How can I call a static method on a variable classname that is a property?

Question

How can I call a static method on a variable classname that is a property?

Here is some example code:

class Foo
{
    var $class = 'Bar';

    public function getNew() {
        return $this->class::create(); // this fails
    }
}

class Bar
{
    public static function create() {
        return new self();
    }
}

$foo = new Foo();
$foo->getNew();

In this example, how can I call the static method on the class specified in the $class property?

Variable scope resolution fails with a parse error on PHP 5.6:

{$this->class}::create();
($this->class)::create();

This works but is so verbose:

$class = $this->class;
$class::create();

call_user_func([$this->class, 'create']);

Is there a shorter or more readable way? I'm using PHP 5.6

Answer 1

Mark's comment is spot on. This works:

<?php

class Foo {

    var $class = 'Bar';

    public function getNew() {
        $className = $this->class;
        return $className::create();
    }
}

class Bar {
    public static function create() {
        return new self();
    }

    public function speak() {
        echo 'It lives';
    }
}

$foo = new Foo();
$bar = $foo->getNew();
$bar->speak();

However, don't be afraid of it being verbose, because it is very clear. And PHP has many other verbose constructs to worry about.