Classes and Objects (PHP 5)
About static parameters, these work as expected.
<?php
class A {
protected static $__CLASS__ = __CLASS__;
public static function constructor(){
return static::$__CLASS__;
}
}
class B extends A {
protected static $__CLASS__ = __CLASS__;
}
echo B::constructor(); // B
?>
Late Static Bindings
As of PHP 5.3.0, PHP implements a feature called late static bindings which can be used to reference the called class in a context of static inheritance.
This feature was named "late static bindings" with an internal perspective in mind. "Late binding" comes from the fact that static:: will no longer be resolved using the class where the method is defined but it will rather be computed using runtime information. It was also called a "static binding" as it can be used for (but is not limited to) static method calls.
Limitations of self::
Static references to the current class like self:: or __CLASS__ are resolved using the class in which the function belongs, as in where it was defined:
Example #1 self:: usage
<?php
class A {
public static function who() {
echo __CLASS__;
}
public static function test() {
self::who();
}
}
class B extends A {
public static function who() {
echo __CLASS__;
}
}
B::test();
?>
The above example will output:
A
Late Static Bindings' usage
Late static bindings tries to solve that limitation by introducing a keyword that references the class that was initially called at runtime. Basically, a keyword that would allow you to reference B from test() in the previous example. It was decided not to introduce a new keyword but rather use static that was already reserved.
Example #2 static:: simple usage
<?php
class A {
public static function who() {
echo __CLASS__;
}
public static function test() {
static::who(); // Here comes Late Static Bindings
}
}
class B extends A {
public static function who() {
echo __CLASS__;
}
}
B::test();
?>
The above example will output:
B
Note: static:: does not work like $this for static methods! $this-> follows the rules of inheritance while static:: doesn't. This difference is detailed later on this manual page.
Example #3 static:: usage in a non-static context
<?php
class TestChild extends TestParent {
public function __construct() {
static::who();
}
public function test() {
$o = new TestParent();
}
public static function who() {
echo __CLASS__."\n";
}
}
class TestParent {
public function __construct() {
static::who();
}
public static function who() {
echo __CLASS__."\n";
}
}
$o = new TestChild;
$o->test();
?>
The above example will output:
TestChild TestParent
Note: Late static bindings' resolution will stop at a fully resolved static call with no fallback.
Example #4 Fully resolved static calls
<?php
class A {
public static function foo() {
static::who();
}
public static function who() {
echo __CLASS__."\n";
}
}
class B extends A {
public static function test() {
A::foo();
}
public static function who() {
echo __CLASS__."\n";
}
}
B::test();
?>The above example will output:
A
Edge cases
There are lots of different ways to trigger a method call in PHP, like callbacks or magic methods. As late static bindings base their resolution on runtime information, it might give unexpected results in so-called edge cases.
Example #5 Late static bindings inside magic methods
<?php
class A {
protected static function who() {
echo __CLASS__."\n";
}
public function __get($var) {
return static::who();
}
}
class B extends A {
protected static function who() {
echo __CLASS__."\n";
}
}
$b = new B;
$b->foo;
?>
The above example will output:
B
add a note
User Contributed NotesLate Static Bindings
Andrea Giammarchi
21-Jun-2008 11:06
21-Jun-2008 11:06
martinpauly [at] google mail [dot] com
18-Jun-2008 03:54
18-Jun-2008 03:54
will this work for variables as well?
it would be great, if the following worked:
<?php
class A {
protected static $table = "table";
public static function connect(){
//do some stuff here
echo static::$table;
return static::getInstance(); //function getInstance() now can return classes A or B depending on the context it was called
}
...
}
class B extends A {
protected static $table = "subtable";
...
}
$table = B::connect(); //hopefully the output will be: subtable
?>
deadimp at gmail dot com
05-Jun-2008 08:39
05-Jun-2008 08:39
I think this will be pretty helpful too.
My question is, can just 'static' by itself resolve to the late static class?
I ask this because it could help in making new instances of the derived class, from a base class, by calling a derived class's static method instead of having to create a new instance of the derived class - or explicitly defining a 'getClass' method for each derived class.
Example:
<?php
//There isn't really any purpose for this example I posted
//Just a random implementation
class Base {
static function useful() {
//Create a list of instances of the derived class
$list=array();
for ($i=0;$i<10;$i++) $list[]=new static(); //Here's the point in question
return $list;
}
}
class Derived extends Base {
static function somethingElse() {
//...
$list=static::useful();
}
}
?>
I'm not sure what kind of lexical / whatever-it's-called problems this would make with parsing. I don't think it could really collide with any contexts where you would use static otherwise - variable / method declaration.
Even more so, is there a way to get the class's name to which the keywords 'self', 'parent', or 'static' refer?
Example:
<?php
class Base {
static function stuff() {
echo "Self: ".get_class(self);
echo "Parent: ".get_class(parent);
echo "Derived: ".get_class(static);
}
}
class Derived extends Base {
static function stuff() {
static::stuff();
}
}
?>
I don't think there should be a massive bloat in the PHP core to support all of this, but it would be nice to take advantage of the dynamic nature of PHP.
And yet another side note:
If you're in the instance-level scope in a method of a base, and you want to get a top-level static, here's an ugly workaround (from Thacmus /lib/core.php - see SVN repo):
<?php
//Get reference [?] to static from class
//$class - Class name OR object (uses get_class())
//$var - Not gonna say
function& get_static($class,$var) { //'static_get'?
if (!is_string($class)) $class=get_class($class);
if (!@property_exists($class,$var)) {
trigger_error("Static property does not exist: $class::\$$var");
//debug_callstack(); //This is just a wrapper for debug_backtrace() for HTML
return null;
}
//Store a reference so that the base data can be referred to
//The code [[ return eval('return &'.$class.'::$'.$var.';') ]] does not work - can not return references...
//To establish the reference, use [[ $ref=&get_static(...) ]]
eval('$temp=&'.$class.'::$'.$var.';'); //using
return $temp;
}
?>
tyler AT canfone [dot] COM
05-Jun-2008 08:48
05-Jun-2008 08:48
@ php at mikebird
You can pass arguments to your constructor through your getInstance method, assuming you are running php5.
public static function getInstance($params = null) {
if (self::$objInstance == null) {
$strClass = static::getClass();
self::$objInstance = new $strClass($params);
}
return self::$objInstance;
}
This would pass the params to your constructor. Love for php.
sergei at 2440media dot com
28-May-2008 11:22
28-May-2008 11:22
Finally we can implement some ActiveRecord methods:
<?php
class Model
{
public static function find()
{
echo static::$name;
}
}
class Product extends Model
{
protected static $name = 'Product';
}
Product::find();
?>
Output: 'Product'
php at mikebird dot co dot uk
23-Apr-2008 06:39
23-Apr-2008 06:39
This should make life easier and neater if you have a project with a lot of singleton classes e.g.
<?php
class Singleton {
public static $objInstance;
public static function &getInstance() {
if (self::$objInstance == null) {
$strClass = static::getClass();
self::$objInstance = new $strClass;
}
return self::$objInstance;
}
public static function getClass() {
return __CLASS__;
}
}
class Foo extends Singleton {
public $intBar;
public function __construct() {
$this->intBar = 1;
}
public static function getClass() {
return __CLASS__;
}
}
$objFooTwo = Foo::getInstance();
$objFooTwo->intBar = 2;
$objFooOne = Foo::getInstance();
if ($objFooOne->intBar == $objFooTwo->intBar) {
echo 'it is a singleton';
} else {
echo 'it is not a singleton';
}
?>
The above will output 'it is a singleton'. The obvious downfall to this method is not being able to give arguments to the constructor.
max at mastershrimp dot com
11-Apr-2008 01:24
11-Apr-2008 01:24
If you are using PHP < 5.3.0 you might be interested in the following workaround for late static binding: http://de2.php.net/manual/de/function.get-class.php#77698