Question

I can’t seem to be able to override protected static variables. It’s rather annoying, given that you cannot override any private variable as well. Howcan I fix that? (Have to support PHP 5.2)

<?
class Foo{
    protected static $stuff = 'Foo';
    public function showStuff(){
        echo self::$stuff . PHP_EOL;
    }
}

class Bar extends Foo{
    protected static $stuff = 'Bar';
}

$f = new Foo();
$b = new Bar();
$f->showStuff(); // Output: Foo
$b->showStuff(); // Output: Foo
?>

Answer 1

You need to use late static bindings, a feature introduced in PHP 5.3. In your class Foo, self refers to the Foo class. You want to refer to the class where the call originated. You need to use the keyword static:

<?
class Foo{
    protected static $stuff = 'Foo';
    public function showStuff(){
        echo static::$stuff . PHP_EOL; // <-- this line
    }
}

class Bar extends Foo{
    protected static $stuff = 'Bar';
}

$f = new Foo();
$b = new Bar();
$f->showStuff(); // Output: Foo
$b->showStuff(); // Output: Bar
?>