Question

I’m looking at some code here and there are bunch of calls that are like this. I don’t have much experience with php, mainly java. Is this like if I had a Dog object that had a fur object and I wanted to call “dog.getFur().getColor();” ?

Example:

  $this->tbtemp_list1->lead_time = ($this->add_lead_time->Text + $this->add_transit_time->Text);
  $this->tbtemp_list1->units = $this->add_units->Text;
  $this->tbtemp_list1->item_class = $this->txtClass->Value;
  $this->tbtemp_list1->category = $this->add_part_category->Text;
  $this->tbtemp_list1->description = $this->add_part_description->Text;
  $this->tbtemp_list1->notes = $this->txtNotes->Text;

Answer 1

-> (arrow) is object notation in PHP.

It’s equivalent is the . (dot) object notation Java.

For example:

// PHP
$this->tbtemp_list1->lead_time

is:

// Java
this.tbtemp_list1.lead_time

In this case, you are reference a property (lead_time) that is a property of an object lead_time which is a property of an object ($this). This can go on forever provided the property is an object.