Static

Class properties and methods

When writing a class, all of the properties and methods are being defined for the object that will be created from the class.

<?php

class House
{
    public $color;

    public function __construct($color)
    {
        $this->color = $color;
    }
}

Like building a house, a class is a blueprint that defines what the house can do and the object is the house itself that can actually perform the actions defined in the blueprint.

$house = new House('Green');

However, what if you want the blueprint to have properties and methods? That is when you use the static keyword. In this class, we will define a default color on the class itself and then use it when creating a new object.

class Skyscraper
{
    private static $popularColor;
    public $color;

    public static function setDefaultColor($color)
    {
        self::$popularColor = $color;
    }

    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->color = self::$popularColor;
    }
}

You can access static methods and properties using double colons on self inside the object or on the class name outside of the object. Static methods and properties can only access other static methods and properties.

Skyscraper::setDefaultColor('Grey');
$skyscraper = new Skyscraper();
echo $skyscraper->color . "\n";

Often, you will see static constructors in PHP. A static constructor creates a new instance of an object. Why would do that when you can just use “new Class” to create the object? A common reason is to make the code more readable.

class TinyHouse
{
    private $color;
    private $wheels;
    private $trailer;

    public static function build($color, $wheels, $trailer)
    {
        return new self($color, $wheels, $trailer);
    }

    public function __construct($color, $wheels, $trailer)
    {
        $this->color = $color;
        $this->wheels = $wheels;
        $this->trailer = $trailer;
    }
}

Using build can make more sense than new, but it is ultimately a personal preference.

$house = TinyHouse::build('Blue', 4, true);