Question

I have a User class extending an Id abstract class. Somehow I will introduce another class called Event extending the Id class too. The __construct() methods are very similar, so I want to put the constructor code in the Id class.

Here is my __construct() method:

class Event extends Id
{
    public function __construct($id, $object){
        $this->id = $id;
        foreach($object as $property => $value) {
            if (property_exists($this, $property)) $this->$property = $value;
        }
    }
}

class User extends Id
{
    public function __construct($id, $object){
        $this->id = $id;
        foreach($object as $property => $value) {
            if (property_exists($this, $property)) $this->$property = $value;
        }
    }
}

However, if I put the method in the Id class, PHP warns me at $this->$property = $value;. It says that I have some attributes stated private in the User or Event class so that it cannot be initiated in Id class.

What I want is to reuse my code while keeping those variables private (because I do not want other except parent class to access them!)

Answer 1

Some options:

• Use protected variables

• You could use Reflection to cheat and set private variables.

• Use traits (5.4) to import a common __construct

• Refactor a bit. e.g., have a setProperty in the child classes that the parent calls, or implement __set, etc