Description:
------------
Hello all,

I've a script that keep an object into a cache to speed up performances.

To access the cached instance, I'm using a static method of the class MyFactory::getInstance();

In that method I need to have a reference on the instance itself because the attached params also need to have a reference on their owner.

Case 1 ---------------------------------
If I do $instance =& new MyFactory(); in the getInstance() method then I have this:

 $a->code: 2
 $a->params[toto]->parent->code: 2
 $b->code: 1657232709
 $b->params[toto]->parent->code: 1657232709

So the thing here is that the static keyword does not seems to keep a refcount on the instance when it's created the first time.  So each time you call the getInstance() it creates a new instance instead of keeping the first created one.


Case 2 ---------------------------------
If I do $instance = new MyFactory(); in the getInstance() method then I have this:

 $a->code: 2
 $a->params[toto]->parent->code: 576672258
 $b->code: 2
 $b->params[toto]->parent->code: 576672258

Here we have the result we can expect accordingly to the PHP4 documentation, but this not what I need.


Please, can you investigate on that one ?


Cheers,
/Benoit

Reproduce code:
---------------
<?php
error_reporting(E_ALL);

/**
 * This is an example of a param implementation class.
 * The constructor always need a reference on its parent 
 * (here it's not really needed, but in the real code it is)
 */
class toto
{
	var $parent;
	function toto(&$parent)
	{
		$this->parent =& $parent;
	}
}

/**
 * This the factory class used to create instances of params.
 * The factory instance must be unique.
 */
class MyFactory
{
	var $code;
	var $params = array();
	
	function MyFactory()
	{
		$this->code = rand();
		$this->initParam('toto'); 
	}
	
	/**
	 * Initialize a parameter
	 */
	function initParam($param)
	{
		$this->params[$param] =& new $param($this);
	}
	
	/**
	 * Get the unique instance of the factory
	 */
	function & getInstance()
	{
		static $instance;
		
		// Due to the bug $instance is always null
		if (is_null($instance))
			$instance =& new MyFactory();
		
		return $instance;
	}
}

$a =& MyFactory::getInstance();
$a->code = 2;
print '$a->code: ' . $a->code . "\n";
print '$a->params[toto]->parent->code: ' . $a->params['toto']->parent->code . "\n";

$b =& MyFactory::getInstance();
print '$b->code: ' . $b->code . "\n";
print '$b->params[toto]->parent->code: ' . $b->params['toto']->parent->code . "\n";

?>

Expected result:
----------------
$a->code: 2
$a->params[toto]->parent->code: 2
$b->code: 2
$b->params[toto]->parent->code: 2


Actual result:
--------------
$a->code: 2
$a->params[toto]->parent->code: 2
$b->code: 1657232709
$b->params[toto]->parent->code: 1657232709