Class member with same name as method?

[phant0m]

As the topic title suggests, how does PHP deal with object properties that has the same name as a method?

 

  class Test{
      protected $isTesting = true;

      public function isTesting(){
          var_dump($this->isTesting);
      }
  }

  $test = new Test;
  $test->isTesting();

 

But what if I wanted to run a function with the name that is stored in the property?

 

The code above behaves as intended, it outputs "true". Can this naming be used without concern? Or are there any pitfalls?

[Mchl]

But what if I wanted to run a function with the name that is stored in the property?

 

Like this?

$method = 'isTesting';
$test->$method();

 

or do you have something else in mind?

[ignace]

$this->isTesting;

$this->isTesting();

 

Are two different things at a memory-level. You only fool yourself using an approach like this use getIsTesting(), setIsTesting() instead.

[phant0m]

But what if I wanted to run a function with the name that is stored in the property?

 

Like this?

$method = 'isTesting';
$test->$method();

 

or do you have something else in mind?

Yes, something like this:

$this->type = 'SomeClass';
$some_class = new $this->type('Constructor Param');

I know that this works^^ - but was if there was a method with the same name? public function type($param){}

 

 

@ignace, I guess you're right. But do you know where I can read up on this?

[Mchl]

I can't see why would it stop working...

 

Anyway, as ignace points out, it is introducing confusion.

 

 

One popular convention for boolean properties and their getter/setter method is as follows

 

class SomeClass {

  private $booleanVal;

  public function isBooleanVal($value = null) {
    if(!isset($value)) {
      return $this->booleanVal;
    } else {
      $this->booleanVal = (bool)$value;
    }

  }

}

$obj = new SomeClass();
$obj->isBooleanVal(true);
var_dump($obj->isBooleanVal());

 

This might be less confusing, although some people don't like getter/setter functionality stacked in one method.