(PHP 4 >= 4.2.0, PHP 5)
is_a — Checks if the object is of this class or has this class as one of its parents
Checks if the given object is of this class or has this class as one of its parents.
The tested object
The class name
Returns TRUE if the object is of this class or has this class as one of its parents, FALSE otherwise.
Version | Beschreibung |
---|---|
5.3.0 | This function is no longer deprecated, and will therefore no longer throw E_STRICT warnings. |
5.0.0 | This function became deprecated in favour of the instanceof operator. Calling this function will result in an E_STRICT warning. |
Beispiel #1 is_a() example
<?php
// define a class
class WidgetFactory
{
var $oink = 'moo';
}
// create a new object
$WF = new WidgetFactory();
if (is_a($WF, 'WidgetFactory')) {
echo "yes, \$WF is still a WidgetFactory\n";
}
?>
Beispiel #2 Using the instanceof operator in PHP 5
<?php
if ($WF instanceof WidgetFactory) {
echo 'Yes, $WF is a WidgetFactory';
}
?>
At least in PHP 5.1.6 this works as well with Interfaces.
<?php
interface test {
public function A();
}
class TestImplementor implements test {
public function A () {
print "A";
}
}
$testImpl = new TestImplementor();
var_dump(is_a($testImpl,'test'));
?>
will return true
Workaround for older PHP-Versions:
function is_a($anObject, $aClass) {
return get_class($anObject) == strtolower($aClass)
or is_subclass_of($anObject, $aClass);
}
Why I test if class `A` inherit class `B` or implements interface `C` before I create class `A`?
<?
//That isn't work:
//1. function is_A()
if(is_A('A','B'))$a=new A;
if(is_A('A','C'))$a=new A;
//2. operator instanceOf
if(A instanceOf B)$a=new A;
if(A instanceOf C)$a=new A;
?>
Lazy Instantiation using is_a() and php5
<?php
class ObjectA
{
public function print_line($text)
{
print $text . "\n";
}
}
class ObjectB
{
public function ObjectA()
{
static $objecta;
if (!is_a($objecta, 'ObjectA'))
{
$objecta = new ObjectA;
}
return $objecta;
}
}
$obj = new ObjectB;
$obj->ObjectA()->print_line('testing, 1 2 3');
?>
In the above example, ObjectA is not instantiated until needed by ObjectB. Then ObjectB can continually use it's creation as needed without reinstantiating it.
There are other ways, but I like this one :-)
is_a returns TRUE for instances of children of the class.
For example:
class Animal
{}
class Dog extends Animal
{}
$test = new Dog();
In this example is_a($test, "Animal") would evaluate to TRUE as well as is_a($test, "Dog").
This seemed intuitive to me, but did not seem to be documented.