Extending DOMElement; Keep PHP Objects in Memory - http://stackoverflow.com/a/17262180/367456

34657.php

<?php
/**
 * Extending DOMElement
 *
 * @linnk http://stackoverflow.com/q/17260190/367456
 */

/**
 * Class ElementFactory
 *
 * WARNING: Demonstration Purposes Only!
 */
class ElementFactory
{
    public $stack;

    public function create($type, $name, $value = NULL) {
        return $this->stack[] = new $type($name, $value);
    }
}

class JavaScript extends DOMElement {
}

class JavaScriptLibrary extends DOMElement {
}

$dom = new DOMDocument();

$factory = new ElementFactory();

$node = $factory->create('JavaScript', 'script');
$dom->appendChild($node);

$node = $factory->create('JavaScriptLibrary', 'script');
$dom->appendChild($node);

$node = $factory->create('JavaScript', 'script');
$dom->appendChild($node);

foreach ($dom->childNodes as $childNode) {
    echo get_class($childNode)."\n";
}

echo "\nUnset Stack:\n";

unset($factory->stack);

foreach ($dom->childNodes as $childNode) {
    echo get_class($childNode)."\n";
}

echo "\nUnset Third Node Variable:\n";

unset($node);

foreach ($dom->childNodes as $childNode) {
    echo get_class($childNode)."\n";
}