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some thoughts about AwareInterfaces and InjectorInterfaces

With the newest version of some fancy php frameworks, i got in touch with the terms of dependency injection and service locator. While the ideas behind the to terms a quick clear so far, i wanted to know how dependency injection is implemented. Because of that, i took a look into some implementations and i'm still in the process of getting a feeling of the terms and process for dependency injection.

Nevertheless, i had to use and implement some AwareInterfaces and here are my thoughts about the.

A AwareInterface should have three methods:

  • getObject()
  • hasObject()
  • setObject(\My\Object $object)

If a class is not useable without the object, it should either throw an runtime exception or implement the InjectInterface.

A InjectInterface should only have one method:

  • injectObject()

Currently, i prefer to define InjectInterfaces if they are needed to use a object. The AwareInterface is used as an addition / nice to have object, for example if you want to inject a logger. This leads to situations that a class only implements a "FooInjectInterface" or a "FooAwareInterface".

Lets see where the journey goes. Hopefully i don't have to overturn the position from above.

Update: 2013-10-02
A teammate made the suggestion to rename the "InjectInterface" to "DependentInterface" to keep the naming in sync with the "AwareInterface".