PHP method chaining

Question

So i was wondering if there is a way to method chain, when the initial method is a static function. Here is what I mean:

    class foo
    {
        public static function a()
        {
            $foo = new foo;
            return $foo->bar(); 
        }

        public function bar()
        {
            return $this;
        }

        public function b()
        {
            return 1;
        }
    }

    print foo::a()->b();

EDIT print foo::a()->b(); not print foo:a()->b();

Answer 1

Static Methods or Other Methods, as long as the method is returning an object either self or some other, the methods can be chained, with the same method you are attempting.

class foo {
   public function __construct() {
   }
   public function create() {
       // create something;
       return $this;
   }
   public function performSomethingElse() {
      // perform something
      return $this;
   }
}
$object = new foo;

$object -> create() -> performSomethingElse();

Answer 2

this line

print foo:a();

should be

print foo::a();

and you will not be able to return $this in a static method it needs to be instantiated first:

$foo = new Foo();
print $foo->a()->b();

Answer 3

Only sort of an answer, and somewhat idiosyncratic:
But I would advise that you have your object accompanied by a factory procedure instead:

 class foo { .... }

 function foo() { return new foo; }

This might remove some of the confusion for you. And it even looks a bit nicer by avoiding the mix of static and object method calls:

 foo()->bar()->b();

It basically externalizes the static function. And your object only implements the chainable methods which return $this, or actual results.