Question

If I write a public static method in a class ie…

public static function get_info($type){
        switch($type){
            case'title':
                self::get_title(); 
                break;
        }
    }

I have to write my get_title() function as public…

public static function get_title(){
        return 'Title';
    }

Otherwise I get the error:

Call to private method Page::get_title()

Which makes me feel as though the function get_info() is essentially redundant. I’d like to be able to make a call from a static method to a private method inside my class for validation purposes. Is this impossible?

PHP > 5.0 btw.

!####### EDIT SOLUTION (BUT NOT ANSWER TO QUESTION) #########!

In case you are curious, my workaround was to instantiate my static function’s class inside the static function.

So, the class name was Page I would do this…

public static function get_info($type){
            $page = new Page();
            switch($type){
                case'title':
                    $page->get_title(); 
                    break;
            }
        }
  public function get_title(){
            return 'Title';
        }

Answer 1

yes, it’s impossible – a non-static method needs an object to read data from, while the point of a static one is that it has no such object attached. you can think of each non-static method of being passed an implicit argument, the object. you simply don’t have a value to pass this value on to the method if you’re calling from a static function.

update
you can have private static function – I’m not sure if your question might involve a slight misunderstanding of private and static as mutually exclusive concepts