Extending

If you want to create specialized versions of the built-in classes (say, for creating colorized HTML when being exported, having easy-access member variables instead of methods or having utility methods), you may go ahead and extend them.

Example #1 Extending the built-in classes

<?php
/**
 * My Reflection_Method class
 */
class My_Reflection_Method extends ReflectionMethod
{
    public $visibility = array();

    public function __construct($o, $m)
    {
        parent::__construct($o, $m);
        $this->visibility = Reflection::getModifierNames($this->getModifiers());
    }
}

/**
 * Demo class #1
 *
 */
class T {
    protected function x() {}
}

/**
 * Demo class #2
 *
 */
class U extends T {
    function x() {}
}

// Print out information
var_dump(new My_Reflection_Method('U', 'x'));
?>

The above example will output something similar to:

object(My_Reflection_Method)#1 (3) {
  ["visibility"]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    string(6) "public"
  }
  ["name"]=>
  string(1) "x"
  ["class"]=>
  string(1) "U"
}

Caution

If you're overwriting the constructor, remember to call the parent's constructor before any code you insert. Failing to do so will result in the following: Fatal error: Internal error: Failed to retrieve the reflection object