Thread: [binarycloud-dev] Cannot Inter-Module Communicate: Copy, Copy, who has the copy?

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Alex:

Now Alex, with that arcane Subject:, I hope to get your
attention.

I think this is important, I have been working hours on this
problem, and I think I have been very careful.  This problem
is difficult to explain, so give me some latitude.  To
get your attention, your allegation that inter-module
communication via the construct:

	$Page->modules[group][idx_in_group]->some_method_or_parm;

DOES NOT WORK anymore since you changed the machinery from
using Init() to having a constructor instead.  But, that
may be a red herring...  I am afraid that I have an error
somewhere that I just keep overlooking, but I don't think
so.

General Synopsis of problem
---------------------------
1.  I have a Warning module that collects warnings from
	any module, on a stack, and in the page render
	I display them all in a "pane".
2.  This Warning module is in a group 'bottom', all
	by itself.
3.  From another module, I call a method in the Warning
	module to stack a warning thus:

	$Page->modules['bottom'][0]->setWarning($msg);

	to stack the warning ($msg) within the Warning
	module/Class on $this->WarningStack.
4.  Before Init() was dropped, and the constructor used,
	I put the stack ($WarningStack) global.  The code
	worked fine, any warning anywhere from any other
	module was collected on the stack.
5.  When a constructor was introduced, I moved $WarningStack
	inside the Warning class as a var $WarningStack;

What it seems like is that inter-module communication via
your suggested construct, or the one I am also using, via
a "tag", is only talking to a copy of the "real class".
In the application, all warnings I collect (and from that
module, verify that they are on the stack, by the same
construct as above) appear to be present.  What that means
is if I do from the outside, so to speak:

	$Page->modules['bottom'][0]->showWarnings();

the stack contains all of the warnings collected.

BUT, by the time the Warning module is ready to Output(),
the stack $this->WarningStack ONLY HAS stacked data that
it put there itself.  The "outside" warnings are not present.

A bit of code and output _may_ illustrate:

IN Warning->Output()
#== set some warnings, various ways ==
global $Page;
$this->setWarning("Test inside class". __FILE__);
$Warning->setWarning("SET BY TAG");
$Page->modules['bottom'][0]->setWarning("SET BY INDEX");
#== dump the stacks, various ways ==
echo "<pre>";
echo "var_dump of \$this->WarningStack\n";
var_dump($this->WarningStack);
echo "var_dump of \$Page->modules[bottom][0]\n";
var_dump($Page->modules['bottom'][0]->WarningStack);
echo "var_dump of & \$Page->modules[bottom][0]\n";
var_dump(& $Page->modules['bottom'][0]->WarningStack);
echo "var_dump of \$Warning->WarningStack\n";
var_dump($Warning->WarningStack);
echo "var_dump of & \$Warning->WarningStack\n";
var_dump(& $Warning->WarningStack);
echo "</pre>";
-------------------
GIVES:
===============================================
var_dump of $this->WarningStack
 array(2) {
   [0]=>
   string(22) "IN Warning CONSTRUCTOR"
   [1]=>
   string(73) "Test inside
class/usr/local/binarycloud/build/en/user/mod/lib/Warning.php"
 }
 var_dump of $Page->modules[bottom][0]
 array(3) {
   [0]=>
   string(22) "IN Warning CONSTRUCTOR"
   [1]=>
   string(10) "SET BY TAG"
   [2]=>
   string(12) "SET BY INDEX"
 }
 var_dump of & $Page->modules[bottom][0]
 &array(3) {
   [0]=>
   string(22) "IN Warning CONSTRUCTOR"
   [1]=>
   string(10) "SET BY TAG"
   [2]=>
   string(12) "SET BY INDEX"
 }
 var_dump of $Warning->WarningStack
 array(3) {
   [0]=>
   string(22) "IN Warning CONSTRUCTOR"
   [1]=>
   string(10) "SET BY TAG"
   [2]=>
   string(12) "SET BY INDEX"
 }
 var_dump of & $Warning->WarningStack
 &array(3) {
   [0]=>
   string(22) "IN Warning CONSTRUCTOR"
   [1]=>
   string(10) "SET BY TAG"
   [2]=>
   string(12) "SET BY INDEX"
 }
=============================================

Why?  I have been "fooled in the past" thinking stuff
worked, because the usual result is "correct" whether
or not you talk to _any_ instantiation of that class.
But, in this case, when you need only one stack, one
copy, somehow I obviously have more than one stack
somewhere...

As Einstein once said, "Zend does not play tricks."
Oy Weh, I am too tired for levity.

What is going on here?  Who made the copy, where is
the copy, why don't I have only one stack since
I moved it within the Warning class?

Now, within Page, if I change:

$this->modules[$_group][$pos] = new $mod['name']($mod['options']);

	to

$this->modules[$_group][$pos] =& new $mod['name']($mod['options']);

the results are the same.

_a_frustrated_jef

-- 
Justin Farnsworth
Eye Integrated Communications
321 South Evans - Suite 203
Greenville, NC 27858 | Tel: (252) 353-0722