Examples

In this example, we first define a base class and an extension of the class. The base class describes a general vegetable, whether it is edible or not and what is its color. The subclass Spinach adds a method to cook it and another to find out if it is cooked.

Example #1 classes.inc

<?php

// base class with member properties and methods
class Vegetable {

   var $edible;
   var $color;

   function Vegetable($edible, $color="green") 
   {
       $this->edible = $edible;
       $this->color = $color;
   }

   function is_edible() 
   {
       return $this->edible;
   }

   function what_color() 
   {
       return $this->color;
   }
   
} // end of class Vegetable

// extends the base class
class Spinach extends Vegetable {

   var $cooked = false;

   function Spinach() 
   {
       $this->Vegetable(true, "green");
   }

   function cook_it() 
   {
       $this->cooked = true;
   }

   function is_cooked() 
   {
       return $this->cooked;
   }
   
} // end of class Spinach

?>

We then instantiate 2 objects from these classes and print out information about them, including their class parentage. We also define some utility functions, mainly to have a nice printout of the variables.

Example #2 test_script.php

<pre>
<?php

include "classes.inc";

// utility functions

function print_vars($obj) 
{
foreach (get_object_vars($obj) as $prop => $val) {
    echo "\t$prop = $val\n";
}
}

function print_methods($obj) 
{
$arr = get_class_methods(get_class($obj));
foreach ($arr as $method) {
    echo "\tfunction $method()\n";
}
}

function class_parentage($obj, $class) 
{
if (is_subclass_of($GLOBALS[$obj], $class)) {
    echo "Object $obj belongs to class " . get_class($$obj);
    echo " a subclass of $class\n";
} else {
    echo "Object $obj does not belong to a subclass of $class\n";
}
}

// instantiate 2 objects

$veggie = new Vegetable(true, "blue");
$leafy = new Spinach();

// print out information about objects
echo "veggie: CLASS " . get_class($veggie) . "\n";
echo "leafy: CLASS " . get_class($leafy);
echo ", PARENT " . get_parent_class($leafy) . "\n";

// show veggie properties
echo "\nveggie: Properties\n";
print_vars($veggie);

// and leafy methods
echo "\nleafy: Methods\n";
print_methods($leafy);

echo "\nParentage:\n";
class_parentage("leafy", "Spinach");
class_parentage("leafy", "Vegetable");
?>
</pre>

One important thing to note in the example above is that the object $leafy is an instance of the class Spinach which is a subclass of Vegetable, therefore the last part of the script above will output:

   [...]
Parentage:
Object leafy does not belong to a subclass of Spinach
Object leafy belongs to class spinach a subclass of Vegetable