Reflection API Injection Mechanism

Jim Wilson wrote:

1. Is there a way to inject a method into a Class such that future
   instantiations of that Class will have the method? For example:

2. Is there a way to change a method which already exists, as in by
   overwriting it with a new function? I'm looking to do the equivalent of
   JavaScript's 'function as member' treatment, where it's easy to do
   something

See php.net/runkit

• Chris

Hi Jim,

you're searching for runkit ;-)
http://de.php.net/manual/en/ref.runkit.php

johannes

Dear PHP Internals subscribers,

I have two quick questions regarding PHP 5's Reflection API (I apologize if
this isn't the right list to ask):

1. Is there a way to inject a method into a Class such that future
   instantiations of that Class will have the method? For example:

------------ Before -----------
class A {
// Nothing
}
------------ Before -----------

------------ After -----------
class A {
// method which was injected
public function injectedFunc($someArg) {
// ....
}
}
------------ After -----------

Obviously I'm not looking for a way to modify class A's source code, just
the effective class A specification.

I know that PHP supports extending classes and interfaces, but in my
use-case that isn't really an option since I don't control the code which
instantiates the objects, and they're not using any kind of Factory pattern
for object construction that I could overload with my extended
implementation.

2. Is there a way to change a method which already exists, as in by
   overwriting it with a new function? I'm looking to do the equivalent of
   JavaScript's 'function as member' treatment, where it's easy to do something
   like:

------------ Snip -----------
// Obj is some object
Obj.meth = function (arg) { /* do something with arg */ };

// Then later on ...
Obj.meth('hello there');
------------ Snip -----------

Thanks in advance for any help, or for redirecting me to the correct list if
this isn't it.

-- Jim R. Wilson