I have a bunch of database addresses and other random long strings that I must input into functions again and again all over my site. Is there a way to make a ton of permanent, global variables in PHP that will be valid on any file on the current PHP installation?
Or should I just make a vars.php with all of the variables defined, and always include that file?
Create your file with the settings you need. Something like this:
<?php
// My file name might be config.php
$config = array(
'db.connection' => 'localhost:3306'
// etc...
);
?>
Then include it into each page/file that needs it.
<?php
require("path-to/config.php");
// Other stuff this file does/needs
?>
require_once
require_once unless I'm importing a class. The overhead is unnecessary given this instance because the values are, what should be, unalterable config values. Importing agian will not hurt anything.The answer is, well, both! Use prepend.
http://www.electrictoolbox.com/php-automatically-append-prepend/
require or include on each file that needs it.
Well you could use $GLOBALS variable, which also contains other superglobals like $_GET, $_POST etc. Of course that means you should still always include file where you define your own custom variable.
The good thing when using $GLOBALS is you can use it in all scopes, and at least imho you can use it as a sort of a namespacing technique.
For example if you use
$settings = array('host' => 'localhost');
function connect() {
global $settings;
}
there's a possibility that you unintentionally override $setting variable at some point. When using $GLOBALS, I think this kind of scenario is not so likely to happen.
$GLOBALS['_SETTINGS'] = array(... => ...);
function connect() {
$settings = $GLOBALS['_SETTINGS'];
}
Another solution would be using your own custom class, where you store your settings in a static array. Again, this requiers including file, where you define the class, but your data will be avialable within all scopes and cannot be acidently overriden.
Example:
class MySettings {
private static $settings = array(
'host' => 'localhost',
'user' => 'root'
);
public static get($key) {
return self::$settings[$key];
}
}
function connect() {
$host = MySettings::get('host');
...
}
Not saying it's the best way for doing this, but surely one way for accomplishing your goal.
