Proper way of programming and "include"

Anon

Hi all,

I am developing a complex application with PHP/Apache/MySQL. As I am just starting to code, I am wondering what is the proper way of working with includes...

I first wanted to make a distinction between all constants and functions related to each topics. As an example

html.inc

$BGCOLOR = "#ffffff";
function html_header () {}
function html_footer () {}

database.inc

$DB_NAME = "taratata";
function init_database () {}

But it appears that sometimes I need in html.inc some constants of database.inc and I therefore make some includes in html.inc when needed:

function html_header ($title, $profile)
{
include dirname(FILE)."/database.inc";
$q = "SELECT html_header FROM userinterface WHERE id='$profile'";
...etc...
}

Is is a good way ? I am so sure since I have lots of includes. The other way would be to include a BIG file with everything in it... well, that wouldn't be really well optimized...

So, what should I do ?

herve

I have had the same pb recently : do a hierarchy of small include files :

determine what is the first include file
(the one which will not rely on the others,
completely independant), then you include
it at the beginning of the other include
files (only when needed), then you include those files in your PHP programs .

If it's getting too complex, too cross-
reference, then I think you're left
with a "less-perfect" choice.

By the way, it's a good idea to call your
include files with a ".php" extension.

For security reason : otherwise
if I know your habits I can call
"http://your-site.com/database.inc" in my
browser and get the source code of your file
(except if you have configured your Apache
server for not doing so) with all the
database password, login and such ...

[deleted]

The trick is to never ever create include files that depend on eachother for funtionality.

The main script should use functions from the included files, but the included files should all work independantly.

IN the original example, the html.inc should never try to get it's data directly from database.inc.

Instead, the main script should load html.inc and database.inc, and then use their functions to get data from the database and to feed that data to the html functions.

I know that sounds like doing a lot of extra work, but it is worth it.

cross-dependancies make your include files useless. Every time you include html.inc in any script, you must include database.inc too.

Now what if your app does not work with a database? then you have to re-write your html.inc to read different data...

herve

I haven't catch that in the original example, you're completely right Vincent.

Anon

OK, that's clear. Thanks to both of you.

[deleted]

you're welcome.