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
class My_Reflection_Method extends ReflectionMethod
{
public $visibility = array();
public function __construct($o, $m)
{
parent::__construct($o, $m);
$this->visibility = Reflection::getModifierNames($this->getModifiers());
}
}
class T {
protected function x() {}
}
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" } 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