$this = new Class();

Hi all, Since I can't do $this = new Class(); within my class (it gives an error), I was looking for ways to get the same result by other means. I am actually working on an ORM and trying to implement lazy loading. $book = $orm->getBook('id'); // returns an Orm object $book->load(); // $book should now be a Book instead instead of an Orm instance Of course, I oversimplified the problem. $book = $orm->getBook('id'); doesn't return a Book instance right ahead because it is a chained method (i.e. $orm->getBook()->where(...)->prefetch(...)->etc.... Therefore, it _has_ to return an Orm instance. Now, why not simply add ->load() at the end of the chain? Because it adds an extra step for developers that doesn't bring meaningful information. Instead of doing $book = $orm->getBook('id');, it would mean having to do $book = $orm->getBook('id')->load(); (which is longer to type :p). That's why I wanted to implement "lazy loading". $book = $dorm->getBook('id'); echo $book->title; // title should be trapped by __set() and it should dynamically replace $book by an actual Book instance I tried doing the following, but PHP doesn't allow it: class A { public function transform() { $this = new B(); } } class B {} $var = new A(); $var->transform(); This is not currently supported by PHP and I was wondering if there was anyway of getting around the problem, that doesn't involve 1) passing $var to the A class i.e:$var->var = $var; 2) looping $GLOBALS[] 3) using __call,__get and __set to proxy everything to the actual Book object PS1: don't lecture me about how I'm doing this all wrong. I've looked at the problem from every possible angle and this is the only solution. PS2: Another alternative would be to subclass the Orm object with Book, (class Orm extends Book {}), overload all properties/methods so we can catch when to load the object... but that would be an extreme pain in the ass. PS3: Another alternative would be to have a parameter that enables/disables chaining. $dorm->getBook('id', true); // chain (you now have to add ->load() at the end of the chain) $dorm->getBook('id', false); // dont chain, this returns a Book instance The point of all this is to keep the most friendly interface ! Cheers, Olivier