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

I've always handled this issue in a similar with a __call which ends up pretty much as boiler plate code in many of my classes. However, it's compact, and uses the reflection classes to only add getters / setters for properties you have already set (won't add new ones). Simply adding the getter / setter explicitly will add more complex functionality. It expects to be

Code looks like this:

/**
* Handles default set and get calls
*/
public function __call($method, $params) {

    //did you call get or set
    if ( preg_match( "|^[gs]et([A-Z][\w]+)|", $method, $matches ) ) {

        //which var?
        $var = strtolower($matches[1]);

        $r = new ReflectionClass($this);
        $properties = $r->getdefaultProperties();

        //if it exists
        if ( array_key_exists($var,$properties) ) {
            //set
            if ( 's' == $method[0] ) {
                $this->$var = $params[0];
            }
            //get
            elseif ( 'g' == $method[0] ) {
                return $this->$var;
            }
        }
    }
}

Adding this to a class where you have declared default properties like:

class MyClass {
    public $myvar = null;
}

$test = new MyClass;
$test->setMyvar = "arapaho";

echo $test->getMyvar; //echos arapaho    

The reflection class may add something of use to what you were proposing. Neat solution @Mark.

Answer 2

I like having methods instead of just using public fields, as well, but my problem with PHP's default implementation (using __get() and __set()) or your custom implementation is that you aren't establishing getters and setters on a per-property basis. 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.

I like your solution, and I applaud you for it--I'm just not satisfied with the limitations that PHP has when it comes to implicit accessor methods.