Req #34804 [Com]: More information about static class methods
Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=34804&edit=1
ID: 34804
Comment by: nospam at attractive-nuisance dot net
Reported by: toomuchphp-phpbugs at yahoo dot com
Summary: More information about static class methods
Status: Open
Type: Feature/Change Request
Package: Feature/Change Request
Operating System: Any
PHP Version: 5.x
Block user comment: N
Private report: N
New Comment:
__STATIC__
Previous Comments:
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[2007-07-13 20:57:49] public1 at fridaythe14th dot com
I agree that there needs to be some method of accessing the calling class. The current
implementation doesn't make sense and has no real world use. This is the thing that currently
annoys me the most with PHP.
I don't really care how this gets solved. If self, __CLASS__ and get_class() are sacred any new
constant or function would be appreciated.
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[2006-08-02 17:01:48] benjaminhill at gmail dot com
even something as simple as...
class Parent {
static function myCurrentClassName() {
return (__CALLINGCLASS__);
}
}
class Child extends Parent {
// empty
}
echo Child::myCurrentClassName()
returns "Child"
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[2006-06-24 23:20:38] DouglasStewart at creighton dot edu
Understood toomuch, thanks.
I would then request the following:
Please provide the following on the static side:
$this -- in the context of a class side(static) method. $this represents an instance of
ReflectionClass with all methods answering correctly as to the context of the call. So, for
instance, statically implemented "$this->fileName()" would return the fileName that the
current context class was loaded from. With this feature in place, I am confident that self will no
longer be used for anything except in a root class like Object.
$sender -- Either a ReflectionClass instance when the call is made from a class-side implementation
or a regular object instance.
class() -- An instance method that all objects inherit, that returns an instance of ReflectionClass
for the class of the object context making the call.
Smalltalk offers some rather elegant solutions to these true OO problems that PHP's sudo-OO
implementation struggles with.
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[2006-06-19 23:44:53] toomuchphp-phpbugs at yahoo dot com
The reason why some of the bug reports get dismissed so easily is because they ask for one of the
existing features ('self' or '__CLASS__') to be modified to solve this problem,
but 'self' and '__CLASS__' are both already very useful and proably very widely
used, so it's not good to change them, and therefore we need a *new way* to find out what class
the static method was part of.
Something I find very disappointing is the fact that bug #30828 destroyed the only existing solution
to this problem - debug_backtrace(). In PHP 5.0.4, debug_backtrace() could have been used here to
discover the static class name, but somebody wanted it working the other way (like __CLASS__
instead), the bug was reported, fixed in 5.0.5, and so we lost our only solution to this problem.
This bugfix actually broke some of my existing code a year ago when it was released, but it
wasn't so important to me at the time. It's only over the past year as I've been
writing object-oriented code full time, and studying implementations by other languages (Java,
AspectJ, Ruby) that I've realized how damaging the change to debug_backtrace() was.
I am hoping that as Zend continue writing their Framework, they'll realize just how broken
static methods are and will try to fix them somehow.
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[2006-06-19 20:41:34] DouglasStewart at creighton dot edu
I am unsure where to comment on this. This particular issue that folks are having with __CLASS__ and
self not playing in the proper calling context makes life very difficult. The bug report responses
like "This is not a bug" and "is designed and intended to work that way" are, I
suppose, the discretion of the current developer base or ZEND or whoever.
Maybe if someone could elaborate on the wisdom of this design decision. Imparting this knowledge may
illuminate the reasons why this feature that many OO programmers are accustomed to having available
is being dismissed so readily.
The current implementation of __CLASS__ is not useful.
If you wish to ask a class for its name, php is not yet prepared to provide you with the answer. The
following examples illustrate why:
class TopClass {
public static function ClassNameIndirect() {
return self::ClassName();
}
public static function ClassName() {
return 'TopClass';
}
public static function ClassNameKeyword() {
return __CLASS__;
}
public static function ClassNameKeywordUninherited() {
return self::ClassNameKeyword();
}
public static function ClassNameSelfInstance() {
$object = new self;
return get_class($object);
}
public static function ClassNameSelfInstanceUninherited() {
return self::ClassNameSelfInstance();
}
public static function ClassNameKeywordUninheritedIndirect() {
return self::ClassNameKeywordUninherited();
}
public static function ClassNameSelfInstanceUninheritedIndirect() {
return self::ClassNameSelfInstanceUninherited();
}
public static function ClassNameHack() {
$bt = debug_backtrace();
$name = $bt[0]['class'];
return $name;
}
public static function ClassNameHackUninherited() {
return self::ClassNameHack();
}
}
class BottomClass extends TopClass {
public static function ClassName() {
return 'BottomClass';
}
public static function ClassNameKeywordUninherited() {
return __CLASS__;
}
public static function ClassNameSelfInstanceUninherited() {
$object = new self;
return get_class($object);
}
public static function ClassNameHackUninherited() {
$bt = debug_backtrace();
$name = $bt[0]['class'];
return $name;
}
}
echo '<br />(1)*** Results for a static and constant class name implementation ***';
echo '<br />ClassName() for TopClass: ' . TopClass::ClassNameIndirect();
echo '<br />ClassName() for BottomClass: ' . BottomClass::ClassNameIndirect();
echo '<br />';
echo '<br />(2)*** Results for an inherited __CLASS__ implementation ***';
echo '<br />ClassName() for TopClass: ' . TopClass::ClassNameKeyword();
echo '<br />ClassName() for BottomClass: ' . BottomClass::ClassNameKeyword();
echo '<br />';
echo '<br />(3)*** Results for an UNinherited __CLASS__ implementation ***';
echo '<br />ClassName() for TopClass: ' . TopClass::ClassNameKeywordUninherited();
echo '<br />ClassName() for BottomClass: ' .
BottomClass::ClassNameKeywordUninherited();
echo '<br />';
echo '<br />(4)*** Results for an Instance generated class name ***';
echo '<br />ClassName() for TopClass: ' . TopClass::ClassNameSelfInstance();
echo '<br />ClassName() for BottomClass: ' . BottomClass::ClassNameSelfInstance();
echo '<br />';
echo '<br />(5)*** Results for an UNinherited Instance generated class name ***';
echo '<br />ClassName() for TopClass: ' .
TopClass::ClassNameSelfInstanceUninherited();
echo '<br />ClassName() for BottomClass: ' .
BottomClass::ClassNameSelfInstanceUninherited();
echo '<br />';
echo '<br />(6)*** Results for an inherited hack to get class name ***';
echo '<br />ClassName() for TopClass: ' . TopClass::ClassNameHack();
echo '<br />ClassName() for BottomClass: ' . BottomClass::ClassNameHack();
echo '<br />';
echo '<br />(7)*** Results for an UNinherited hack to get class name ***';
echo '<br />ClassName() for TopClass: ' . TopClass::ClassNameHackUninherited();
echo '<br />ClassName() for BottomClass: ' .
BottomClass::ClassNameHackUninherited();
echo '<br />';
echo '<br /> ---';
echo '<br />';
echo '<br />(8)*** #3 above with inherited method that calls the UNinherited __CLASS__
implementation ***';
echo '<br />ClassName() for TopClass: ' .
TopClass::ClassNameKeywordUninheritedIndirect();
echo '<br />ClassName() for BottomClass: ' .
BottomClass::ClassNameKeywordUninheritedIndirect();
echo '<br />';
echo '<br />(9)*** #5 above with inherited method that calls the UNinherited Instance
generated class name ***';
echo '<br />ClassName() for TopClass: ' .
TopClass::ClassNameSelfInstanceUninheritedIndirect();
echo '<br />ClassName() for BottomClass: ' .
BottomClass::ClassNameSelfInstanceUninheritedIndirect();
// **
// ** Results
// **
(1)*** Results for a static and constant class name implementation ***
ClassName() for TopClass: TopClass
ClassName() for BottomClass: TopClass
(2)*** Results for an inherited __CLASS__ implementation ***
ClassName() for TopClass: TopClass
ClassName() for BottomClass: TopClass
(3)*** Results for an UNinherited __CLASS__ implementation ***
ClassName() for TopClass: TopClass
ClassName() for BottomClass: BottomClass
(4)*** Results for an Instance generated class name ***
ClassName() for TopClass: TopClass
ClassName() for BottomClass: TopClass
(5)*** Results for an UNinherited Instance generated class name ***
ClassName() for TopClass: TopClass
ClassName() for BottomClass: BottomClass
(6)*** Results for an inherited hack to get class name ***
ClassName() for TopClass: TopClass
ClassName() for BottomClass: TopClass
(7)*** Results for an UNinherited hack to get class name ***
ClassName() for TopClass: TopClass
ClassName() for BottomClass: BottomClass
---
(8)*** #3 above with inherited method that calls the UNinherited __CLASS__ implementation ***
ClassName() for TopClass: TopClass
ClassName() for BottomClass: TopClass
(9)*** #5 above with inherited method that calls the UNinherited Instance generated class name ***
ClassName() for TopClass: TopClass
ClassName() for BottomClass: TopClass
--
Examples #3 & #5 appear, at first, to work correctly, but after further testing (see #8 &
#9), it becomes clear that the answer to the request for class name on the static (class) side of
things is an exercise in futility.
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