Get new empty item on model method

Question

Collections provide a handy means of getting a blank model - e.g.:

$quote->getItemsCollection()->getNewEmptyItem();

Is there any means of doing this from an existing model without having to call for the collection - in other words directly from the instance? Something like this:

$product = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load(43);
$productNew = $product->getNewEmptyItem();

I do realize I could call getCollection() on the product first - not sure if this has some overhead.

Edit:

Obviously $product = Mage::getModel('catalog/product'); produces the desired result. Obviously. What I'm looking for is a means of getting a blank object without reinstantiating the model.

Perhaps I just need to switch to using singletons to ease my mind.

Answer 1

You can use reset();

Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load(1)->reset();

that calls _clearData, if you check in the Mage_Catalog_Model_Product you can see that this function resets all variables.

Answer 2

The reset() method is available for Mage_Catalog_Model_Product but as a whole, this isn't available.

You could add a method like this:

public function reset() {
    return new self();
}

However, you cannot then call:

$modelInstance->reset();

You would have to call:

$modelInstance = $modelInstance->reset();

Because of this, in my opinion, having your own reset() method is going to lead to misuse, and/or may confuse other developers. You are better off doing something like this:

$modelInstance = new $modelInstance;

Answer 3

Does this not work via the clearInstance function on Mage_Core_Model_Abstract. This seems to clear references and data plus it also fires an event:

Mage::dispatchEvent($this->_eventPrefix.'_clear', $this->_getEventData());

Maybe I am missing something here though.