Traits And Interfaces: Implementing An Interface

A class can implement a contract through an interface, which is a set of required method declarations and constants.

Note that the methods are only declared, not defined; that is, an interface defines a type consisting of abstract methods, where those methods are implemented by client classes as they see fit. An interface allows unrelated classes to implement the same facilities with the same names and types without requiring those classes to share a common base class. For example:

interface MyCollection {
  const MAX_NUMBER_ITEMS = 1000;
  public function put(int $item): void;
  public function get(): int;
}

class MyList implements MyCollection {
  public function put(int $item): void { /* implement method */ }
  public function get(): int { /* implement method */
    return 0;
  }
  // ...
}

class MyQueue implements MyCollection {
  public function put(int $item): void { /* implement method */ }
  public function get(): int { /* implement method */
    return 0;
  }
  // ...
}

function process_collection(MyCollection $p1): void {
  /* can process any object whose class implements MyCollection */
  $p1->put(123);
}

<<__EntryPoint>>
function main(): void {
  process_collection(new MyList());
  process_collection(new MyQueue());
}

In this example, we define an interface type called MyCollection that contains an implicitly static constant and two implicitly abstract methods. Note how these methods have no bodies; their declarations end in a semicolon, which makes them abstract. Next, we define two classes that each implement this interface.

Note carefully that the parameter type of process_collection is an interface type. As such, when that function is called, the argument can have any type that implements that interface type. As we add new collection types that implement that interface, we can plug them into the application without impacting existing code.

An interface can extend another interface; for example:

interface Iterator<Tv> extends Traversable<Tv> {
  // ...
}

The library interface generic type Iterator<...> inherits the members of the interface generic type Traversable<...>. The extends clause allows a comma-separated list of base interfaces, so an interface can have multiple base interfaces. As such, the members of an interface are those specified by its own declaration, and the members inherited from its base interfaces.

Interfaces are designed to support classes; an interface cannot be instantiated directly.

An interface can have usage requirements placed on it; see interface requirements for more information.