Is this a reasonable way to handle getters/setters in a PHP class?

Question

I\'m going to try something with the format of this question and I\'m very open to suggestions about a better way to handle it.

I didn\'t want to just dump a bunch o

Answer 1

@Brian

My problem with this is that adding "more logic later" requires that you add blanket logic that applies to all properties accessed with the getter/setter or that you use if or switch statements to evaluate which property you're accessing so that you can apply specific logic.

That's not quite true. Take my first example:

class PropTest extends PropertyHandler
{
    public function __construct()
    {
        parent::__construct();
    }
}

$props = new PropTest();

$props->setFirstName("Mark");
echo $props->getFirstName();

Let's say that I need to add some logic for validating FirstNames. All I have to do is add a setFirstName method to my subclass and that method is automatically used instead.

class PropTest extends PropertyHandler
{
    public function __construct()
    {
        parent::__construct();
    }

    public function setFirstName($name)
    {
        if($name == 'Mark')
        {
            echo "I love you, Mark!";
        }
    }
}

I'm just not satisfied with the limitations that PHP has when it comes to implicit accessor methods.

I agree completely. I like the Python way of handling this (my implementation is just a clumsy rip-off of it).