#44194 [Com]: Add private modifiers to namespace classes

[someone at someone dot com]

 ID:               44194
 Comment by:       someone at someone dot com
 Reported By:      [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Status:           Open
 Bug Type:         Feature/Change Request
 Operating System: Windows XP
 PHP Version:      5.2CVS-2008-02-20 (CVS)
 New Comment:

I agree and support this addition, not just for classes but also
functions. Even constants could, though I feel there is no need.

On a side note, namespaces as they are right now are NOT a viable
solution. Consider the following:

<?
final class FOO
{
  private __construct () {} // we cannot instantiate

  static public $myVar;
  static private $otherVar;

  static public function MyFunc () { some code }
  static private function OtherFunc () { some code }
}

class MYVAR ()
{
}

FOO::$myVar = new MYVAR();
?>

declaring everything static in a class works pretty much like a
namespace would (resolving through :: e.g. FOO::MyFunc()), which is ok
but not enough, as there cannot be a class 'MYVAR' definition inside the
class 'FOO' (and thus making it internal to 'FOO'), that creates the
problem of having the class MYVAR accesible from everywhere

and because of that the namespaces are useful, but not like they are
now

consider the following hypotetical syntax:

<?
namespace FOO
{
  public $myVar;
  private $otherVar;

  public function MyFunc () { some code }
  private function OtherFunc () { some code }

  public function Init () { $myVar = new MYVAR(); }

  private class MYVAR ()
  {
  }
}

FOO::Init();
?>

note I put 'private class', but sure it could be something like
'internal' and so on

there are a couple of differences, the first being the namespace
confined within brackets '{}' and thus limiting its scope, this allows
for initialization code if needed in the same file

the second is of course the public/private/internal/wathever support
inside a namespace, so the class 'MYVAR' can only be used internally and
thus being invisible to the code outside the namespace 'FOO'

this is pretty handy for categorization of the properties/methods in
complex/big php chunks

to serve as an example:

<?
namespace FOO
{
  public $tools;
  public $errors;
  public $info;

  internal $initialized = false;

  internal class TOOLS
  {
    public function CheckSomething () { ... }
    public function CompareSomething () { ... }
    ...
  }

  internal class ERRORS
  {
    public $last;
    public function Clear () { ... }
    public function Count () { ... }
    ...
  }

  internal class INFO
  {
    public $name;
    public $author;
    public $description;
  }

  public function Init ()
  {
    if ( $initialized ) return;

    $tools = new TOOLS ();
    $errors = new ERRORS ();
    $info = new INFO ();

    $initialized = true;
  }
}

FOO::Init ();

echo FOO::$info->name;
echo FOO::$errors->last;
?>

that would make the namespaces truly useful, if it could be done this
way (or something similar) the only thing missing would be 'true'
properties (readonly anyone??) with the ability to set their read/write
operations much like c#... though the readonly would be already a giant
step to forget about the stupid get-set pattern

thanks for reading!


Previous Comments:
------------------------------------------------------------------------

[2008-02-20 22:20:37] [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Description:
------------
Already now from just playing around with namespaces with the latest
CVS version of the PHP_5_3 branch, I found it would be rather useful to
add private classes to namespaces that internally works with the
namespace and cannot be called from outside the namespace (or root
namespace).

Would this possible be a feature of 5.3 final?



------------------------------------------------------------------------


-- 
Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=44194&edit=1