ExpressionEngine config.php
Written in Northampton, Massachusetts on May 18, 2012
One of the biggest takeaways from the EECI 2011 Conference in Brooklyn for me was the use of a config.php file in ExpressionEngine builds. Matt Weinberg from the Vector Media Group gave a great presentation titled 10 Ways to Rock ExpressionEngine. Using a config.php file allows you to control the numerous configuration options in ExpressionEngine from a single text file. This allows for quick and easy updates, instant provisioning of a new site install, and easy movement from server to server.
I spent some time with different config.php approaches and have settled on a hybrid of some existing versions:
- Vector Media Group (Matt Weinberg)
- Focus Lab (Erik Reagan)
- Newism (Leevi Graham)
There are several other great resources out there for EE2 configuration:
- How To: Configure ExpressionEngine for Multiple Server Environments (Jesse Bunch)
- Apply the DRY Principle to Build Websites with ExpressionEngine 2 (Chris Brauckmuller)
- Getting to know ExpressionEngine 2's config file (Part three) (Jamie Rumbelow)
I'm going to outline the different items that Pilotmade uses in our EE projects. We're always tweaking this, so this approach is where we are in May of 2012.
The idea is to create a file titled config.php and place it at the root level of your site. Within that file you enter the following sections of configuration. Once the file is setup, it has to be included (required) from both /system/expressionengine/config/config.php and /system/expressionengine/config/database.php using the following code.
require(realpath(dirname(__FILE__) . '/../../../config.php'));
Just place that at the bottom of each file. One thing to keep in mind is that when you go to update your ExpressionEngine install, you have to comment out this code or your upgrade will fail. This means that your standard config and database files MUST be valid and have the correct database credentials for the server you are upgrading on.
1. Dynamic paths
The first thing to do is to set some dynamic file system paths based on the server the site is located on. This allows us to automatically set things like URL folder paths later on.
$protocol = (isset($_SERVER["HTTPS"]) && $_SERVER["HTTPS"] == "on") ? "https://" : "http://"; $base_url = $protocol . $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME']; $base_path = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']; $system_folder = "system"; $images_folder = "images"; $images_path = $base_path . "/" . $images_folder; $images_url = $base_url . "/" . $images_folder; $user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];
2. Environmental Variables (database)
switch ( $_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR'] ) {
/* Local DB Config */
case '127.0.0.1' :
$db['expressionengine']['hostname'] = "localhost";
$db['expressionengine']['username'] = "username";
$db['expressionengine']['password'] = "password";
$db['expressionengine']['database'] = "database";
$env_global_vars = array(
'global:env' => 'local'
);
break;
/* Development DB Config */
case '111.222.333.444' :
$db['expressionengine']['hostname'] = "localhost";
$db['expressionengine']['username'] = "username";
$db['expressionengine']['password'] = "password";
$db['expressionengine']['database'] = "database";
$env_global_vars = array(
'global:env' => 'dev'
);
break;
/* Production DB Config */
case '444.333.222.111' :
$db['expressionengine']['hostname'] = "localhost";
$db['expressionengine']['username'] = "username";
$db['expressionengine']['password'] = "password";
$db['expressionengine']['database'] = "database";
$env_global_vars = array(
'global:env' => 'prod'
);
break;
}
3. Debugging and Performance
Quick access to debugging controls. This is always helpful if something goes south and your site stops showing up.
$config['show_profiler'] = 'n'; # y/n $config['template_debugging'] = 'n'; # y/n $config['debug'] = '1'; # 0: no PHP/SQL errors shown. 1: Errors shown to Super Admins. 2: Errors shown to everyone. $config['disable_all_tracking'] = 'y'; # y/n $config['enable_sql_caching'] = 'n'; # Cache Dynamic Channel Queries? $config['email_debug'] = 'n'; # y/n $config['autosave_interval_seconds'] = "0"; # Disabling entry autosave
4. General Paths
Standard site paths.
$config['index_page'] = ""; $config['base_url'] = $base_url . "/"; $config['site_url'] = $config['base_url']; $config['cp_url'] = $config['base_url'] . $system_folder . "/index.php"; $config['theme_folder_path'] = $base_path . "/themes/"; $config['theme_folder_url'] = $base_url . "/themes/";
5. Universal Database Settings
These are mostly the values from the standard database.php file.
$db['expressionengine']['dbdriver'] = "mysql"; $db['expressionengine']['dbprefix'] = "exp_"; $db['expressionengine']['pconnect'] = FALSE; $db['expressionengine']['swap_pre'] = "exp_"; $db['expressionengine']['db_debug'] = FALSE; $db['expressionengine']['cache_on'] = TRUE; $db['expressionengine']['autoinit'] = FALSE; $db['expressionengine']['char_set'] = "utf8"; $db['expressionengine']['dbcollat'] = "utf8_general_ci"; $db['expressionengine']['cachedir'] = $base_path . $system_folder ."/expressionengine/cache/db_cache/";
6. Template Preferences
This lets you set up the defaults for how templates are treated. I like to save templates as flat files so I usually set that to on.
$config['save_tmpl_files'] = "y"; $config['site_404'] = "site/404"; $config['strict_urls'] = "y"; $config['tmpl_file_basepath'] = $base_path . "/templates/"; $config['hidden_template_indicator'] = ".";
7. Member Directory paths and URLs
Moving from server to server means paths get will likely get updated. Having these be dynamic is a big help.
$config['emoticon_path'] = $images_url . "/smileys/"; $config['captcha_path'] = $images_path . "/captchas/"; $config['captcha_url'] = $images_url . "/captchas/"; $config['avatar_path'] = $images_path . "/avatars/"; $config['avatar_url'] = $images_url . "/avatars/"; $config['photo_path'] = $images_path . "/member_photos/"; $config['photo_url'] = $images_url . "/member_photos/"; $config['sig_img_path'] = $images_path . "/signature_attachments/"; $config['sig_img_url'] = $images_url . "/signature_attachments/"; $config['prv_msg_upload_path'] = $images_path . "/pm_attachments/";
8. Global Variables
This section allows you to set up some really handy global variables to use throughout your site.
$default_global_vars = array(
// Tag parameters - Short hand tag params
'global:disable_default' => 'disable="categories|pagination|member_data"',
'global:disable_all' => 'disable="categories|custom_fields|member_data|pagination"',
'global:cache' => 'cache="yes" refresh="10"',
'-global:cache' => '-cache="yes" refresh="10"', // disable by adding a '-' to the front of the global
// Date and time - Short hand date and time
'global:date_time' => '%g:%i %a',
'global:date_short' => '%F %d, %Y',
'global:date_full' => '%F %d %Y, %g:%i %a',
// Store the entry_id for the 404 page
'global:404_entry_id' => '4',
'global:isipad' => (bool) strpos($user_agent,'iPad'),
'global:isiphone' => (bool) strpos($user_agent,'iPhone')
);
// Make this global so we can add some of the config variables here
global $assign_to_config;
if(!isset($assign_to_config['global_vars'])) {
$assign_to_config['global_vars'] = array();
}
$assign_to_config['global_vars'] = array_merge($assign_to_config['global_vars'], $default_global_vars, $env_global_vars);
