Which pattern should I use for my unique instance of the User class?

Question

I have this User class

class User{
  private    $logged = false;
  private    $id;

  public function User() {
      //> Check if the user is logged in wi         


        

Answer 1

Not sure why all the arguing up top. Seems like a perfectly reasonable question to me.

The key here is to use static members of the User class. Static methods are your friends, regardless of what some may say:

class User
{
   private    $logged = false;
   private    $id;

   private static $_currentUser;
   public static function currentUser()
   {
     if (empty(self::$_currentUser))
     {
         @session_start();
         if (array_key_exists('current_user', $_SESSION))
         {
             self::$_currentUser = $_SESSION['current_user'];
         }
         else
         {
           // force login in or whatever else.
           // if you log in, make sure to call User::_setCurrentUser(); 
             return null; //or some special 'empty' user.
         }
     }
     return self::$_currentUser;
  }
  // you may consider making this public, but it is private because it is a bit
  // more secure that way.  
  private static function _setCurrentUser(User $user)
  {
     self::$_currentUser = $user;
     $_SESSION['current_user'] = $user;
  }

  public function User() {
   //> Check if the user is logged in with a cookie-database and set $logged=true;
  }  

  public function isLogged() {}
  public function editPerms() {}

  //> other methods    
}

// Usage
$pUser = User::currentUser();