/** * Gets the alerts from the database and stores them in self::$_alerts * If alerts already exists, don't make unnecessary database requests * @return int -1 if $a < $b, 0 if $a == $b, 1 if $a > $b * @since 0.1 */ private static function get_alerts() { if (empty(self::$_alerts)) { self::$_alerts = get_transient('PW_Alerts') ? get_transient('PW_Alerts') : array(); } return self::$_alerts ? self::$_alerts : false; }