PHP: How to initialize static variables

Question

I have this code:

private static $dates = array(
  'start' => mktime( 0,  0,  0,  7, 30, 2009),  // Start date
  'end'   => mktime( 0,  0,  0,  8,  2, 2009),  // End date
  'close' => mktime(23, 59, 59,  7, 20, 2009),  // Date when registration closes
  'early' => mktime( 0,  0,  0,  3, 19, 2009),  // Date when early bird discount ends
);

Which gives me the following error:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '(', expecting ')' in /home/user/Sites/site/registration/inc/registration.class.inc on line 19

So, I guess I am doing something wrong... but how can I do this if not like that? If I change the mktime stuff with regular strings, it works. So I know that I can do it sort of like that..

Anyone have some pointers?

Answer 1

You can't make function calls in this part of the code. If you make an init() type method that gets executed before any other code does then you will be able to populate the variable then.

Answer 2

That's too complex to set in the definition. You can set the definition to null though, and then in the constructor, check it, and if it has not been changed - set it:

private static $dates = null;
public function __construct()
{
    if (is_null(self::$dates)) {  // OR if (!is_array(self::$date))
         self::$dates = array( /* .... */);
    }
}

Answer 3

PHP can't parse non-trivial expressions in initializers.

I prefer to work around this by adding code right after definition of the class:

class Foo {
  static $bar;
}
Foo::$bar = array(…);

or

class Foo {
  private static $bar;
  static function init()
  {
    self::$bar = array(…);
  }
}
Foo::init();