Creating the Singleton design pattern in PHP5

Question

How would one create a Singleton class using PHP5 classes?

Answer 1

PHP 5.3 allows the creation of an inheritable Singleton class via late static binding:

class Singleton
{
    protected static $instance = null;

    protected function __construct()
    {
        //Thou shalt not construct that which is unconstructable!
    }

    protected function __clone()
    {
        //Me not like clones! Me smash clones!
    }

    public static function getInstance()
    {
        if (!isset(static::$instance)) {
            static::$instance = new static;
        }
        return static::$instance;
    }
}

This solves the problem, that prior to PHP 5.3 any class that extended a Singleton would produce an instance of its parent class instead of its own.

Now you can do:

class Foobar extends Singleton {};
$foo = Foobar::getInstance();

And $foo will be an instance of Foobar instead of an instance of Singleton.

Answer 2

I agree with the first answer but I would also declare the class as final so that it cannot be extended as extending a singleton violates the singleton pattern. Also the instance variable should be private so that it cannot be accessed directly. Also make the __clone method private so that you cannot clone the singleton object.

Below is some example code.

/**
 * Singleton class
 *
 */
final class UserFactory
{
    private static $_instance = null;

    /**
     * Private constructor
     *
     */
    private function __construct() {}

    /**
     * Private clone method
     *
     */
     private function __clone() {}

    /**
     * Call this method to get singleton
     *
     * @return UserFactory
     */
    public static function getInstance()
    {
        if (self::$_instance === null) {
            self::$_instance = new UserFactory();
        }
        return self::$_instance;
    }
}

Example Usage

$user_factory = UserFactory::getInstance();

What this stops you from doing (which would violate the singleton pattern..

YOU CANNOT DO THIS!

$user_factory = UserFactory::$_instance;

class SecondUserFactory extends UserFactory { }

Answer 3

You probably should add a private __clone() method to disallow cloning of an instance.

private function __clone() {}

If you don't include this method the following gets possible

$inst1=UserFactory::Instance(); // to stick with the example provided above
$inst2=clone $inst1;

now $inst1 !== $inst2 - they are not the same instance any more.

Answer 4

protected  static $_instance;

public static function getInstance()
{
    if(is_null(self::$_instance))
    {
        self::$_instance = new self();
    }
    return self::$_instance;
}

This code can apply for any class without caring about its class name.

Answer 5

Supports Multiple Objects with 1 line per class:

This method will enforce singletons on any class you wish, al you have to do is add 1 method to the class you wish to make a singleton and this will do it for you.

This also stores objects in a "SingleTonBase" class so you can debug all your objects that you have used in your system by recursing the SingleTonBase objects.

---

Create a file called SingletonBase.php and include it in root of your script!

The code is

abstract class SingletonBase
{
    private static $storage = array();

    public static function Singleton($class)
    {
        if(in_array($class,self::$storage))
        {
            return self::$storage[$class];
        }
        return self::$storage[$class] = new $class();
    }
    public static function storage()
    {
       return self::$storage;
    }
}

Then for any class you want to make a singleton just add this small single method.

public static function Singleton()
{
    return SingletonBase::Singleton(get_class());
}

---

Here is a small example:

include 'libraries/SingletonBase.resource.php';

class Database
{
    //Add that singleton function.
    public static function Singleton()
    {
        return SingletonBase::Singleton(get_class());
    }

    public function run()
    {
        echo 'running...';
    }
}

$Database = Database::Singleton();

$Database->run();

And you can just add this singleton function in any class you have and it will only create 1 instance per class.

NOTE: You should always make the __construct private to eliminate the use of new Class(); instantiations.

Answer 6

Database class that checks if there is any existing database instance it will return previous instance.

   class Database {  
        public static $instance;  
         public static function getInstance(){  
            if(!isset(Database::$instance) ) {  
                Database::$instance = new Database();  
            }  
           return Database::$instance;  
         }  
         private function __cunstruct() {  
           /* private and cant create multiple objects */  
         }  
         public function getQuery(){  
            return "Test Query Data";  
         }  
    }  
    $dbObj = Database::getInstance();  
    $dbObj2 = Database::getInstance();  
    var_dump($dbObj);  
    var_dump($dbObj2);  


/* 
After execution you will get following output: 

object(Database)[1] 
object(Database)[1] 

*/  

Ref http://www.phptechi.com/php-singleton-design-patterns-example.html