PHP trait method conflicts: trait "inheritance" and trait hierarchies

Question

UPDATE: I am not alone in my pondering on this issue and it seems it is indeed a bug. See here. The day it is fixed is going to be a fantastic day! :)

---

This started out as I love PHP traits! I'm going to use them everywhere! ^_^ and now it has turned into a Thought Exercise / Learning Experience >_<.

Consider the following example:

trait TheErrorOfYourWays{

   public function booboo(){
       echo 'You had a booboo :(';
   }
}

trait SpectacularStuff1 {
    use TheErrorOfYourWays; 
}

trait SpectacularStuff2 {
    use TheErrorOfYourWays;
}

class DoSomethingSpectacular {
    use SpectacularStuff1, SpectacularStuff2;
}

This results in (obviously not so obviously):

Fatal error: Trait method booboo has not been applied, because there are collisions with other trait methods on DoSomethingSpectacular.

So my question: How do I resolve method conflicts in traits? Is it possible to achieve overlapping trait "inheritance"? If so, what is the "right" way to do this?

Why I want to do this:

1. I want to create self contained traits and classes (mix and match style). If it is at all possible, I want to say "use" and then magic stuff must happen. No having to scratch my head and think, "Now what namespace was that trait in again?", etc, etc.
2. No having to edit classes and traits on the fly when I do something "adventurous" and discover I have inadvertently created a conflict.
3. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

What I have tried:

1. The PHP Manual.
2. The Google.
3. SO including this question -> Not the correct answer for this scenario.
4. Found this but I am using PHP version 5.5.1. It's fixed, right? Right?

5. A fantastic array of "as", aliases, even insteadof, in different places, times, universes, etc. Including, but not limited to:

   trait SpectacularStuff1 {
      use TheErrorOfYourWays{
         TheErrorOfYourWays::booboo as booboo1;
      }
   }
   trait SpectacularStuff2 {
      use TheErrorOfYourWays{
         TheErrorOfYourWays::booboo as booboo2;
      }
   }
   class DoSomethingSpectacular {
      use SpectacularStuff1, SpectacularStuff2 {
         /* Tried separately, but included here for brevity's sake */
         SpectacularStuff1::booboo as booboo3;
         SpectacularStuff2::booboo as booboo4;
      }
   }
   

   AND

   use TheErrorOfYourWays as Erroneous1;
   trait SpectacularStuff1 {
       use Erroneous1{
           Erroneous1::booboo as booboo1;
       }
   }
   
   use TheErrorOfYourWays as Erroneous2;
   trait SpectacularStuff2 {
       use Erroneous2{
           Erroneous2::booboo as booboo2;
       }
   }
   

I understand that:

1. I can change TheErrorOfYourWays to a class and make booboo() static but I would like to learn about this specific trait behaviour.
2. I can remove TheErrorOfYourWays from the traits and use it in the class, but that's hardly "self-contained" then. Everytime I use the traits I have to remember to use TheErrorOfYourWays in the class even if I don't call booboo() directly from the class. Sounds dangerous.
3. I have probably made some rookie syntax error or failed to understand aliasing on a profound level. If so, please... explain... slowly...
4. There is probably a better way to do this. If so, please... explain... slowly...
5. I may be prematurely enthusiastic and PHP doesn't do this yet. Let me down gently.

Thanks!

Solution 1

So the unofficial "official" answer is:

You can do it without aliasing, insteadof or anything! But not yet...

I upgraded from 5.5.1 to 5.5.6 but it was all in vain. I will update this answer when the fix becomes available. Interesting to note is that you can call trait static functions directly. The following example works:

trait TheErrorOfYourWays{
    public static function booboo($thisTrait){
        echo 'You had a booboo :( in '.$thisTrait.'<br>';
    }
}

trait SpectacularStuff1 {
    public function boobooTest1(){
        TheErrorOfYourWays::booboo(__TRAIT__);
    }
}

trait SpectacularStuff2 {
    public function boobooTest2(){
        TheErrorOfYourWays::booboo(__TRAIT__);
    }
}

class DoSomethingSpectacular {
    use SpectacularStuff1, SpectacularStuff2;
}

$boobooAChoo = new DoSomethingSpectacular();
$boobooAChoo->boobooTest1(); // You had a booboo :( in SpectacularStuff1
$boobooAChoo->boobooTest2(); // You had a booboo :( in SpectacularStuff2

Yes, yes, you can also do that with a class but classes are soooo last season.

Solution 2

You need to make use of the keyword insteadof to resolve the conflicts in Traits.

Source

Rewriting your

class DoSomethingSpectacular {
   use SpectacularStuff1, SpectacularStuff2 {
      /* Tried separately, but included here for brevity's sake */
      SpectacularStuff1::booboo as booboo3;
      SpectacularStuff2::booboo as booboo4;
   }
}

to

class DoSomethingSpectacular {
    use SpectacularStuff1, SpectacularStuff2 
    {
     SpectacularStuff1::booboo insteadof SpectacularStuff2;
     SpectacularStuff2::booboo insteadof SpectacularStuff1;
    }
}

will resolve the conflicts.

Solution 3

I found another way to fix temporary this:

trait A {
   public function foo(){
       echo 'foo';
   }
}

trait B {
   public function foofoo(){
       return $this->foo () . 'foo';
   }
}

trait C {
   public function foobar(){
       return $this->foo () . 'bar';
   }
}

class DoSomethingSpectacular {
    use A, B, C;

    public function foobarfoofoo () {
        echo $this->foobar () . $this->foofoo ();
    }
}

And it works :)

Comments

[Just Plain High]

As mentioned in the question, I did but that also produced an error. Please provide an example of working code because it may be that I didn't implement it correctly. Thanks :)

[Just Plain High]

Hmmm... well, thanks for teaching me about the proper use of insteadof. I did not know that :). But this still doesn't resolve the conflict at the trait level. It requires that I know which traits and classes call the same traits and could result in a very long list of insteadof's. Or am I still missing something?

[Shankar Narayana Damodaran]

I think that is how it goes (you need a long list :( ), Btw did you have a look at the example #5 : conflict resolution of the link i provided.?

[Just Plain High]

I did see #5 and I tried it but it didn't give me the result I was looking for. I scrutinized the manual before coming here, trust me ;) This "long list" news saddens me :(.

[Just Plain High]

Much appreciated :) Thank you very much for the help!

[Admin]

Interesting... just have to remember to always use A ;-)