Re: How can I do the opposite of property_exists(), maybe a create_property() in PHP5?

On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 4:19 PM, Daevid Vincent <daevid@daevid.com> wrote: > On Wed, 2009-02-04 at 08:58 +1100, Chris wrote: > > > >> the question is what is __set() doing, if it's throwing an exception > > >> for undefined properties then obviously it with 'blow up'. > > > > > > > > > > > > But why should __set() even be called if I'm accessing the property > > > directly? This seems stupid. > > > > > > $this->oraclecustomerid = 1122; > > > > > > should NOT be the same as > > > > > > $this->set_oraclecustomerid(1122); > > > > > > The second one I agree should call __set(), but the first one should > NOT > > > be triggering __call() or __set() > > > > Yes it should. > > > > > > http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.overloading.php#language.oop5.overloading.members > > > > __set() is run when writing data to inaccessible members. > > > > if it's a protected/private variable, it'll call __set. > > > > If it's a variable that doesn't exist, it'll call __set. > > > > > Let me rephrase that. I see now that it is designed that way, but I > think the logic is erroneous. While I'm sure this argument/discussion > is all for naught now, I believe that a straight assignment of a value > to a variable, SHOULD NOT do any behind the scenes magic __set(). It > should just do it. Otherwise, what's the point of being able to "set" a > property/variable both ways? One gives no benefit over the other and as > illustrated decreases flexibility. It appears it will work if I change > my property to public, but I don't want them exposed like that. *sigh* > > Bottom line is there should be a create_property($name, $value = null, > $type = 'protected') function/method that I can call to do what I'm > trying to do. > > I assume unset($this->foo); works. So therefore, I can check for > existence of a property, and consequently remove a property, but I > cannot create a property. wow, obviously you can create properties at runtime. if you want direct access to property assignment, dont define __set() for that class. if you want to override this assignment, then define __set() for that class, pretty simple.. and property creation / assignment is essentially the same thing, since all properties must store a value. when you 'create' a property in php w/o explicitly giving it a value the default value is NULL. i recommend that if you want to keep __set() defined in this class you mentioned, and not have the melt-down b/c you have some check to see if the property exists, you can just define another method, createOrSet($property, $value), something to that effect, which will ignore the step about verifying the property already exists. -nathan