ID: 24978
Updated by: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reported By: mitsu at syntheticzero dot com
-Status: Open
+Status: Closed
Bug Type: Feature/Change Request
Operating System: ALL
PHP Version: 4.3.1
New Comment:
Most if not all of this will be available in PHP5. You can give a try
to PHP5 betas.
Thank you for you FR.
Previous Comments:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2003-08-07 23:29:07] mitsu at syntheticzero dot com
Description:
------------
As noted in a comment to the PHP object/classes page:
>It seems there is no way to access the return value of a
>method (or any function) inline, without assigning it to a
>variable.
>
>For example:
>....
>$test = new Test;
>
>// This does not work:
>$foo = $test->blah()[0];
>
>// Instead have to do:
>$temp = $test->blah();
>$foo = $temp[0];
>
>// Similarly for objects, cannot do:
>$foo = $test->childTest()->blah();
>
>// Instead have to do:
>$temp = $test->childTest();
>$foo = $temp->blah();
>
>
>:-(
I would like to strongly request that PHP add this functionality to a
future version. The editor's note says that "PHP is not a hard-core
OOP language" --- however, it seems to me that this is a very essential
feature if you want to use even fairly basic object-oriented
principles.
For example, because of this, it is very difficult to use access
methods instead of directly accessing instance variables of a class.
I.e., suppose I have a class which has an array inside it, called
$contents, which contain a variable called $foo. I can do this:
$object->contents[5]->foo
Suppose I want to use an access method instead:
$object->getContents(5)
so that I can hide the fact that $contents is an array --- maybe later
I might want to change it so it looks up the value in a mysql database
or something. I would want to be able to write:
$object->getContents(5)->foo
(or even better, $object->getContents(5)->foo() )
but I can't. Instead, I have to write the much more cumbersome:
$temp = $object->getContents(5);
$temp->foo();
Not allowing transparent use of access methods destroys a lot of the
power of using object-oriented programming. If you can't use access
methods cleanly, then you are forced to reach inside the object and
directly access instance variables, violating encapsulation and making
it difficult to change the internal structure of a class without having
to rewrite everything that calls it.
Reproduce code:
---------------
class Test
{
function blah ()
{
return array(1,2,3);
}
function childTest ()
{
return new Test;
}
}
Expected result:
----------------
$test = new Test;
// This does not work:
$foo = $test->blah()[0];
// Instead have to do:
$temp = $test->blah();
$foo = $temp[0];
// Similarly for objects, cannot do:
$foo = $test->childTest()->blah();
// Instead have to do:
$temp = $test->childTest();
$foo = $temp->blah();
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=24978&edit=1
