Question

I’ve some class with this signature (PHP 5.3):

class a {

    public static function __callStatic($name) {
        echo "unknown static method $name called";
    }

    public function foo() {
        echo "instance method foo called";
    }

}

It does this:

a::not_known();
// unknown static method not_known called -- CORRECT

$obj = new a();
$obj->foo();
// instance method foo called -- CORRECT

a::foo();
// instance method foo called -- WRONG
// should be: unknown static method foo called

Is there any way I can prevent the call to the instance method but use the __callStatic for unknown static methods? If I call a static method, I want a static method to run …

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Edit: Why why the answer below from SergeS does not work (php 5.3.2):

class a {
    public $name = "a";

    function ident() {
        if( !is_object( $this )) { 
            echo "I am STATIC class a\n";
        } else {
            echo "I am INSTANCE class a\n";
            echo "\$this has name: $this->name\n";
        }
    }
}

class b {
    public $name = "b";

    function test() {
        a::ident();
    }
}

a::ident();
$a = new a();
$a->ident();

$b = new b();
$b->test();

gives the following output:

a::ident();  --> I am STATIC class a // correct
$a->ident(); --> I am INSTANCE class a // correct
                 $this has name: a // correct
$b->test();  --> I am INSTANCE class a // wrong! should be 'STATIC class a'
                 $this has name: b // wrong! $this is an instance of 'b'!

In the last call, the method ident of class a is called statically in an instance of b. And this passes the instance of b as $this to the method of a, which is obviously dead wrong!

Answer 1

It is during to definition of __callStatic – it will be called if method with this name is not reachable – but a::foo is (no matter it is or it is not static) – so, if you want to keep this construct, put this at beginning of foo method :

if( is_object( $this )) if( $this instanceof a ) { 
    // Do non-static
    return;
} 
// Do static here

PS Edit example to make sure it will be same instance too – but this is not always corrct as answer for select static or non-stati call because if i have this hierarchy

Class A -> Class B -> Class C ( Class C implements both A and B ), if i want to call specific method from A i will write A::method ( similiar to specific method in B by calling B::method OR parent::method )