Outside variables needed inside class

[Justin Voelker]

I have a configuration file that contains the host, username,
password, and database name required for any database connections.
The config file runs through a few if/then/else statements to
determine if the website is local or remote and if it is local if it
is the test site or "live" site then it sets the 4 variables. I am
trying to implement a webstats package that has it's own config file.
I would the new config file to be able to use the same variables as my
config file. The problem I am encountering is that the new config
file has all of its variables inside of a class and I can't seem to
get to my variables from within it. Right now the file starts like
this:

<?php
class SlimStatConfig {
/** Database connection */
var $server = "localhost";
var $username = "username";
var $password = "password";
var $database = "database";
....
?>

What I am envisioning is something to the effect of:

<?php
include('/additionalfiles/config.php');
class SlimStatConfig {
/** Database connection */
global $dbhost;
global $dbuser;
global $dbpasswd;
global $dbname;
var $server = $dbhost;
var $username = $dbuser;
var $password = $dbpasswd;
var $database = $dbname;
....
?>

I have never worked with classes before. And please spare me the "how
do you call yourself a php developer without knowing how to use
classes." Right now I just would like to get this to work with a
minimal amount of work. Thanks for your help!

[ZeldorBlat]

On May 17, 1:38 pm, Justin Voelker <[e-mail]:

I have a configuration file that contains the host, username,
password, and database name required for any database connections.
The config file runs through a few if/then/else statements to
determine if the website is local or remote and if it is local if it
is the test site or "live" site then it sets the 4 variables. I am
trying to implement a webstats package that has it's own config file.
I would the new config file to be able to use the same variables as my
config file. The problem I am encountering is that the new config
file has all of its variables inside of a class and I can't seem to
get to my variables from within it. Right now the file starts like
this:

<?php
class SlimStatConfig {
/** Database connection */
var $server = "localhost";
var $username = "username";
var $password = "password";
var $database = "database";
...
?>

What I am envisioning is something to the effect of:

<?php
include('/additionalfiles/config.php');
class SlimStatConfig {
/** Database connection */
global $dbhost;
global $dbuser;
global $dbpasswd;
global $dbname;
var $server = $dbhost;
var $username = $dbuser;
var $password = $dbpasswd;
var $database = $dbname;
...
?>

I have never worked with classes before. And please spare me the "how
do you call yourself a php developer without knowing how to use
classes." Right now I just would like to get this to work with a
minimal amount of work. Thanks for your help!

Does the class have a constructor? If so, that's the place to pass in
the variables. It might look something like this:

public function __construct($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpasswd, $dbname) {
$this->dbhost = $dbhost;
$this->dbuser = $dbuser;
$this->dbpasswd = $dbpasswd;
$this->dbname = $dbname;
}

Then, when you instantiate the class, you would do it like this:

$s = new SlimStatConfig($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpasswd, $dbname);

[Jerry Stuckle]

Justin Voelker wrote:

I have a configuration file that contains the host, username,
password, and database name required for any database connections.
The config file runs through a few if/then/else statements to
determine if the website is local or remote and if it is local if it
is the test site or "live" site then it sets the 4 variables. I am
trying to implement a webstats package that has it's own config file.
I would the new config file to be able to use the same variables as my
config file. The problem I am encountering is that the new config
file has all of its variables inside of a class and I can't seem to
get to my variables from within it. Right now the file starts like
this:

<?php
class SlimStatConfig {
/** Database connection */
var $server = "localhost";
var $username = "username";
var $password = "password";
var $database = "database";
...
?>

What I am envisioning is something to the effect of:

<?php
include('/additionalfiles/config.php');
class SlimStatConfig {
/** Database connection */
global $dbhost;
global $dbuser;
global $dbpasswd;
global $dbname;
var $server = $dbhost;
var $username = $dbuser;
var $password = $dbpasswd;
var $database = $dbname;
...
?>

I have never worked with classes before. And please spare me the "how
do you call yourself a php developer without knowing how to use
classes." Right now I just would like to get this to work with a
minimal amount of work. Thanks for your help!

No problem with never using classes before - there are a lot of PHP
programmers out there who haven't.

You can't define globals that way - in fact, generally it's bad to use
globals at all.

Rather, set up the values in your constructor - that's what it's there
for, i.e. (PHP5)

class SlimStatConfig {
/** Database connection */
var $server = "localhost";
var $username = "username";
var $password = "password";
var $database = "database";

function __construct ($s, $u, $p, $d) {
$this->server = $s;
$this->username = $u;
$this->password = $p;
$this->database = $d;
}
...
}

Then create it with something like:

$sl = new SlimStatConfig($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpasswd, $dbname);

Or, if you really MUST use globals (even though you shouldn't):

function __construct () {
global $dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpasswd, $dbname;
$this->server = $dbhost;
$this->username = $dbuser;
$this->password = $dbpasswd;
$this->database = $dbname;
}

And call it with

$sl = new SlimStatConfig();
--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
js*******@attglobal.net
==================

[Schraalhans Keukenmeester]

At Thu, 17 May 2007 10:38:23 -0700, Justin Voelker let his monkeys type:

I have a configuration file that contains the host, username,
password, and database name required for any database connections.
The config file runs through a few if/then/else statements to
determine if the website is local or remote and if it is local if it
is the test site or "live" site then it sets the 4 variables. I am
trying to implement a webstats package that has it's own config file.
I would the new config file to be able to use the same variables as my
config file. The problem I am encountering is that the new config
file has all of its variables inside of a class and I can't seem to
get to my variables from within it. Right now the file starts like
this:

<?php
class SlimStatConfig {
/** Database connection */
var $server = "localhost";
var $username = "username";
var $password = "password";
var $database = "database";
...
?>

What I am envisioning is something to the effect of:

<?php
include('/additionalfiles/config.php');
class SlimStatConfig {
/** Database connection */
global $dbhost;
global $dbuser;
global $dbpasswd;
global $dbname;
var $server = $dbhost;
var $username = $dbuser;
var $password = $dbpasswd;
var $database = $dbname;
...
?>

I have never worked with classes before. And please spare me the "how
do you call yourself a php developer without knowing how to use
classes." Right now I just would like to get this to work with a
minimal amount of work. Thanks for your help!

Using global variables inside classes isn't recommended. If you can avoid
it, do so at (almost) any cost.
Either parse them to the class via a function (its constructor would be a
good place to do so):

class slimStatConfig {
var $server;
var $username;
var $password;
var $database;
var $conn;
function slimStatConfig($dbhost,$dbuser,$dbpasswd,$dbname) {
$this->server=$dbhost;
$this->username=$dbuser;
$this->password=$dbpasswd;
$this->database=$dbname;
if (!$this->$conn = @mysql_connect($this->server, $this->username,
$this->password) {
// send error message and finish gracefully
}
if (!@mysql_select_db($this->database, $this->conn)){
// send error message and finish gracefully
}
}
}
require ('/additionalfiles/config.php');
$ssc=new slimStatConfig($dbhost,$dbuser,$dbpasswd,$dbname);

....,or include the config file INSIDE the constructor and use the vars
directly:
[...]
function slimStatConfig() {
require ('/additionalfiles/config.php');
$this->server=$dbhost;
$this->username=$dbuser;
$this->password=$dbpasswd;
$this->database=$dbname;
if (!$this->$conn = @mysql_connect($this->server, $this->username,
$this->password) {
// send error message and finish gracefully
}
if (!@mysql_select_db($this->database, $this->conn)){
// send error message and finish gracefully
}
}

I am assuming you use PHP4. If not, omit the var keyword and define the
class variables public, private or protected (I think private's best here):

private $username; // etc

and your constructor:

public function slimStatConfig() //etc

or using the PHP5 __construct() function instead:

public function __construct() //etc
HTH
Sh.

[Alexey Kulentsov]

Justin Voelker wrote:

I would the new config file to be able to use the same variables as my
config file. The problem I am encountering is that the new config

....
<?php

class BasicConfig
{
var dbHost='localhost';
var dbUser='Justin';
...
}

?>

<?php

require_once 'basic.config.php';

class ExtendedConfig extends BasicConfig
{
var dbUser='god'; // You need to change dbUser for another server
// dbHost will be available without changes
}

?>

[Alexey Kulentsov]

Alexey Kulentsov wrote:
Ooops...

<?php

class BasicConfig
{
var $dbHost='localhost';
var $dbUser='Justin';
...
}

?>

<?php

require_once 'basic.config.php';

class ExtendedConfig extends BasicConfig
{
var $dbUser='god'; // You need to change dbUser for another server
// dbHost will be available without changes
}

?>

[Toby A Inkster]

Justin Voelker wrote:

<?php
include('/additionalfiles/config.php');
class SlimStatConfig {
/** Database connection */
global $dbhost;
global $dbuser;
global $dbpasswd;
global $dbname;
var $server = $dbhost;
var $username = $dbuser;
var $password = $dbpasswd;
var $database = $dbname;
...
?>

<?php
include('/additionalfiles/config.php');
class SlimStatConfig {
/** Database connection */
var $server = $GLOBALS['dbhost'];
var $username = $GLOBALS['dbuser'];
var $password = $GLOBALS['dbpasswd'];
var $database = $GLOBALS['dbname'];
....
?>

Though I'd agree with others that globals are evil. Better to use:

<?php
include('/additionalfiles/config.php');
class SlimStatConfig {
/** Database connection */
var $db;

public function __construct ($db)
{
$this->db = $db;
}
....
?>

And simply pass the object a fully-formed database connection when you
instantiate it.

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
http://tobyinkster.co.uk/
Geek of ~ HTML/SQL/Perl/PHP/Python/Apache/Linux

[Justin Voelker]

Can anyone explain to me why globals are so bad? I have a $phpEx
variable in my main config file and i use "global $phpEx" inside of
certain functions that return links so I don't have to change a
hundred links if I change my php extension to something else (php4,
php5). Thanks for the great help everyone! Now if I can just figure
out how to implement your solutions...

[Toby A Inkster]

Justin Voelker wrote:

Can anyone explain to me why globals are so bad? I have a $phpEx
variable in my main config file and i use "global $phpEx" inside of
certain functions that return links so I don't have to change a
hundred links if I change my php extension to something else (php4,
php5). Thanks for the great help everyone! Now if I can just figure
out how to implement your solutions...

In this example, a constant would be a far better idea:

define('SCRIPT_FILENAME_SUFFIX', '.php');
/* ... */
echo '<a href="login' . SCRIPT_SUFFIX . '">Login</a>';

One argument against the use of a global variable here might be something
like:

// Figure out extension for PHP source code files
function phpSourceExt ()
{
global $phpExt;

if (preg_match('/^\.php([0-9]+)$/i', $phpExt, $matches))
{
return ".php-v{$matches[1]}-source";
}
elseif ($phpExt = '.PHP')
{
return '.PHPS';
}
else
{
return '.phps';
}
}

See what I did there? Single equals sign instead of a double equals sign
in the elseif clause. You can accidentally modify the global variable, and
then the rest of the script will use the modified value. If you use a
constant, PHP raises an error if you try to modify it.

So one bit of code might modify a global variable, and another piece of
code, somewhere way off in another file tries to read the global variable
and has trouble. This is called "action at a distance" and is generally
considered bad. Debugging this kind of thing can be very frustrating, as
you don't know where something went wrong -- so many bits of code using
the same variable.

Which is not to say that global variables aren't occasionally useful. Evil
things can be useful at times. Even Satan himself can be quite handy. But
the forces of evil need great consideration and respect before use. They
have almighty power and need to be handled with care.

Before using global variables, have a good think about if there's a better
way of doing things.

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
http://tobyinkster.co.uk/
Geek of ~ HTML/SQL/Perl/PHP/Python/Apache/Linux

[Jerry Stuckle]

Justin Voelker wrote:

Can anyone explain to me why globals are so bad? I have a $phpEx
variable in my main config file and i use "global $phpEx" inside of
certain functions that return links so I don't have to change a
hundred links if I change my php extension to something else (php4,
php5). Thanks for the great help everyone! Now if I can just figure
out how to implement your solutions...

The biggest problem is you might change the global somewhere due to a
bug in the program - and have to spend hours trying to figure out where
you went wrong.

A secondary problem is that when you modify your code you can
unintentionally insert bugs into the code by changing the value.

Another potential problem occurs when you include another package in
your scripts which just happens to use the same global - what does it
do? This can even be one of your own scripts, added because you
rearranged the code.

Passing the values as parameters allows you to control what's going on.
And if you have to change the value in your function, pass by reference.

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