Configuration Manipulation With PHP Config - Plug And Play (
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The Config
class is brought to you by PEAR, the PHP Extension and Application Repository
(http://pear.php.net). In case you didn't know, PEAR is an online repository of
free PHP software, including classes and modules for everything from data
archiving to XML parsing. If you need a widget to perform a specific task, and
you don't feel like writing it yourself, take a look at PEAR - chances are good
that someone's already done the hard work for you.
In case your PEAR distribution didn't include Config, or if you chose not to
install the PEAR component, you can get yourself a copy from the official PEAR
Web site, at http://pear.php.net/ - simply unzip the distribution archive into
your PEAR directory and you're ready to roll!
Very simply, Config provides application developers with a set of APIs that
ease the task of reading, writing and maintaining application configuration
files. As a tool designed to assist in the manipulation of data, it is capable
of producing configuration files in a variety of formats, including Windows INI,
XML and PHP formats.
If you're in the business of building Web applications, and if those
applications require some amount of configuration to get up and running, you're
going to find Config invaluable to your development cycle. Written as a PHP
class, Config can easily be integrated into any PHP-based Web application, and
can substantially reduce the amount of time you spend manipulating application
configuration files and data. You'll find it functional, powerful and (if you're
the kind who likes fiddling) easily extensible, and it'll soon be a standard
component of every application you write.
There's only one problem with Config - it could do with better documentation.
The documentation available on the PEAR Web site is a little too terse for
novices, and can throw up more questions than answers if you're coming at it
cold. Hopefully, though, the next few pages will help resolve that problem, by
illustrating how powerful the class really is with some simple
examples.
