PHP OOP - using an object inside other classes

Question

I've been a php programmer for a number of years, but am only now getting into OOP. I have two classes so far, Item and List (I'm just simplifying here, they're not the real class names.) All of my data is accessed via a web service using SOAP.

I'm not sure what the best way is to implement getting a SOAP client and using it in multiple classes. For example, the WSDL defines an addItem function and a getList function. I also need to send a token to the service for each transaction.

Do I need to define a new SoapClient inside every class? like so:

class Item {
  // item properties
  function addItem($itemName) {
     $client = new SoapClient('myfile.wsdl');
     $client->addItem($itemName);
     //service returns true or false
  }
}

class List {
  function getList($listName) {
     $client = new SoapClient('myfile.wsdl');
     return $client->getList($listName);
     //service returns array
  }
}

Or is there some way to create a new SoapClient outside of the individual classes and use the same client object in each one?

Your class should have a member variable of type SoapClient. — JonH
– JonH, Commented Jul 16, 2012 at 18:20

Naftali · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-16 18:28:38Z

1

Pass it into the constructor with some dependency injection:

class Item {

  function __constructor(SoapClient &$s){
      $this->soap = $s;
  }
  // item properties
  function addItem($itemName) {
     $this->soap->addItem($itemName);
     //service returns true or false
  }
}

edited Jul 16, 2012 at 18:28

answered Jul 16, 2012 at 18:19

Naftali

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9 Comments

user895378 Over a year ago

Dependency injection is definitely preferred, but what's the point of &$s? The SoapClient instance is already passed in by reference ...

Naftali Over a year ago

@rdlowrey is it? I did not know that.

Naftali Over a year ago

@KarolyHorvath where is that documented?

user895378 Over a year ago

@Neal for all intents and purposes, yes (relevant manual entry):

EmmyS Over a year ago

So in this case, am I calling something like $s = new SoapClient() somewhere else, and then passing $s into the class constructor?

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petebowden · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-16 18:26:24Z

Depending on how you're using the SoapClient, you have a couple of options.

If you're going to use that SoapClient multiple times during the execution of the script (and it is thread safe?), you could use the singleton pattern to fetch an instance of the SoapClient. What this would allow you to do is to only create ONE instance of the object and then fetch it again each time you need it.

To fetch the object the code would look like.

$soapclass = $SoapClassSingleton::getInstance()

And the class behind would look something like

class SoapClassSingleton{
private instance;
public static function getInstance(){
    if(!self::instance){            
        self::$instance = new SoapClass();          
    }
    return self::$instance;
}

It's almost like having a "global" variable, but is only created if you need it and then the same object can be used by other classes. I use this design for logging in my applications.

You could also create an instance of the SoapClient and pass it into the the Class when you create it. See PHP's constructors for help.

Alternatively your classes could extend a class that contains the SoapController. The downside to doing this is that now you are tightly coupled with the superclass.

CrazyVipa · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-16 18:30:02Z

-1

Oh dear, there are so many possible ways to do this. If you want to keep it the exact SAME in ALL portions of the script... you could use a singleton class.

Access:

MySoapConnection::instance()->function_calls_here

Class:

class MySoapConnection {

  /* Singleton */
  private static $_instance;
  public static function instance()
  {
    if (! self::$_instance):
      self::$_instance = new self();
    endif;
    return self::$_instance;
  }


  function __constructor(SoapClient $s){
      $this->soap = $s;
  }
  // item properties
  function addItem($itemName) {
     $this->soap->addItem($itemName);
     //service returns true or false
  }
}

As the comments state, I haven't tested. Nor should you copy/paste this code. Just shows a Singleton example. Nothing more, Nothing less. PHP was not built for OOP, I love PHP, was adapted to use OOP, not built for it.

edited Jul 16, 2012 at 18:30

answered Jul 16, 2012 at 18:23

CrazyVipa

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6 Comments

Naftali Over a year ago

Ummmm Singletons are uuuugly.

CrazyVipa Over a year ago

I agree Neal, but in PHP.... OOP is ugly. However, Singleton gets the job done here. :)

Naftali Over a year ago

Lol that is not true at all. Also this will fail you did not pass the SoapClient into the Singleton!

cHao Over a year ago

Psh. PHP OOP is fine as long as you don't go trying to do stupid stuff.

cHao Over a year ago

@Rastapopulous: Constructors don't return anything -- they just construct. As for taking a SoapClient, that's kinda a design decision; i'd say it should unless it's encapsulating all the functionality of establishing the connection and everything (and will never need a SoapClient that's set up differently). In which case you may have SRP issues waiting to cause you problems.

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