PHP 5 introduces Type Hinting. Functions are now able to force parameters to be objects (by specifying the name of the class in the function prototype) or arrays (since PHP 5.1).
Example#1 Type Hinting examples
<?php
// An example class
class MyClass
{
/**
* A test function
*
* First parameter must be an object of type OtherClass
*/
public function test(OtherClass $otherclass) {
echo $otherclass->var;
}
/**
* Another test function
*
* First parameter must be an array
*/
public function test_array(array $input_array) {
print_r($input_array);
}
}
// Another example class
class OtherClass {
public $var = 'Hello World';
}
?>
Failing to satisfy the type hint results in a catchable fatal error.
<?php
// An instance of each class
$myclass = new MyClass;
$otherclass = new OtherClass;
// Fatal Error: Argument 1 must be an object of class OtherClass
$myclass->test('hello');
// Fatal Error: Argument 1 must be an instance of OtherClass
$foo = new stdClass;
$myclass->test($foo);
// Fatal Error: Argument 1 must not be null
$myclass->test(null);
// Works: Prints Hello World
$myclass->test($otherclass);
// Fatal Error: Argument 1 must be an array
$myclass->test_array('a string');
// Works: Prints the array
$myclass->test_array(array('a', 'b', 'c'));
?>
Type hinting also works with functions:
<?php
// An example class
class MyClass {
public $var = 'Hello World';
}
/**
* A test function
*
* First parameter must be an object of type MyClass
*/
function MyFunction (MyClass $foo) {
echo $foo->var;
}
// Works
$myclass = new MyClass;
MyFunction($myclass);
?>
Type Hints can only be of the object and array (since PHP 5.1) type. Traditional type hinting with int and string isn't supported.