Static properties and methods in PHP - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Using Static Properties and Methods in PHP

📖 Scenario: Imagine you are creating a simple system to count how many users have registered on a website. You want to keep track of the total number of users without creating a new counter for each user.

🎯 Goal: Build a PHP class with a static property to count users and a static method to display the total count.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a class called User.

Add a static property called count initialized to 0.

Add a static method called incrementCount that increases count by 1.

Add a static method called getCount that returns the current value of count.

Call the static methods to simulate user registrations and display the total count.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Static properties and methods are used to keep track of information that applies to all objects of a class, like counting users, managing configuration, or caching data.

💼 Career

Understanding static members is important for backend development, especially when working with shared resources or global counters in PHP applications.

1

Create the User class with a static property

Create a class called User with a static property named count set to 0.

PHP

<?php
class User {
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use public static to declare the static property inside the class.

2

Add static methods to update and get the count

Inside the User class, add a static method called incrementCount that increases count by 1, and another static method called getCount that returns the value of count.

PHP

<?php
class User {
    public static int $count = 0;

    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use self::$count to access the static property inside static methods.

3

Simulate user registrations by calling the static method

Outside the User class, call the static method incrementCount three times to simulate three user registrations.

PHP

<?php
class User {
    public static int $count = 0;

    public static function incrementCount(): void {
        self::$count++;
    }

    public static function getCount(): int {
        return self::$count;
    }
}

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Call the static method using User::incrementCount();.

4

Display the total number of users

Use print to display the text 'Total users: ' followed by the result of calling the static method getCount from the User class.

PHP

<?php
class User {
    public static int $count = 0;

    public static function incrementCount(): void {
        self::$count++;
    }

    public static function getCount(): int {
        return self::$count;
    }
}

User::incrementCount();
User::incrementCount();
User::incrementCount();

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print("Total users: " . User::getCount()); to show the count.