Zend Config

In this example, we write a configuration file. Then we read the configuration from the file. Or we extract configuration parameters. We use a PHP configuration file, an INI configuration file, or an XML configuration file.

Is Zend_Config suited for all your needs? Probably not and it is not supposed to. Yet you might have some peculiar project requirements. For example, you might want to use pre-defined PHP constants in your ini or xml configuration files. Let's find out how that could be done.

Being the buzz-word worshipers that we are, several voices have been heard in the the Zend Framework community for a YAML parser class, and most notably, for a Zend_Config implementation based on YAML. Pádraic Brady already proposed an implementation for Zend_Yaml, but for those of you who are impatient (like me!) and want to use YAML as configuration files in your projects today, here's a simple and elegant solution:

Zend_Config is designed to simplify access to and use of configuration data within applications. It provides a nested object property based user interface for accessing such configuration data within application code. The configuration data may come from a variety of media supporting hierarchical data storage. Currently Zend_Config provides adapters for configuration data that are stored in text files with Zend_Config_Ini and Zend_Config_Xml.

n Zend FrameworkÂ’s mailing list discussion about Zend_Config class is in full swing. I have my own ideas about this class and I will try to explain their here. I need something that can load and save configuration into different storages (for example, XML, database or plain text like INI-files), itÂ’s necessary to have ability to change every parameter of storage (for example, file name, database tables or even database structure), it will be able if I can extend storage system with my own storage strategies.

While getting the hang of the Zend_Controller_RewriteRouter, which is now included in Zend Framework 0.1.5, I was adding the routes in my index.php (bootstrap) file and wondered if there was any way of storing them elsewhere. It is possible to loop over Zend_Controller_RewriteRouter::addRoutes() but the method I will describe here is based on some recent updates to Zend_Controller_RewriteRouter by its author Michael Minicki.

Zend_Config approaches the concept of managing configuration data with two focuses; Simplicity, and a Driver-based backend.