Calling php methods with strings

Question

I have two objects. Object A and B.

A has a method which returns B. And I want to call this dynamically so I use a string for calling a method inside of B like so:

$method = 'getB()->someMethod';

But if do this:

$a = new A();
$a->$method();

It doesn't work. Any ideas?

Shouldn’t you call $a->getB() first to get B?

Gumbo
– Gumbo

2010-10-15 15:03:13 +00:00
Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 15:03 — Gumbo
– Gumbo, Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 15:03
Why your method doesn't have ()?

Shikiryu
– Shikiryu

2010-10-15 15:07:58 +00:00
Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 15:07 — Shikiryu
– Shikiryu, Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 15:07

Felix Kling · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-15 15:05:33Z

18

You cannot do it like that. $method can only contain the name of a method of A. Read about variable functions. You could have to variables though, e.g.

$method1 = 'getB';
$method2 = 'someMethod';

$a->$method1()->$method2();

But probably it would be better to rethink the problem, consider another structure of your code and/or having a look at design patterns.

The question is: What is your ultimate goal?

answered Oct 15, 2010 at 15:05

Felix Kling

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3 Comments

Bill Over a year ago

Sorry to spark up an old thread, but this question and answer applied to me. I'm thinking about creating a php api for ajax calls. Would this be the best way to allow javascript to send methods as strings to interact with an object?

Felix Kling Over a year ago

You can do it like that. You might also want to have a look at __call. I cannot tell you what's the best way though. It sounds like you want to do remote procedure calls (RPC). There are already some libraries for that, so you could also have a look at those.

ahnbizcad Over a year ago

something i actually like about php

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