RE: [PHP] Re: Suggestions for class design

> on 09/19/2005 02:33 PM Chris W. Parker said the following: > > Let's take for example a class called 'Customer' that (obviously) > > manipulates customers in the database. Here is a very basic Customer > > class. (Data validation and the like are left out for brevity.) > > This is a basic object persistence problem. > > > > (Unless I've already got some major design flaws I think we should be > > good to go.) > > > > Where I get tripped up is when I realize I'll need to at some point > > get more than one customer at a time and thus I want to add a method > > called 'get_customers()'. > > > Yes, there is a problem. You are trying to retrieve objects into memory > before they exist. It makes more sense that you retrieve objects using a > factory class. > > That is the approach of Metastorage. You may want to take a looka at > Metastorage before you reinvent the wheel. Hi Manuel, I very much understand your desire to promote your various projects, but the original poster is asking a question that is basic to any programmer's development in object-oriented coding. Once he understands how to solve class abstraction problems such as the one he is asking about, he will be better equipped to deal with a wider range of application development tasks. This is not to trivialize your Metastorage project (or, to be more accurate, I know nothing about it, so it's not my place to trivialize it or otherwise), but to point out that 'out-of-the-box' solutions to fundamental coding development problems probably ultimately makes for a poorer programmer. I could well be wrong, but it seems this is a case of "give a man a fish" as opposed to "teach a man to fish". Also, and separate from above, I don't understand the relevance of your comment, "You are trying to retrieve objects into memory before they exist". Unless I'm horribly mistaken [1], the original poster has developed a class that abstracts a single customer, and is asking the list for suggestions in how to best approach a need to be able to abstract collections of customers. This is a normal application development issue, and for the life of me I can't grasp how your comment relates. Much warmth, Murray --- "Lost in thought..." http://www.planetthoughtful.org [1] And it wouldn't be the first time!