For example, if I had a Customer class and wanted to get all orders by them. Would it be better to do:
class Customer{
public function getOrders(){
return results from db query
}
}
...
foreach($customer->getOrders()){}
or
class Customer{
private function getOrders(){
return results from db query
}
public function __get($attribute){
if($attribute === 'orders'){
return $this->getOrders();
}
}
}
...
foreach($customer->orders){}
The former isn’t as bloated, but then it’s nice to be able to access it as if it were a property rather than with getOrders().
4
The __get magic method is completely fine, just make sure to couple it either with the @property (if you want a magic __set as well) or @property-read phpDoc annotation so consumers of your class know what they can expect from the public API of your class.
PHP’s combination of __get and __set methods and the @property annotation is a poor-man’s version of C#’s attributes and just like in C#, they’re not bad as long as you show in the API of the class what the class actually offers (in C# you don’t need the annotation for this, because the language supports attributes by default).
I personally don’t use magic __set at all, but have been using __get to a great extent and have never had problems with the method.