When object property is asked first time gets data, and then just returns it - is it possible?

I need some data from the object.

I don't want these data to be loaded in class construction, because it is db heavy.

I don't want to load it more than once in a page.

I don't want to remember was it loaded already, or not.

$object->data // should be loaded in construction
$data = $object->get_data() // ok, but I need to remember was is got开发者_C百科 already, or not.

Is there a way to use $object->data, if it is asked first time, it actually gets data and returned it. And when I ask it after this, it just returns old data.

If there is no way, I will just use $data = $object->get_data(). But maybe I'm missing something.

---

This is usually solved using "lazy loading" - the property itself is backed using a private field, which gets initialized to some magic value (e.g. null) in the constructor, and gets filled the first time the getter gets called. After that, the getter returns the already-loaded value. Example:

class Foobar {
    private $_lazy;

    public function __construct() {
        $this->_lazy = null;
    }

    public function __get($key) {
        switch ($key) {
            case 'lazy':
                if ($this->_lazy === null)
                    $this->loadLazy();
                return $this->_lazy;
        }
    }

    private function loadLazy() {
        $this->_lazy = rand();
    }
}

---

Thing that you talking about is called Lazy Loading. You should implement that in method get_data(). If you wanna use it as property, not method, you must use PHP's magic __get method and return your data when accessing that data property.
But I recommend using method - it's more explict.

---

Well, you can do this

//create an object

class Foo{

    //give some attributes      
    public $attr1;
    public $attr2;
    public $attr3;
    public $attr4;      
    ....
    ....

    //create a function to load data

    public function foofunction()
    {
        //and set the attrs
        $this->attr1 = $somevalue;
        $this->attr2 = $somevalue;
        $this->attr3 = $somevalue;
        //...
        ....                        
    }       

}

and you in your page 

//create an object
$foo = new Foo();

//fetch data which will instantiate the attrs
$foo->foofunction();


//and you can use any attr at any time
echo $foo->attr1;
echo $foo->attr2;   

//and this attr necessarily does not have to string, or int or ..
//it can be anything

---

Object has a property - flag, that indicates if the data have been asked before.

---

It's lazy loading

// simple implementation
public function get_data() {
    if (is_null($this->_data)) {
       $this->_data = $db->query();
    }
    return $this->_data;
}