Reference problem when returning an object from array in PHP
- by avastreg
I've a reference problem; the example should be more descriptive than me :P
I have a class that has an array of objects and retrieve them through a key (string), like an associative array:
class Collection {
public $elements;
function __construct() {
$this->elements = array();
}
public function get_element($key) {
foreach($this->elements as $element) {
if ($element->key == $key) {
return $element;
break;
}
}
return null;
}
public function add_element ($element) {
$this->elements[] = $element;
}
}
Then i have an object (generic), with a key and some variables:
class Element {
public $key;
public $another_var;
public function __construct($key) {
$this->key = $key;
$this->another_var = "default";
}
}
Now, i create my collection:
$collection = new Collection();
$collection->add_element(new Element("test1"));
$collection->add_element(new Element("test2"));
And then i try to change variable of an element contained in my "array":
$element = $collection->get_element("test1");
$element->another_var = "random_string";
echo $collection->get_element("test1")->another_var;
Ok, the output is
random_string
so i know that my object is passed to $element in reference mode.
But if i do, instead:
$element = $collection-get_element("test1");
$element = null; //or $element = new GenericObject();
$element-another_var = "bla";
echo $collection-get_element("test1")-another_var;
the output is
default
like if it lost the reference.
So, what's wrong? I have got the references to the variables of the element and not to the element itself?
Any ideas?
