Overriding static members in derived classes in PHP

Question

<?php
class Base {
  protected static $c = 'base';

  public static function getC() {
    return self::$c;
  }
}

class Derived extends Base {
  protected static $c = 'derived';
}

echo Base::getC(); // output "base"
echo Derived::getC();    // output "base", but I need "derived" here!
?>

So what's the best workaround?

Answer 1

The best way to solve this is to upgrade to PHP 5.3, where late static bindings are available. If that's not an option, you'll unfortunately have to redesign your class.