php application class structure guidelines

Question

I am developing a php application using MVC architecture and i really need suggestions about the following design guidelines:

According to php class structure best practises, its noted that someone should minimize module dependencies, my application class inheritance is as followed:

some operations/methods are accessible by all classes
what i have done is i have created an HelperClass which will contain all these "global" methods like string manipulations, integer manipulations, array manipulations and then let the other classes which would like to use these methods extend the class.

Class organization:

interface StringHelper{
 ...
}
interface ArrayHelper{
 ...
}

class GeneralHelper implements StringHelper, ArrayHelper{
 ......
}

class NewClass extends GeneralHelper{
 ...
}

// user factory style to create object
class NewClassFactory{
  public function create( $options ){
    return new NewClass( $options );  
  }
}

The application has about 15 classes.

Is this approach suitable for this scenario or will i end up having big issues when maintaining my application? Would appreciate for your help.

Stewie · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-30 20:30:17Z

1

In most cases helper classes should always be static and no working class should extend it. Helpers are global and they have no role in the main scope of the working class. Think of helpers as Plumbers, Handymen etc . If you are writing a family class it shouldn't extend plumbers, Plumbers should come in when needed and out with no relation whatsoever to the family.

What you need is this:

class NewClass {
 ...
$some_string = declaration

$some_string = StringHelper::sanitizeString($some_string);

}

answered Jun 30, 2012 at 20:30

Stewie

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3 Comments

DaveRandom Over a year ago

Oh goody, an opportunity to be pedantic... class DishWasherMaintenanceMan extends Plumber {} and class HeatingEngineer extends Plumber {} - although I do take your point, when writing helpers it's often useful to have a base helper and extend it for specific circumstances. Also I would consider PHP's native DOM implementation to be designed around extending a helper (DOMNode), and that works well.

Stewie Over a year ago

True, within the helpers / libraries scope its a good idea to extend base helpers. But I was addressing the question / concern the user had. The User mentioned ...then let the other classes which would like to use these methods extend the class. What I think he meant by "other classes" are the main work classes and in that case IMHO the work classes should NOT extend helpers

Mutinda Boniface Over a year ago

i have actually got your point @DaveRandom so what i should do is have something like this..... class GeneralHelper{ ..statements here } then in the class NewClass{ public function doThing(){$new_string = GeneralHelper::toLower("some string in any lettercase");}}

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