PHP and access to a global object from everywhere

Question

I have a global object, a "registry", it is a container with other important objects:

• Input object.
• Output object.
• DB object with connection.
• Logging object.
• Session object.

I need to have this global object in every place (object), where I process my request.

Like in my JBoss environment, where I have one Stateful Session Bean as a front controller, which directs the processing to a special Stateless Session Bean, I have one entry point, "facade.php".

In this facade.php, I create the global object and place the other objects (input object, ...) into it.

Then there is a large switch statement, where I redirect the request to special processing objects.

Is there a method, mechanism, to have access to this general object from the processing objects without handing it over as a parameter?

Answer 1

What you can do:

• put the Object into the Session. http://php.net/manual/en/book.session.php (but this will survive "requests")
• Make the Object a singleton. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singleton_pattern (i recommend this, if its suitable for the situation. don't just use singletons to avoid passing parameters to classes/functions.)
• Mark the Object with the global keyword. http://php.net/manual/en/language.variables.scope.php

Answer 2

To have a variable available everywhere you can use a $_SESSION variable like so:

session_start();
$_SESSION['registry'] = // Your data

Make sure to use the session_start() function whenever you want access to the session variables.