IX. Class/Object Functions

Introduction

An example of use

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.

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.

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:

Table of Contents
call_user_method_array --  Call a user method given with an array of parameters
call_user_method --  Call a user method on an specific object
class_exists -- Checks if the class has been defined
get_class -- Returns the name of the class of an object
get_class_methods -- Returns an array of class methods' names
get_class_vars --  Returns an array of default properties of the class
get_declared_classes -- Returns an array with the name of the defined classes
get_object_vars -- Returns an associative array of object properties
get_parent_class -- Retrieves the parent class name for object or class
is_a --  Returns true if the object is of this class or has this class as one of its parents
is_subclass_of --  Returns true if the object has this class as one of its parents
method_exists -- Checks if the class method exists