class theory

[sde]

since i've pretty much taught myself most of what i know about classes, i thought i'd ask here about the logic on this specific issue.

i'm making a class called Agent.

functions within this class include:

createAgent() -enters new agent in the system
searchAgent($string) -searches agents and returns array of agent ids

setAgent($agent_id) -sets all agent properties
editAgent($agent_id) -edits agent properties

when i create a new Agent object, it really relates to just 1 agent. so if my searchAgent() function returns 5 Agent IDs, then 5 new Agent objects will be created.

here is my question .. should createAgent() and searchAgent() be in my Agent class? those 2 functions deal with ALL Agents, and setAgent() and editAgent() deal with 1 single agent.

if this doesnt' make sense.. i'll try again.

[technobard]

If the function/method deals with only 1 agent, I'd make it part of the Agent class. It acts on variables that are part of the same class.

For the functions/methods that act on all or multiple agents, I'd create a second class that contains an array of Agent objects--let's call it Agency.

createAgent is really just a wrapper for calling Agent's constructor. Something like: $var = new Agent($stuff);

So, I'd probably make createAgent part of Agency. That way it would both create the new Agent and then add it to the array of Agent objects.

Of course, there is nothing that requires you to create Agency at all. You could handle the array of Agent objects and any other functionality outside of a class.

Hope this helps.

[sde]

thanks, that is the logic i needed to read. since php executes once only to output html, it probably doesn't make sense to use multiple agents. i can just keep resetting the current agent object. and that's what i'll do =)