Calling two methods after each other in PHP4?

[Aquarius]

Something's confusing me... I have this piece of code:

$stmt = $dbh->prepare($query);
$result = $stmt->execute('Joe'); 

... which works fine.

Then I figured I could shorten it a bit by doing this:

$result = $dbh->prepare($query)->execute('Joe'); 

... which gives me a parse error:

parse error, unexpected T_OBJECT_OPERATOR in [...] on line 9

I have seen this being done in the book "Advanced PHP Programming", but all the code in there is written for PHP5. Is what I'm trying to above not possible in PHP4?

I'm sorry to have to ask about basic PHP syntax, but I could not find this in the manual, partly because I find it hard to put this into words.

[Transmitter]

I think, your
prepare($query)
isn´t an Object.
It is simply a method, so you can´t apply an object operator.

I don´t know, if it works in PHP5 .. perhaps it takes the return value of prepare as if it is an object and applys the execute method.

Hth, and please correct me, if I´m wrong.

Bye, Transmitter

[sweatje]

The syntax you showed will work fine under php5's object model, but with php4 you have to have the temporary variable with the object.

[Aquarius]

I think, your prepare($query) isn´t an Object.
It is simply a method, so you can´t apply an object operator.

I checked it, and the prepare method does in fact return an object. The class of that object in turn implements the execute() method, which is why the first block of code works.

The syntax you showed will work fine under php5's object model, but with php4 you have to have the temporary variable with the object.

Yes, it just seems like it needs the $result variable to 'remember' the object returned by prepare().

I read something about the difference in how 4 and 5 handle variables (copy vs. reference), which might have something to do with this. Then again, it may not.

Thanks to you both, Transmitter and sweatje, for helping me clear this up. I was afraid I was making some kind of mistake in my logic, but it seems this is simply a difference between PHP 4 and 5.

[nucleuz]

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