[patch] Dynamic access of static members/methods, and constants

Hi, I've already proposed that 1-2 months ago, but now seems to be a good time to discuss new things, so let's try again: I believe it would be nice to be able to dynamically reference static members, constants, and methods. Currently, there is no way to do that and the only way would be to create a static method and use call_user_func(array($classname, 'getThat')); In other words: class A { public static $foo = 'value1'; const gee = 'value2'; public static function bar() { return 'value3'; } // old way: public static function getFoo() { return self::$foo; } public static function getGee() { return self::gee; } } $classname = 'A'; echo $classname::$foo; // value1 echo $classname::gee; // value2 echo $classname::bar(); // value3 // --- instead of: --- $classname = 'A'; echo call_user_func(array($classname, 'getFoo')); // value1 echo call_user_func(array($classname, 'getGee')); // value2 echo call_user_func(array($classname, 'bar')); // value3 which is quite slow. Please take a look at the patch[1] I made for it. Comments would be appreciated! Regards, 1: http://patches.colder.ch/Zend/dynamic-static-calls.patch?markup -- Etienne Kneuss http://www.colder.ch colder@php.net Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction. -- Pascal