Converting procedural PHP into object-oriented PHP

Question

I currently have a fairly large application written entirely with procedural PHP. I am looking to further my PHP experience and recode a majority of my application using object-oriented techniques.

There are a lot of areas where OOP can help reduce the amount of code and make it easier to read. However, I have a few questions.

1) It is my understanding that one class is used as a blueprint for any number of objects, but any one class represents only one object, never more than one. So one class could represent a player, but never multiple players.

2) Since I will have quite a few different classes to include, do I use a "Loader" class to load them all using spl_autoload_register or do I just use spl_autoload_register in the program files for my application?

Edit: So my autoloader would be a class that I then create an instance of to start the autoloading or simply a php file with the function and the spl_autoload_register that I would include to avoid repeating the same code in multiple files?

3) Some of my classes depend on other classes. I've never encountered this before, so I honestly do not know the answer. If I include all the classes in my main program file, but my player class does not include the class which it needs to function, will the player class work since the main program has included the class which player depends on?

Edit: So even though one class may instantiate an object of type Player, and the Player class is not directly included by this class, it will still work because the controller class does include the Player class?

4) There are multiple cases where I will need to work on the objects I am creating. I am wondering how I should do that. For example, in my Player class I will sometimes need to send something from one Player to the other Player. So, do I implement a static method in the Player class that takes two Players as parameters and does the transfer or do I do something else?

Edit: Okay, so avoid static methods. Now I have a serious problem: I have methods that are ran multiple times in my application, but I cannot implement them as static methods. Am I supposed to implement them as instance methods? For example, sending from one Player to another. Would I create an instance method that takes a Player object and sends either to it or from it?

5) I have a lot of methods that don't really belong to any one instance of a class nor are they really appropriate as static methods. Should these be declared in their own class as static methods as Common or similar? What is the done in practice in this situation?

Edit: Would these methods belong in the specific application file for which they are used or perhaps stored in their own "functions.php" file?

6) I'd like to learn how to use namespaces, but my code will never be used by others and I will never use anyone else's code in my application. Are namespaces an unncessary addition in my application or would it be a good idea to learn how to use them? Regardless, does one application have one namespace (the application name?) or does each class belong to it's own namespace?

7) Lastly, is it common to have one class for database connections and also a class for network methods? My application needs both. I think the main problem I am having with converting my code to use object-oriented techniques is determining which methods to put where, as currently they are all in one monolithic file.

Thanks for any help and insight you can provide.

Theology

Answer 1

1) It is my understanding that one class is used as a blueprint for any number of objects, but any one class represents only one object, never more than one. So one class could represent a player, but never multiple players.

Typically, you will also have classes that represent collections of objects, e.g. a class "Players" that can be used to retrieve a single player from the collection of all players:

$players = new Players();
$john = $players->findByName("john");

2) Since I will have quite a few different classes to include, do I use a "Loader" class to load them all using spl_autoload_register or do I just use spl_autoload_register in the program files for my application?

That pretty much depends on the complexity of your project. A simple autoloader function will typically be good enough but you may take a look at the Zend Framework Autoloader class.

3) Some of my classes depend on other classes. I've never encountered this before, so I honestly do not know the answer. If I include all the classes in my main program file, but my player class does not include the class which it needs to function, will the player class work since the main program has included the class which player depends on?

Yes. However, with autoloading you do not need to worry about this at all. If you do not use autoloading, it's a good idea to include the required classes in the file that defines the class (using require_once() to avoid including the same file more than once).

4) There are multiple cases where I will need to work on the objects I am creating. I am wondering how I should do that. For example, in my Player class I will sometimes need to send something from one Player to the other Player. So, do I implement a static method in the Player class that takes two Players as parameters and does the transfer or do I do something else?

Static methods are almost always the wrong approach. Normal methods belong to an instance (i.e. the specific player) and static methods belong to the class, i.e. the general "idea" of a player. If you need to transfer stuff from one player to another, why not implement this like this:

class Player {
    public function transferMoney(Player $recipient, $amount) { ... }
}

$tom = new Player("tom");
$marc = new Player("marc");

$tom->transferMoney($marc, 500);

5) I have a lot of methods that don't really belong to any one instance of a class nor are they really appropriate as static methods. Should these be declared in their own class as static methods as Common or similar? What is the done in practice in this situation?

I cannot reasonably answer this. However, there are still plain functions in PHP which seem to be the best method for such cases. Yet, if you do OOP right, you will most likely never encounter such problems. It's usually a problem with your class design which makes you thing that these methods do not belong to any object.

6) I'd like to learn how to use namespaces, but my code will never be used by others and I will never use anyone else's code in my application. Are namespaces an unncessary addition in my application or would it be a good idea to learn how to use them? Regardless, does one application have one namespace (the application name?) or does each class belong to it's own namespace?

Namespaces are great but your code will probably turn out just fine without them. As namespaces can be nested, you will usually have a top-level namespace and sub-namespaced per component.

7) Lastly, is it common to have one class for database connections and also a class for network methods? My application needs both. I think the main problem I am having with converting my code to use object-oriented techniques is determining which methods to put where, as currently they are all in one monolithic file.

This depends on how you model your actual situation. If database connection and "network" are two different things for you, two classes are the way to go.

Chadd

Thanks for your post! Your #1 and #4 really helped clarify things! A collection of players definitely makes sense for my application and using instance methods to transfer items makes perfect sense as well. I will heed everyone's advice and stay far far away from static methods. – Theology

Answer 2

1) It is my understanding that one class is used as a blueprint for any number of objects, but any one class represents only one object, never more than one. So one class could represent a player, but never multiple players.

A class doesn't represent anything because as you correctly stated it is just a blueprint for any number of objects. You can have multiple instances (objects) of the same class representing multiple players.

2) Since I will have quite a few different classes to include, do I use a "Loader" class to load them all using spl_autoload_register or do I just use spl_autoload_register in the program files for my application?

Without knowing what you mean by "program files for my application" I say yes. Use an autoloader, because it just works and you don't have to worry about doing require_*.

3) Some of my classes depend on other classes. I've never encountered this before, so I honestly do not know the answer. If I include all the classes in my main program file, but my player class does not include the class which it needs to function, will the player class work since the main program has included the class which player depends on?

You don't want to load all the classes, but only the ones you are going to use. Which again is not something you have to worry about when using an autoloader. But yes once a class is loaded it can be instantiate throughout the application.

Normally you would want to start the autploader in the bootstrap phase of the application.

4) There are multiple cases where I will need to work on the objects I am creating. I am wondering how I should do that. For example, in my Player class I will sometimes need to send something from one Player to the other Player. So, do I implement a static method in the Player class that takes two Players as parameters and does the transfer or do I do something else?

Avoid using static methods in OOP PHP. It is almost never needed. You could think about having another class which act like a pool of players which takes care of "sending data" from one player to another.

So it doesn't matter where the file with the class is included as long as it happens before trying to instantiate it.

5) I have a lot of methods that don't really belong to any one instance of a class nor are they really appropriate as static methods. Should these be declared in their own class as static methods as Common or similar? What is the done in practice in this situation?

Again please don't use static methods. If you use them inside some other class you are only making it hard to unit test your classes and you introduce hidden dependencies. In my experience it almost never happens to just have a single method somewhere for something. Perhaps you're methods are doing too much.

But that is hard to tell by just reading your question. Maybe you can give an example in a comment?

6) I'd like to learn how to use namespaces, but my code will never be used by others and I will never use anyone else's code in my application. Are namespaces an unncessary addition in my application or would it be a good idea to learn how to use them?

Namespacing in PHP is about structuring. Although nobody else will use your code you don't have to worry yourself about using the same name for a class somewhere. Which will happen once the application grows larger rather sooner than later.

Regardless, does one application have one namespace (the application name?) or does each class belong to it's own namespace?

I often follow PSR-0 when it comes to namespaces.

7) Lastly, is it common to have one class for database connections and also a class for network methods? My application needs both. I think the main problem I am having with converting my code to use object-oriented techniques is determining which methods to put where, as currently they are all in one monolithic file.

Just keep the Single Reponsibility Principle in mind and in general SOLID.

Also I highly suggest to watch these and keep watching them until you understand it.

Kristopher

Thanks for your excellent post. I made some edits clarifying my questions. Can you take a look? :) – Theology

This is a simple method I use currently. It doesn't make much sense to create a class just for one method, so where does this belong? public function getCurrentTime() { return round(microtime(true)*1000); } – Theology

I don't think I would create a method for something that simple I think. – Kristopher

Answer 3

1. A PlayerCollection would be a valid class. Of course an object of it is one collection of multiple players.

2. Use spl_autoload_register, period. Best follow the PSR-0 standard and use any PSR-0 compliant existing autoloader (i.e. Symfony Loader)

3. It will work. But since you use an autoloader (see 2.) you don't have to care about including classes at all

4. Sending a message from player 1 to player 2 is easily translated in calling a method of player 2 in player 1. However, "sending things" and "work on the objects" could mean many things so the answer is: it depends. But in general it's good advice to avoid static methods.

5. This sounds a lot like procedural thinking. I'm sorry but I can't give you a silver bullet answer here, you will have to learn and understand the principles of object oriented design to apply them. There is a some standard literature and lot of useful resources on the web. Also learning by example might be useful (look at other OO applications and framework that are open sourced)

6. "does one application have one namespace (the application name?) or does each class belong to it's own namespace?" - the answer is in between. Namespaces are useful to group things together that work together and they are useful regardless of who will use or see the code.

7. First rule of object oriented design: One class, one responsibility.

Odellodella

Thanks for your post. I made some edits to my question to reflect on your answers. Your #1 really clarified things for me. I never thought that a collection of players would be very useful, but it does make sense that it can be done if you have a specific need for it. – Theology