How can i handle a form submit using REAL OOP in PHP

Question

Im used to java and creating UML.. and i was wondering how can PHP be OOP, the objects live only until you make a request.. then they destroy, so if im using a database is useless to create a class and add the members (variables) to the class, they will be useless.. i cant pass the main system object from one page to another, or similar so how can PHP be compare to jave? you never do OOP .. i mean REAL OOP.. not creating classes , in fact your index will be a procedural file with some object instance and then ? how about if i make a html form and i want to submit the data.. i have to call a file which is not a class is a php procedural file were i grab the submited data with POST, from that file you will instance a class and do some logic there.. but for me thats not pure OOP.. can somebody point me to the right way of OOP using a form submit example ?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You're labouring under a misapprehension that object oriented programming by definition includes a persistent environment with objects that exist independantly of page requests. I'm afraid it doesn't.

PHP does do "real" object-oriented programming. But PHP's execution environment is like executing a CGI program: upon a page request, the program starts and it ends when the page is finished. Within that paradigm, objects can exist only as long as the page is producing content. Therefore, the first thing the page must do is to load the framework to define and instantiate the required objects, such as a database handler and object mappers that must load and save their data within a page request cycle. Some frameworks will also create objects with the page-request data that your code and objects can then access, sometimes from within objects.

But PHP does not provide this natively because it does not enforce a framework. It is by nature procedural so a framework must be added so as to define and create the desired objects if you don't want to work that way.

There is an advantage to doing things this way. It means a page's code need only concern itself with a single page request. Almost all issues to do with data-sharing and multiply-threaded execution is pushed out to things that can handle it invisibly, like the database and the web server.

Answer 2

Check out any of the latest php framework and how they handle forms. (like ZF or Yii). b.t.w the "problem" you refer too is client-server architecture and not a minus of PHP.
Each request is a new process with a new MAIN or new Class with static main function which are practically the same.

Answer 3

"so if im using a database is useless to create a class and add the members (variables) to the class, they will be useless"

It sounds like you want an object-relational mapper. There are several popular ones for PHP, as discussed at this previous question.