1. Configuration File – ProdigyView

2. Overview Objective Learn how to configure the system through the xml file. Requirements Understanding of the Defines. Estimated Time 5 minutes www.prodigyview.com

3. Follow Along With A Code Example 1. Download a copy of the example code at www.prodigyview.com/source. www.prodigyview.com/source 2. Install the system in an environment you feel comfortable testing in. 3. Proceed to config/site_config.xml www.prodigyview.com

4. XML File ProdigyView uses an xml file for holding system configurations instead of the standard PHP file. If you remember reading about the Defines, the location of this file is set there. WHY XML? There a typically four ways of storing and reading configuration files in PHP. 1. Php.ini 2. Database 3. Php file 4. XML File Out of those 4 ways and test performed with repeated reading of a configuration file, retrieving a configuration from the database is the slowest, php.ini is faster the a php file, and an xml file takes the cake.

5. Good Article To Read A good article to read on PHP configuration files is here: http://www.phpro.org/articles/Application-Configuration.html The article will give you insight on using php.ini configuration, xml configuration, php file configuration, and the database configuration.

6. How the Configuration Works The configuration works in two parts 1. If you noticed on the tutorial about the bootstrap, the ‘load_configuration’ option was set to false. If that is set true, the xml file is loaded and those variables are used to initialize: 1. PVSessions 2. PVRouter 3. PVDatabase 4. PVSecurity 5. PVTemplate 2. In PVConfiguration, there are various methods that use the xml configuration. Example: Methods such as PVConfiguration::getEmailSettings() retrieve the email settings from the xml file.

7. General Configuration The general configuration is general information about the web application and is mainly used by functions in PVTemplate.

8. Email Configuration The email configuration sets the defaults to how emails will be sent. The most important option here is the ‘mailer’. If the option is set to php, the method PVMail::sendEmail() will send an email using php’s mail() function. If the option is set to smtp, the PVMail:sendEmail() will send an email through SMTP. Default from email used in sendmail Default SMTP information used

9. System The system configuration controls how the system runs. Display Error MessageThe level of errors to report Log errors Remove global variables Forces SEO friendly urls

10. Session The session configuration can be used to control sessions. Cookies stored in the browser configuration Sessions stored on the server configuration

11. Session Review 1. The default configuration file is set by the PV_CONFIG file 2. The XML file DOES NOT have to be used and can be turned off in the bootstrap. 3. The ‘email’ configurations configures the PVMail class. 4. The ‘sessions’ configurations configures the Session class. 5. The ‘system’ configuration configures the router and error reporting.