I'm a bit confused by the "class" keyword in the syntax ClassName::class. We already have the magic constant __CLASS__ which does exactly the same class name resolving, if you refer it within the class.
So why to introduce a new keyword instead of using __CLASS__, like ClassName::__CLASS__? Eugene "Ralph Schindler" <ra...@ralphschindler.com> wrote in message news:4f89d4f1.8070...@ralphschindler.com... > Hi all, > > There are many different use cases were in code we expect classes names as > arguments to functions as fully qualified names. We do this in ZF a lot > with our Service Location and DI components, but also with our code > reflection API, etc. A more interesting use case I would like to call out > is with PHPUnit, for example in a test, you might find this: > > $mock = $this->getMock('A\Namespaced\ClassName'); > > This becomes cumbersome when you are dealing with lots of strings about > lots of class names. This is also an area where, currently, namespace > declaration and use statements offer no real support. > > The patch located here: > > https://github.com/ralphschindler/php-src/commit/02210d51851a96d723fbedcfc64cde9f9ae2b22a > > ... implements the ability for a developer to leverage the file's > namespace declaration and use statements to be able to produce a scalar > (string) of the class name that can be then used, for example, as an > argument to a function elsewhere. > > This overloads the "class" keyword, and by virtue of the existing usage of > "class" this feature is completely backwards compatible. All existing > tests pass. For example, the above PHPUnit snipped would become: > > use A\Namespaced\ClassName; > $mock = $this->getMock(ClassName::class); > > Another example with reflection: > > use SomeOther\FullyNamespaced\ClassElsewhere as CE; > $r = new ReflectionClass(CE::class); > > More examples from the test file: > > namespace Foo\Bar { > class Baz {} > var_dump(Moo::CLASS); // "Foo\Bar\Moo" > } > > namespace { > use Bee\Bop as Moo, > Foo\Bar\Baz; > > var_dump(Baz::class); // "Foo\Bar\Baz" > var_dump(Boo::class); // "Boo" > var_dump(Moo::CLASS); // "Bee\Bop" > var_dump(\Moo::Class); // "Moo" > > $class = Baz::class; // assign class as scalar to var > $x = new $class; > var_dump($x); object(Foo\Bar\Baz)#1 (0) {} > } > > > What do you guys think? > > -ralph -- PHP Internals - PHP Runtime Development Mailing List To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
