PHP inherited array properties

Question

I have a class hierarchy in PHP 5.2.9.

The base class has a protected property which is an associative array.

The child classes can add some elements to the array.

The child classes are declared in the separate files (plugins), which will be created and added by multiple developers.

Which is the best way to add the elements to the property in the child classes so that declaring a new child would be as simple as possible?

<?php
        class A {
                protected $myproperty = array (
                        'A1' => 1,
                        'A2' => 2
                );

                function myprint()
                {
                        print_r($this->myproperty);
                }
        };

        class B extends A {
                // add 'B1', 'B2' to myproperty
        };

        class C extends B {
                // add 'C1', 'C2' to myproperty
        };

        $c = new C();
        $c->myprint();
        // The line above should print A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2
?>

Ideally, I'd like to make it for the developers as simple as declaring a variable or a private property, without having a need to copypaste any code.

Bendy · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-30 09:30:27Z

3

Make use of the constructors of the inherited classes, for class B it would become something like this:

class B extends A {
    function __construct() {
        parent::__construct();                // Call constructor of parent class
        array_push($myproperty, "B1", "B2");  // Add our properties
    }
}

Same goes for class C.

If you have a lot of inherited classes, or want to provide as much support as possible, you could put this code into some function. So the other developers only need to call this function in their constructor to 'register' their child.

edited Nov 30, 2015 at 9:30

Bendy

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answered Jan 21, 2010 at 11:00

Veger

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4 Comments

Quassnoi Over a year ago

That's exactly what I first thought of, but is there a more simple way?

Veger Over a year ago

You could try to automate this process by using get_class() and add the properties in the constructor of class A. But I suppose this is much more complex (for you at least).

Quassnoi Over a year ago

How do I do this using get_class()?

Veger Over a year ago

Get the class name from get_class(), add the name as a property. Or use this name to find the properties in a file or special function. As I said: much more complex for you.

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