Method Chaining in PHP5

Chaining method calls can help shorten the amount of code you have to write while accomplishing the same programatic goals.

Let’s say, you have a class that needs to have some data set to it before you can start applying methods. A traditional approach may look like this.

class A {
    private $data;
    public function setData($data) {
        $this->data = $data;
        return void;
    }
 
    public function validateData() {
        if(is_array($data)) {
            return true;
        }
        return false;
    }
}
 
//Would be called like...
$form = new A();
$form->setData($_REQUEST);
if($form->validateData()) {
    echo "valid data";
}

Although, this is a very basic example utilizing method chaining in PHP5 we can also write the class like this…

class A {
    private $data;
    public function setData($data) {
        $this->data = $data;
        return $this;
    }
 
    public function validateData() {
        if(is_array($data)) {
            return true;
        }
        return false;
    }
}
 
//Would be called like...
$form = new A();
if($form->setData($_REQUEST)->validateData()) {
    echo "valid data";
}

You aren’t limited to one method either, you can chain as many methods as you need as long as the method you are calling returns a reference to itself.

Posted in PHP.

By Steve Rhoades

May 30, 2009

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Method Chaining in PHP5

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