Class Constants Scope

[timothyneill]

I am returning to PHP after a period of absence. I am having problems with using class constants within another class's constructor:

 

The class HttpKeys contains all the keys the site uses for the $_POST array.

 

final class HttpKeys {

const EMPLOYEE_HTTP = 'employeeHttpKey';
const EMPLOYEE_LOG_OUT = 'employeeLogOutKey';
const EMPLOYEES_UPDATED = "employeesUpdated";
const LOCKS_UPDATED = "locksUpdated";
const MENU_ITEM_COUNTS_UPDATED = "menuItemCountsUpdated";
const MENU_ITEMS_UPDATED = "menuItemsUpdated";
const MODIFIERS_UPDATED = "modifiersUpdated";
const ORDERS_UPDATED = "ordersUpdated";
const PAYLOAD = "payload";
const PRODUCT_CATEGORIES_UPDATED = "productCategoriesUpdated";
const STATUS = "status";
const TERMINAL_HTTP = 'terminalHttpKey';
const TERMINAL_LOG_OUT = 'terminalLogOutKey';
const TERMINAL_REGISTRATION = 'terminalRegistrationKey';
const TIMESTAMP = "now";

}

 

However, These class constants are not always available in the following code. Is this by design or a bug?

 

require('HttpKeys.php');

class ClientUpdates {

function __construct() {

	//-- this does not work
	$i = HttpKeys::PRODUCT_CATEGORIES_UPDATED;

	$this->getProductCategories();

}

private function getProductCategories() {

	//-- this does not work
	$j = HttpKeys::PRODUCT_CATEGORIES_UPDATED;

}

}

//-- this works
$k = HttpKeys::PRODUCT_CATEGORIES_UPDATED;

$clientUpdates = new ClientUpdates();
$clientUpdates = null;
unset($clientUpdates);

 

Thanks everyone for all the help - apologies for being a newbie once again.

[requinix]

What do you mean by "does not work"?

[timothyneill]

HttpKeys::PRODUCT_CATEGORIES_UPDATED returns null where marked //-- this does not work

[requinix]

So you did a

var_dump(HttpKeys::PRODUCT_CATEGORIES_UPDATED);

and got

NULL

If not then what did you do?

 

You wouldn't happen to be trying to use member variables and forgetting to include the $this->?

[btherl]

I copied and pasted your class definitions, added var_dump() and created an instance.  The code is:

 

<?
final class HttpKeys {

        const EMPLOYEE_HTTP = 'employeeHttpKey';
        const EMPLOYEE_LOG_OUT = 'employeeLogOutKey';
        const EMPLOYEES_UPDATED = "employeesUpdated";
        const LOCKS_UPDATED = "locksUpdated";
        const MENU_ITEM_COUNTS_UPDATED = "menuItemCountsUpdated";
        const MENU_ITEMS_UPDATED = "menuItemsUpdated";
        const MODIFIERS_UPDATED = "modifiersUpdated";
        const ORDERS_UPDATED = "ordersUpdated";
        const PAYLOAD = "payload";
        const PRODUCT_CATEGORIES_UPDATED = "productCategoriesUpdated";
        const STATUS = "status";
        const TERMINAL_HTTP = 'terminalHttpKey';
        const TERMINAL_LOG_OUT = 'terminalLogOutKey';
        const TERMINAL_REGISTRATION = 'terminalRegistrationKey';
        const TIMESTAMP = "now";

}
class ClientUpdates {

        function __construct() {

                //-- this does not work
                $i = HttpKeys::PRODUCT_CATEGORIES_UPDATED;
                var_dump($i);

                $this->getProductCategories();

        }

        private function getProductCategories() {

                //-- this does not work
                $j = HttpKeys::PRODUCT_CATEGORIES_UPDATED;
                var_dump($j);

        }

}

$c = new ClientUpdates;
?>

 

And the output is

 

string(24) "productCategoriesUpdated"
string(24) "productCategoriesUpdated"

 

So it is working here.  My php version is PHP 5.3.3-7+squeeze13 with Suhosin-Patch (cli) (built: Jun 10 2012 07:31:32)

[timothyneill]

This end:

 

PHP Version 5.3.2-1ubuntu4.17

 

Could be a bug with this particular version - thanks for all the help

[requinix]

Could be a bug with this particular version

Not to be dismissive but no.

 

So you did a

var_dump(HttpKeys::PRODUCT_CATEGORIES_UPDATED);

and got

NULL

If not then what did you do?

 

You wouldn't happen to be trying to use member variables and forgetting to include the $this->?

[timothyneill]

I could be wasting your time - I just did a var_dump and the results were as they should be.

 

I may have a problem with XDebug with PDT in eclipse.

 

Strangely in the debugger the var_dump is working - however assignment to $i & $j do not.

 

I'm so sorry to be such a noob

 

 

[btherl]

Can you post the code which doesn't work?  The code from the original post doesn't use $i $j or $k so you can't tell from the behaviour whether the assignments work or not.

[timothyneill]

The code from the first post does include $i & $j - however it is in the ClientUpdates php code block.

 

The more I play with this - I have it working using var dumps - however my step through debugger (XDebug) was not showing the vars being assigned values. This could be an issue with my config of PDT & Xdebug.

 

 

[requinix]

Please, please just post the code you're using. Without paraphrasing or generalizing. It'll make things a lot easier for us to see.

[timothyneill]

Here is the code:

18795_.php

18796_.php

18797_.php

[btherl]

The code from the first post does include $i & $j - however it is in the ClientUpdates php code block.

 

The more I play with this - I have it working using var dumps - however my step through debugger (XDebug) was not showing the vars being assigned values. This could be an issue with my config of PDT & Xdebug.

 

So is the situation that var_dump($i) shows the expected value but XDebug doesn't show it?  I strongly suspect it's an issue with XDebug then.  If var_dump() works then you are getting the correct value, and your script should be able to run as intended.

[timothyneill]

I agree - I have just upgraded eclipse to juno. There could be a problem there. I am very sorry to have consumed a bunch of your time on a problem that isn't a language issue.

 

I may go back to indigo and check it out.

 

Thanks again