSION['test'] );
    $t->count++;
    print "test has been unserialized {$t->count} times.";
}else{
    $t = new test;
}

class test{ 
    public $count = 0; 

public function __destruct(){
    $_SESSION[__CLASS__] = serialize( $this );
}
}

This is a very interesting approach. I never really used destructors before since I do not find the need to unset a variable/object, but now it seems that destructors can be quite useful at times.

[Bonesnap]

That is a pretty neat approach.

This situation is one of the reasons I'm not so "object crazy" when it comes to PHP. I mostly use classes and objects for organizational purposes and treat them kind of like glorified associated arrays.

[Lord_Yggdrasill]

Bonesnap;11025209 wrote:

That is a pretty neat approach.

This situation is one of the reasons I'm not so "object crazy" when it comes to PHP. I mostly use classes and objects for organizational purposes and treat them kind of like glorified associated arrays.

But professional coders need OOP, even in PHP only OOP programmers can hope to find a job in the market.

[traq]

Lord Yggdrasill;11025223 wrote:

But professional coders need OOP, even in PHP only OOP programmers can hope to find a job in the market.

Depends on the market.

There are plenty of good PHP programmers who don't do OOP and have good jobs.

and some of them don't even write good (non-OOP) code.

[laserlight]

traq wrote:

There are plenty of good PHP programmers who don't do OOP and have good jobs.

and some of them don't even write good (non-OOP) code.

Well, if they "don't do OOP" in PHP and "don't even write good (non-OOP) code", then they are not "good PHP programmers" 😉

[Bonesnap]

Lord Yggdrasill;11025223 wrote:

But professional coders need OOP, even in PHP only OOP programmers can hope to find a job in the market.

Not sure if serious...

[dalecosp]

I'm not sure that you have to be using OOP all the time to have a good job, but you sure need to be able to read it, and to write it if appropriate, in many situations.

I've only just gotten my head around the concept in the past couple years; I learned enough to fake my way through the interview, then read code from the purchased solutions we use and played with using OOP in various pieces of work. I'm now finding that I tend to think "in objects" quite a bit more than I used to, so some of that is filtering down into my work.

[traq]

laserlight;11025235 wrote:

Well, if they "don't do OOP" in PHP and "don't even write good (non-OOP) code", then they are not "good PHP programmers" 😉

was referring to the "having a good job" part 🙂

[dalecosp]

traq;11025253 wrote:

was referring to the "having a good job" part 🙂

Traq is Yet Another Fellow who's read a good bit of others' code 😉 😉

[traq]

dalecosp;11025279 wrote:

Traq is Yet Another Fellow who's read a good bit of others' code 😉 😉

indeed.

I'm on a couple other forums where I'm one of approximately two people who know PHP above the cut-n-paste level.

Well, I shouldn't say that. On the one forum, there's a few people who do pretty well. On the other, though, almost everyone thinks that "wordpress" (and/or javascript) is synonymous with "PHP" (they're constantly asking about PHP's "shortcodes" and using mutilated alternative syntax while escaping to and from HTML).

[jeepin81]

@ - I think I've seen some of your post(s) over at css-tricks?

Great site for CSS but I think that is the site you're referring to the wordpress mongers. No offense to wordpress.(well, maybe a little :evilgrin: )

Chris Coyer does a nice job with that site. Often when I'm searching for some CSS (responsive design) I end-up over there reading for a little bit.

[traq]

Yeah, that's me over there. Half the questions I answer over there are about Chris' "simple PHP contact form" not working. I'm seriously considering rewriting it for him. 🙂