Singleton pattern not working

[Henrik S. Hansen]

I'm trying to create a singleton (only one instance of a class), but
this doesn't work, can anyone explain this?

<code>

function &get_instance()
{
static $instance;
if (! isset($instance))
{
echo "test";
$instance =& new Foo();
}

return $instance;
}

</code>

It get called like this: $bar =& Foo::get_instance();

I've seen examples on the web, saying this should work. What am I doing
wrong?

--
Henrik S. Hansen

[Andy Hassall]

On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 23:50:24 +0100, hs*@freecode.dk (Henrik S. Hansen) wrote:

I'm trying to create a singleton (only one instance of a class), but
this doesn't work, can anyone explain this?

<code>

function &get_instance()
{
static $instance;
if (! isset($instance))
{
echo "test";
$instance =& new Foo();
}

return $instance;
}

</code>

It get called like this: $bar =& Foo::get_instance();

I've seen examples on the web, saying this should work. What am I doing
wrong?

It appears to me from the code below that you can't assign by reference to a
static variable? (maybe)

The only difference between Foo::get_instance and Foo::get_instance2 is
missing the & on the assignment to $instance.

Digging a bit further through the manual finds that this is documented, see
the end of:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/languag...bles.scope.php
<pre>
<?php
class Foo
{
function Foo()
{
echo "Foo constructor\n";
}

function &get_instance()
{
static $instance;
var_dump($instance);
if (!isset($instance))
{
echo "test\n";
$instance =& new Foo();
}
var_dump($instance);
return $instance;
}

function &get_instance2()
{
static $instance;
var_dump($instance);
if (!isset($instance))
{
echo "test\n";
$instance = new Foo();
}
var_dump($instance);
return $instance;
}

}

$bar =& Foo::get_instance();
$bar =& Foo::get_instance();
$bar =& Foo::get_instance();

echo "\n";

$bar =& Foo::get_instance2();
$bar =& Foo::get_instance2();
$bar =& Foo::get_instance2();

?>
</pre>

Output:

NULL
test
Foo constructor
object(foo)(0) {
}
NULL
test
Foo constructor
object(foo)(0) {
}
NULL
test
Foo constructor
object(foo)(0) {
}

NULL
test
Foo constructor
object(foo)(0) {
}
object(foo)(0) {
}
object(foo)(0) {
}
object(foo)(0) {
}
object(foo)(0) {
}

--
Andy Hassall (an**@andyh.co.uk) icq(5747695) (http://www.andyh.co.uk)
Space: disk usage analysis tool (http://www.andyhsoftware.co.uk/space)

[Jochen Daum]

Hi !

On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 23:50:24 +0100, hs*@freecode.dk (Henrik S. Hansen)
wrote:

I'm trying to create a singleton (only one instance of a class), but
this doesn't work, can anyone explain this?

<code>

function &get_instance()
{
static $instance;
if (! isset($instance))
{
echo "test";
$instance =& new Foo();
use $instance = new Foo() here. Works for me. }

return $instance;
}

</code>

It get called like this: $bar =& Foo::get_instance();

exactly right.

HTH, Jochen
--
Jochen Daum - CANS Ltd.
PHP DB Edit Toolkit -- PHP scripts for building
database editing interfaces.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/phpdbedittk/