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Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:22:58 -0500
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Subject: proposed access modifier "silent" ... was: Re: [PHP-DEV] Implicit
 isset/isempty check on short-ternary operator
From: dante@lorenso.com ("D. Dante Lorenso")

The problem with implementing "ifsetor", "filled", or "??" in userland 
is that the "not set" or "undefined" warning is fired before the 
variable is passed to the underlying function/method.

Is it possible to add a modifier that turns off warnings for undefined 
variables whenever that specific method is called?  Something like:

class Utility {
   public silent function filled() {
     $args = func_get_args();
     foreach ($args as $arg) {
       if (!empty($arg)) { return $arg; }
     }
     return false;
   }
}

$x = Utility::filled($my_undef, $x['undef'], $nosuch, 'default');

The modifier "silent" will turn all undefined or "not isset()" variables 
into NULL values when being passed to the method and no warnings will be 
issued.

Then, we can build our own damn functions as we see fit without the fuss.

-- Dante