ID: 49526 Updated by: ka...@php.net Reported By: president at basnetworks dot net Status: Open Bug Type: Feature/Change Request PHP Version: 6SVN-2009-09-11 (SVN) New Comment:
Hey The best way to request this feature is to write an RFC in our wiki at: http://wiki.php.net/rfc/ Request an account at: http://wiki.php.net/start?do=register And then send an email to the webmaster list (php-webmas...@lists.php.net) requesting write access to the rfc namespace and repost this feature request as an RFC. When you are done, start a new thread on internals (intern...@lists.php.net) explaining your RFC. As for reference, this idea was discussed at the last PDM in May, see: http://wiki.php.net/summits/pdmnotesmay09#php_6 point #16 Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2009-09-11 01:02:26] president at basnetworks dot net Description: ------------ I would like to request a C# style get/set syntax (called a property in C#) for PHP. Basically, it looks and acts like a class member/variable from outside the class, but it is actually a set of two methods. It can be used to provide only read or write access to a class member, do pre or post processing on a member, or be completely dynamic like a set of class methods. A property contains two methods between braces, named get and set. get must always have a return statement, while set has a magic variable "value" or "$value" which is the variable that was passed to the property. Either method can be omitted to make the property read-only or write-only. The same effect can be achieved by creating a GetVar() and SetVar() method to create a sudo-property "var", although it is by far much clumsier and less intuitive. I also realize the same effect received outside the class can be achieved using the __get() and __set() methods, but these methods are only really useful in a small instance of situations, like giving access to an internal array as though each index is a property. These magic methods are not at all useful for using on an individual property basis, and it gets worse when inheritance is introduced. The C# syntax is as follows: class TimePeriod { private double seconds; public double Hours { get { return seconds / 3600; } set { seconds = value * 3600; } } } The PHP syntax would be similar to the following: class TimePeriod { private $seconds; public property Hours { get { return $this->seconds / 3600; } set { $this->seconds = $value * 3600; } } } You would use it exactly the same as a public class member: $time = new TimePeriod(); $time->Hours = 24; echo $time->Hours; As opposed to the alternative: $time = new TimePeriod(); $time->SetHours(24); echo $time->GetHours(); Additionally, the get and set methods can have separate visibilities like in the following example where get is public and set is protected: public property Name { get { return $this->name; } protected set { $this->name = $value; } } There is another ticket that is similar but not the same thing here: http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=34194 It suggests separate getter/setter methods, which in my opinion are much less intuitive. I believe that following the C# format would help to keep a standard format, and would be the least confusing. The poster of that bug also fails to realize that separate visibility levels can be achieved for properties using the C# syntax, as shown above. The C# documentation on properties is available here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/x9fsa0sw%28VS.80%29.aspx The C# documentation on Asymmetric Accessor Accessibility for properties is available here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/75e8y5dd%28VS.80%29.aspx ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=49526&edit=1
