Constructor alternative for static methods in PHP

Question

A few months ago, I have read about a PHP function that is called every time a static method is called, similar to the __construct function that is called when an instance of class is instantiated. However, I can't seem to find what function takes care of this functionality in PHP. Is there such a function?

Answer 1

You can play with __callStatic() and do something like this:

class testObj {
  public function __construct() {

  }

  public static function __callStatic($name, $arguments) {
    $name = substr($name, 1);

    if(method_exists("testObj", $name)) {
      echo "Calling static method '$name'<br/>";

      /**
       * You can write here any code you want to be run
       * before a static method is called
       */

      call_user_func_array(array("testObj", $name), $arguments);
    }
  }

  static public function test($n) {
    echo "n * n = " . ($n * $n);
  }
}

/**
 * This will go through the static 'constructor' and then call the method
 */
testObj::_test(20);

/**
 * This will go directly to the method
 */
testObj::test(20);

Using this code any method that is preceded by '_' will run the static 'constructor' first. This is just a basic example, but you can use __callStatic however it works better for you.

Good luck!