best practice global variables

All,
I'm coming from java and coldfusion, where one can set a "global" variable
in one place (the servletcontext in java, Application.cfm in coldfusion) and
all files in that site can then take advantage of these variables without
the need to "include" a variables page in every page on the site.
Is there something comparable in php, like an Application.php or some such
thing?

One more question that's basically an extension of the first. in
development, my site is http://localhost/mysite, but in the hosting
environment, it's http://mysite

Now, let's say I have a "header" include that includes images in it, and
that header is included in multiple directory trees, so relative pathing of
those images isn't possible. Is there a preferred way in php for dealing
with this kind of thing, since i can't simply use /images/myimage.jpg since
that path isn't valid in the local environment?

Thanks for any answers. I'm doing some emergency work on a php site as a
favor to a friend and am quite out of my element.

Marc

re: best practice global variables

Marc E wrote:Not really. But why would you need it? In several years of PHP
programming I never have - but then in general globals are not a good
thing, anyway, IMHO.
Why isn't it http://localhost? That's what I use. Or, even
http://example (the real site being http://example.com) by using your
HOSTS file.
Check out $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] will always point to the root
directory of your site. From there on you can use a path relative to
your document root directory - if you use the above format.
I'd suggest you get someone more familiar with PHP to help you. I think
you're on the wrong track here.

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

re: best practice global variables

Jerry Stuckle wrote:I follow the old Microsoft model - using INI files. I even use
the same file format, and write my own set/get routines for them.

re: best practice global variables

Thanks for the quick response Jerry.


"Jerry Stuckle" <jstucklex@attglobal.netwrote in message
news:YJ-dnUVjBbD_WjfYnZ2dnUVZ_sOknZ2d@comcast.com...
Why need it? For the same reason that java servlets have Filters...because
it's a heck of a lot easier to be able to route all requests through
interceptors that handle specific functionality. For example, authentication
handling. i'd rather have an AuthFilter (or comparable functionality in a
coldfusion Application.cfm file) through which every request runs that
contains all the logic for ensuring a user is logged in and, if not, routed
to the appropriate page. Seems to me that if I want this type of
functionality in PHP, I have to have an include at the top of each page.
For this rinky dink site i'm doing this quick work for, it's not a big
deal..... just annoying and time wasting IMHO.




it's not localhost because i have dozens of other sites on this machine,
with each site as a subdirectory under the root. never thought of using
hosts file before.


that one didn't work for me. my normal doc root for all coldfusion
development is in my cfusionmx\wwwroot directory, and that's the site that's
configured as the base in IIS. but for this php stuff, i've got everything
in inetpub\wwwroot, and have virtual directories set up for it. but
Document_Root is returning the cfusionmx\wwwroot directory. good thought
though!



Tell me about it brother. I'm so used to java and coldfusion cfcs that
coming back to regular old scripting is very foreign.

i've found php remarkably simple to learn, especially thanks to the
incredible documentation. it's just one or two things i'm coming across that
are slipping me up.

re: best practice global variables

Marc E wrote:
That doesn't really answer Jerry's question in the context of PHP.

BTW assuming you mean globals applying to the whole website (or application
if you prefer) you can use autoprepend to reference the file instead of
explicitly including it - but you loose a lot of transparency and
flexibility.

BUT YOU ARE NOW WRITING IN PHP. Don't load code you don't need. If you use
the autoloader PHP will find the files and load them.
You seem to be digging yourself a hole here.

The right solution is to understand how the include_path works and set it up
for your requirements.

C.