Symbols used in classes.

..oO(Gerry)

>Probably an old quesion, but im pretty new to php, and have not had
>great success in searching.
>
>Ive looking over some code which contains the following terms
>
>$this

Refers to the current object, which invoked the method you're in.

>->

Used to access non-static members (methods and properties) of an object,
e.g.

$foo = new TFoo();
$foo->somePublicMethod();

(Inside the method somePublicMethod() $this would refer to $foo as the
object that called the method.)

>::

Scope resolution operator, used mainly to access static members of a
class, e.g.

TBar::someClassMethod();
print TBar::SOME_CLASS_CONSTANT;

Micha
 >> Stay informed about: Symbols used in classes. 

On Jul 31, 6:20 pm, Michael Fesser wrote:
> .oO(Gerry)
>
> >Probably an old quesion, but im pretty new to php, and have not had
> >great success in searching.
>
> >Ive looking over some code which contains the following terms
>
> >$this
>
> Refers to the current object, which invoked the method you're in.
>
> >->
>
> Used to access non-static members (methods and properties) of an object,
> e.g.
>
> $foo = new TFoo();
> $foo->somePublicMethod();
>
> (Inside the method somePublicMethod() $this would refer to $foo as the
> object that called the method.)
>
> >::
>
> Scope resolution operator, used mainly to access static members of a
> class, e.g.
>
> TBar::someClassMethod();
> print TBar::SOME_CLASS_CONSTANT;
>
> Micha

Many thanks Micha, Great answer, so when in instantiate te class, i
have a choice of either the name eg $foo, or $this, while in scope.

Just one more question then. What's the diference between a 'static'
and a non static member of the class object.

Cheers.
 >> Stay informed about: Symbols used in classes. 

Thank ou also Alvaro.
With Micha's answer, the section on Classes and Objecjects you
referred to is starting to make sense.
 >> Stay informed about: Symbols used in classes. 

..oO(Gerry)

>Just one more question then. What's the diference between a 'static'
>and a non static member of the class object.

For non-static members you always have to create an instance of a class
first, while static members can be called without that. If this doesn't
make much sense to you yet, check out the OOP section in the manual,
there are some examples.

Other examples for using static methods are the design patterns called
"singleton" and "factory". There you don't create the object with the
new operator, but call a static class method instead in order to get the
requested object.

Micha
 >> Stay informed about: Symbols used in classes.