new feature -> with()

I'm usually a lurker on here, but thought I'd through in my 2p on this
one...

Delphi (Object Pascal) has a similar feature, that I've had some
experience of using, and I never liked it. Why? Because it only leads to
confusion, mainly because the separation of object and method leaves you
unsure of what is actually being called.

Consider the following:

function do()
{
    echo "hello";
}

$class=new class;

with($class)
{
    do_something();
    do_more();
    do();
}

Now, within my with(), am I calling the class method do() or the
function do()? Not clear at first glance.

And the whole thing gets even more complex if you can start nesting
with() constructs.

I suspect this wouldn't be trivial to implement, and for me it doesn't
add any value - only potential confusion.

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-----Original Message-----
From: Sebastian [mailto:sebastian@ifyouwantblood.de]
Sent: 09 October 2007 20:12
To: internals@lists.php.net
Subject: [PHP-DEV] new feature -> with()

hi,

i think it would be really handy to introduce the with() feature from
JavaScript (and probably other OOP languages) into php. so for sample
the following

$class=new class;
$class->do_something();
$class->do_more();
$class->do();

could be made easier and more readable:

$class=new class;

with($class)
{
do_something();
do_more();
do();
}

greetings

Sebastian

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---

$class=new class;

with($class)
{
do_something();
do_more();
do();
}

What more value does this hold over implementing fluent interfaces which
are already possible?

Assuming
class Foo {
public function doSomething() { /code/ return $this; }
public function doMore() { /code/ return $this; }
public function doDo() { /code/ return $this; }
}

You can do this:

$bar = new Foo()
$bar->doSomething()->doMore()->doDo();

or, if you want exceptional fallthrough:

try {
$bar->doSomething()
->doMore()
->doDo();
} catch (Exception $e) {
...
}

-ralph

hi,

wow, thats what you're writing is a chain call. this only works, if the
methods of a class return the object $this. but if you need a return value
other than $this, simply there is no real way.

and moreover i don't agree with the other arguments. what i'm suggesting is,
that in with(){} you are only allowed to use the methods and variables
defined in the object you are using with(). as in the sample, you are not
using any global functions or else.
my opinion is, this it is especially with $this very useful.

greetings

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ralph Schindler" ralph@smashlabs.com
To: "Sebastian" sebastian@ifyouwantblood.de
Cc: internals@lists.php.net
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 6:08 PM
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] new feature -> with()

---

$class=new class;

with($class)
{
do_something();
do_more();
do();
}

What more value does this hold over implementing fluent interfaces which
are already possible?

Assuming
class Foo {
public function doSomething() { /code/ return $this; }
public function doMore() { /code/ return $this; }
public function doDo() { /code/ return $this; }
}

You can do this:

$bar = new Foo()
$bar->doSomething()->doMore()->doDo();

or, if you want exceptional fallthrough:

try {
$bar->doSomething()
->doMore()
->doDo();
} catch (Exception $e) {
...
}

-ralph