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Doc Bug #41895 State that no implicit print of objects
Submitted: 2007-07-04 15:32 UTC Modified: 2007-08-17 07:44 UTC
From: phpbugs at localpin dot com Assigned:
Status: Not a bug Package: Documentation problem
PHP Version: Irrelevant OS:
Private report: No CVE-ID: None
 [2007-07-04 15:32 UTC] phpbugs at localpin dot com
Description:
------------
State explicitly in it's own bullet that "print $myObject" breaks in 5.2.



Reproduce code:
---------------
On the Backward Incompatible Changes page (http://be.php.net/manual/en/migration52.incompatible.php), it is not obvious to someone having a problem with "print $myObject" having broken that the solution lies in the section about "__toString()".

I think it would be worth stating as a separate bullet point the following

* "print $myObject" no longer works implicitly.
You will need to define a "__toString()" method to any class which you wish to print directly.  See below the section on __toString() for more details.

This would save people (like me) who are looking for the answer/solution to this problem a lot of time.  The problem is not noticed by people having a "__toString()" method, and so the info about "__toString()" does not initially appear relevant.  The description should relate more directly to the most likely place where such a problem occurs, i.e. why the "print $myObject" has suddenly stopped working.


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 [2007-08-16 12:50 UTC] vrana@php.net
"print $foo" is mentioned in the example of __toString().
 [2007-08-17 06:49 UTC] phpbugs at localpin dot com
The problem with the documentation is not that the information does not exist; the problem is that it is not presented in as clear a way as possible.
 [2007-08-17 07:44 UTC] vrana@php.net
"The fallback of returning a string that contains the object identifier was dropped in PHP 5.2.0." is crystal clear.
 
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