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Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 11:46:31 +0800
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Subject: native events in PHP
From: alan@akbkhome.com (Alan Knowles)

I've been looking at events in PHP, at present, in PEAR, there are lots 
of different methods to add callbacks, to packages, for various 
purposes. It seriously lacks cohesion, and would be nice to sort out at 
the language level.

Having seen C#, while not perfect, it is an interesting model.
There's a very short note on C#, and an idea for a PHP syntax.
http://www.akbkhome.com/wiki.php/DBDO/signals.html

It suggests:

class xxxx {
      // event registers a method, that hooks into the generic event 
handler.
      public event $onDebug = array();

     
      function somemethod() {

        // add a handler to an event..
    // this is the natrual syntax for this, but does open the door to 
someone wiping the stack!
        $this->onDebug[] = array($this,'mycallback');


    // initiate the signals. (function name matches the var!)
    $this->onDebug($x,$y);
     }
     // a handler..
     function mycallback($x,$y) {
    echo "debug hander got $x , $y\n";
     }
}


Anyone care to comment on
a) the feasibility
b) the "should it be implemented" question.
c) the "any better ideas" question...


Regards
Alan