Question

In Codeigniter, when we use $this->load('class_name') in the controller, CI will try to create an instance of the class/model using its constructor.

But sometimes, I don’t actually need an instance from that class, I just want to call some static functions from it. Also, there is a big limitation with $this->load('class_name'), it does not allow me to pass parameters to the constructor (unless we extend or modify the core class of CI).

I think the $this->load('class_name') function should only do a require_once on the class php file for me, and let me freely do things (create instance/call static functions) with the class in the controller.

Should I simply ignore this function and use require_once or writing my own __autoload function to load up the classes? This way, I just feel strange because it seems I am not writing codes inside the CI box.

Answer 1

You can pass parameters to your constructor. See the “Passing Parameters When Initializing Your Class” section in the user guide.