Question

So I wrote a basic class which I have extended to create html element. Based on Zend – HOWEVER not exactly. No this is not a question about or in relation to zend

class AisisCore_Form_Elements_Input extends AisisCore_Form_Element {

    protected $_html = '';

    public function init(){

        foreach($this->_options as $options){
            $this->_html .= '<input type="text" ';

            if(isset($options['id'])){
                $this->_html .= 'id="'.$options['id'].'" ';
            }

            if(isset($options['class'])){
                $this->_html .= 'class="'.$options['class'].'" ';
            }

            if(isset($options['attributes'])){
                foreach($options['attributes'] as $attrib){
                    $this->_html .= $attrib;
                }
            }

            $this->_html .= $this->_disabled;
            $this->_html .= ' />';

            return  $this->_html;
        }
    }
}

so this class extends my element class which consists of a constructor that takes in an array of options, a basic element is set up as such:

$array_attrib = array(
    'attributes' => array(
        'placeholder' => 'Test'
    )
);

$element = new AisisCore_Form_Elements_Input($array_attrib);
echo $element;

So what’s the problem?

echoing the $element object gives me an error saying it cant convert the object to a string, thus when I var_dump it I get this back:

object(AisisCore_Form_Elements_Input)#21 (3) {
  ["_html":protected]=>
  string(22) "<input type="text"  />"
  ["_options":protected]=>
  array(1) {
    ["attributes"]=>
    array(1) {
      ["placeholder"]=>
      string(4) "Test"
    }
  }
  ["_disabled":protected]=>
  NULL
}

Can some one explain what’s going on? Last I checked I was echoing out a string not an object. How did I manage to create an object?

If you need to see the AisisCore_Form_Element class I will post it how ever all this class is a base class you extend to create the element. the only thing it takes is an array of options.

Answer 1

Looks like your constructor was trying to return a value (in the middle of the for loop as well), when you probably wanted to something like this….

class AisisCore_Form_Elements_Input extends AisisCore_Form_Element {

    protected $_html = '';

    public function init(){

        foreach($this->_options as $options){
            $this->_html .= '<input type="text" ';

            if(isset($options['id'])){
                $this->_html .= 'id="'.$options['id'].'" ';
            }

            if(isset($options['class'])){
                $this->_html .= 'class="'.$options['class'].'" ';
            }

            if(isset($options['attributes'])){
                foreach($options['attributes'] as $attrib){
                    $this->_html .= $attrib;
                }
            }

            $this->_html .= $this->_disabled;
            $this->_html .= ' />';

            // Constructors Don't Return Values - this is wrong
            //return  $this->_html;
        }
    }

    // provide a getter for the HTML
    public function getHtml()
    {
         return $this->_html;
    }
}

Now your example can be updated to look like this…

$element = new AisisCore_Form_Elements_Input($array_attrib);
echo $element->getHtml();