Question

I have this class I created on a theme within a WordPress environment.

class Theme {
    function __construct()
    {
       add_action('after_setup_theme', array(&$this, 'do_this'));
    }

    function do_this()
    {
       require_once('helper_functions.php');
    }
}
$theme = new Theme();

And within the helper_functions.php I have:

function get_image()
{
    return 'working';
}

But now I am puzzled because when I execute this

echo $theme->get_image();

It doesn’t work….But if I called it directly it works like this:

echo get_image();

But I thought since I am using a class method, I need to use the class object to get to a class method…Why am I able to call it directly?

Answer 1

The function get_image() is not a function set in the class Theme, it is set in a separate file, which is included in the class.

If you want it to be a function of the class then you need to write it in the class file, move the code into the class.

Alternative you could make use of class extends

class Helper_functions  {

    public function get_image() {
        return "working!";
    }
}

And change the Theme class file to

class Theme extends Helper_functions {

    function __construct()
    {
       add_action('after_setup_theme', array(&$this, 'get_image'));
    }

}

$theme = new Theme();

Alternative
Since you said it was several functions in several files you can do this, either in the Theme class file or in an extended class file.

class Theme {

    ...

    function get_image() { include('theme_file_get_image.php'); }
    function another_function { include('theme_file_another_function.php'); }
}