Static class initializer in PHP

Question

I have an helper class with some static functions. All the functions in the class require a ‘heavy’ initialization function to run once (as if it were a constructor).

Is there a good practice for achieving this?

The only thing I thought of was calling an init function, and breaking its flow if it has already run once (using a static $initialized var). The problem is that I need to call it on every one of the class’s functions.

Answer 1

Sounds like you'd be better served by a singleton rather than a bunch of static methods

class Singleton
{
  /**
   * 
   * @var Singleton
   */
  private static $instance;

  private function __construct()
  {
    // Your "heavy" initialization stuff here
  }

  public static function getInstance()
  {
    if ( is_null( self::$instance ) )
    {
      self::$instance = new self();
    }
    return self::$instance;
  }

  public function someMethod1()
  {
    // whatever
  }

  public function someMethod2()
  {
    // whatever
  }
}

And then, in usage

// As opposed to this
Singleton::someMethod1();

// You'd do this
Singleton::getInstance()->someMethod1();