How can I call a static method on a variable class?

Question

I\'m trying to make some kind of function that loads and instantiates a class from a given variable. Something like this:

Answer 1

Late static bindings will work for you I think. In the construct of each class do:

class ClassName
{
    public static $instances = array();

    public function __construct()
    {
        self::$instances[] = $this;
    }
}

Then... Here is an autoloader I created. See if this solves your dilemma.

// Shorten constants for convenience
define ('DS', DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR);
define ('PS', PATH_SEPARATOR);
$template = "default";

// Define an application path constants
define ('APP_ROOT', realpath('.').DS);
define ('VIEW', APP_ROOT . 'Views' . DS);
define ('MODEL', APP_ROOT . 'Models' . DS);
define ('CONTROLLER', APP_ROOT . 'Controllers' . DS);
define ('TEMPLATE', VIEW."templates".DS.$template.DS);
define ('CONTENT', VIEW."content".DS);
define ('HELPERS', MODEL."helpers".DS);

// Check if application is in development stage and set error reporting and
// logging accordingly

error_reporting(E_ALL);
if (defined('DEVELOPMENT')) {
    ini_set('display_errors', 1);
} else {
    ini_set('display_errors', 0);
    ini_set('log_errors', 'On');
    ini_set('error_log', APP_ROOT.'error.log');
}

$paths = array(APP_ROOT, VIEW, MODEL, CONTROLLER, TEMPLATE, CONTENT, HELPERS);

// Set the include path from Config Object
set_include_path(implode(PS, $paths));

// Autoloader
function __autoload($class)
{
    require_once $class.'.php';
    return;
}

Then all you have to do is

$var = new ClassName();

but you have to have a php file in the path with the name ClassName.php where ClassName is the same as the name of the class you want to instantiate.