Chaining Static Methods in PHP?

Question

Is it possible to chain static methods together using a static class? Say I wanted to do something like this:

$value = TestClass::toValue(5)::add(3)::subtrac         


        

Answer 1

In a nutshell... no. :) The resolution operator (::) would work for the TetsClass::toValue(5) part, but everything after that will just give a syntax error.

Once namespaces are implemented in 5.3, you can have "chained" :: operators, but all that'll do is drill down through the namespace tree; it won't be possible to have methods in the middle of things like this.

Answer 2

Here's another way without going through a getInstance method (tested on PHP 7.x):

class TestClass
{
    private $result = 0;

    public function __call($method, $args)
    {
        return $this->call($method, $args);
    }

    public static function __callStatic($method, $args)
    {
        return (new static())->call($method, $args);
    }

    private function call($method, $args)
    {
        if (! method_exists($this , '_' . $method)) {
            throw new Exception('Call undefined method ' . $method);
        }

        return $this->{'_' . $method}(...$args);
    }

    private function _add($num)
    {
        $this->result += $num;

        return $this;
    }

    private function _subtract($num)
    {
        $this->result -= $num;

        return $this;
    }

    public function result()
    {
        return $this->result;
    }
}

The class can be used as following:

$res1 = TestClass::add(5)
    ->add(3)
    ->subtract(2)
    ->add(8)
    ->result();

echo $res1 . PHP_EOL; // 14

$res2 = TestClass::subtract(1)->add(10)->result();
echo $res2 . PHP_EOL; // 9

Answer 3

class oop{
    public static $val;

    public static function add($var){
        static::$val+=$var;
        return new static;
    }

    public static function sub($var){
        static::$val-=$var;
        return new static;
    }

    public static function out(){
        return static::$val;
    }

    public static function init($var){
        static::$val=$var;
        return new static;      
    }
}

echo oop::init(5)->add(2)->out();

Answer 4

Technically you can call a static method on an instance like $object::method() in PHP 7+, so returning a new instance should work as a replacement for return self. And indeed it works.

final class TestClass {
    public static $currentValue;

    public static function toValue($value) {
        self::$currentValue = $value;
        return new static();
    }

    public static function add($value) {
        self::$currentValue = self::$currentValue + $value;
        return new static();
    }

    public static function subtract($value) {
        self::$currentValue = self::$currentValue - $value;
        return new static();
    }

    public static function result() {
        return self::$currentValue;
    }
}

$value = TestClass::toValue(5)::add(3)::subtract(2)::add(8)::result();

var_dump($value);

Outputs int(14).

This about same as returning __CLASS__ as used in other answer. I rather hope no-one ever decides to actually use these forms of API, but you asked for it.