Going backwards: a quick look at a previous example - PHP

Before I explain how to combine the two “__set()” and “__get()” methods within the same overloaded class, you should take a brief look at the sample “CookieSaver” class that I wrote in the first article, which provides a concrete implementation of the “__set()” method. Here is the signature of this class, according to its original definition:

class CookieSaver{
    var $cookieName;
    var $value;
    var $expTimes=array('exp1'=>900,'exp2'=>1800,'exp3'=>3600);
    function CookieSaver
($cookieName='defaultCookie',$value='defaultValue'){
        if(!is_string($cookieName)){
            trigger_error('Invalid cookie name',E_USER_ERROR);
        }
            $this->cookieName=$cookieName;
            $this->value=$value;
    }
    // set cookie
    function setCookie(){
        setcookie($this->cookieName,$this->value);
    }
    // get cookie
    function getCookie(){
        if(!$cookie=$_COOKIE[$this->cookieName]){
            trigger_error('Error retrieving
cookie',E_USER_ERROR);
        }
        return $cookie;
    }
    // set value of property via __set() method
    function __set($property,$value){
        $this->expTimes[$property]=$value;
        $expTime=$this->expTimes[$property];
        setcookie('newCookie',urlencode('This cookie has been set
via the __set() method'),time()+$expTime);
        echo 'Setting new cookie...with an expiration of '.$expTime.' seconds.';
        return;
    }
}

Assuming that the above class is now fresh in your mind, below I listed a simple script that triggers the “_set()” method when a property access is overloaded. Take a look please:

// instantiate 'CookieSaver' object
$cookieSaver=&new CookieSaver();
// set cookie
$cookieSaver->setCookie();
// call __set() method and modify $this->expTimes['exp1'] array
element
@$cookieSaver->exp1=3600;

In this case, the previous code sample demonstrates a crude implementation of how to overload a property access, in order to automatically run the code defined inside the __”set()” method. After running the previous script, its output is the following:

Setting new cookie...with an expiration of 3600 seconds.

Now that you remember how to call a “__set()” method, and also a “__get()” method via the corresponding overloading of a property access, let’s see how both methods can be combined inside the same “CookieSaver” class. To learn how this will be done, please read the following section of the article.