I hope that this will help to understand how to work with static variables inside a class
<?php
class a {
public static $foo = 'I am foo';
public $bar = 'I am bar';
public static function getFoo() { echo self::$foo; }
public static function setFoo() { self::$foo = 'I am a new foo'; }
public function getBar() { echo $this->bar; }
}
$ob = new a();
a::getFoo(); // output: I am foo
$ob->getFoo(); // output: I am foo
//a::getBar(); // fatal error: using $this not in object context
$ob->getBar(); // output: I am bar
// If you keep $bar non static this will work
// but if bar was static, then var_dump($this->bar) will output null
// unset($ob);
a::setFoo(); // The same effect as if you called $ob->setFoo(); because $foo is static
$ob = new a(); // This will have no effects on $foo
$ob->getFoo(); // output: I am a new foo
?>
