The php Pear Mail class uses a factory to return an object based on the type of mail system you're using -- sendmail, smtp, etc.

I'd like to extend this but my class won't know what's being created by the Mail.php factory. Do I just need to copy the Mail.php factory method and modify that to use as my own factory? Does php allow extending a variable-named class? ie:

class List_Mail extends $class

I drop records in a queue saying "Send message 32 to user 495 at 11:00 AM on 2/24/2010". New records default their status to "pending".

When the queue processor runs, it grabs batches and updates status to "processing", then as it sends each one it changes the status to "sent", and sets the time that it was sent.

Right now, the "send" command is in a static lib, which instantiates the Mail class to send. So I'm creating a new instance for each message sent, which is typically 100 per run. I was thinking last night it would make more sense to extend the mail class instead, so there's just one instance, and just call the "send" method in the loop. I can also tie the status updates to the send method.

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Hmm, just realized the PEAR guys had the same problem. The Mime class should really be an extension of the Mail class, but you can't make that work with the Mail factory.

I'll just keep my Message class static, and declare the Mail class static, too, so I don't keep recreating it.