Question

I have declared a static method in class category

public static function getPrefixFromSubCategoyId($subCategoryId) {
    $prefix = $this->fetch(array('table' => 'subCategories', 'id' => $subCategoryId));
    return $prefix[0]['prefix'];
}

i am sure that i am using correct piece of code because when i use the same code outside the class scope with following code it works properly

$category = new Category($dbh);
$subCategoryId = 6;
$prefix = $category->fetch(array('table' => 'subCategories', 'id' => $subCategoryId));
echo $prefix[0]['prefix'];

but when i initialize the static method with following syntax.

$prefix = Category::getPrefixFromSubCategoyId(4);

it gives me following error.

Fatal error: Using $this when not in object context

am i missing something? or am i declaring it the wrong way?

thank you..

Answer 1

static methods are class members and aren’t bound to an object. This means, that $this simply doesn’t exists. You cannot use it in static methods. If fetch() is static too, call it static

self::fetch(/* arguments */);

If not either getPrefixFromSubCategoyId() should not be static too, fetch() should be static (see example above), or you need an object

$tmp = new self;
$tmp->fetch(/* arguments */);