accessing private variable from member function in PHP
exception, oop, php
Solution
Name the variable protected:
* Public: anyone either inside the class or outside can access them
* Private: only the specified class can access them. Even subclasses will be denied access.
* Protected: only the specified class and subclasses can access them
Problem
I have derived a class from `Exception`, basically like so: ``` class MyException extends Exception { private $_type; public function type() { return $this->_type; //line 74 } public function __toString() { include "sometemplate.php"; return ""; } } ``` Then, I derived from `MyException` like so: ``` class SpecialException extends MyException { private $_type = "superspecial"; } ``` If I `throw new SpecialException("bla")` from a function, catch it, and go `echo $e`, then the `__toString` function should load a template, display that, and then not actually return anything to echo. This is basically what's in the template file ``` <div class="<?php echo $this->type(); ?>class"> <p> <?php echo $this->message; ?> </p> </div> ``` in my mind, this should definitely work. However, I get the following error when an exception is thrown and I try to display it: Fatal error: Cannot access private property SpecialException::$_type in C:\path\to\exceptions.php on line 74 Can anyone explain why I am breaking the rules here? Am I doing something horribly witty with this code? Is there a much more idiomatic way to handle this situation? The point of the `$_type` variable is (as shown) that I want a different div class to be used depending on the type of exception caught.