[RESOLVED] DOCUMENT_ROOT Question

[slindstr]

I don't really know the best way to ask this question without sounding dumb so here it goes anyways:

When I include files in my php code I prefer to use something like this:

  require_once($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/classes/Database.Class.php");

This makes it easier to organize files. No big deal.

The problem I have is with the variable $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']. With my web hosting it maps properly to the website (i.e. /home/username/websitename) but locally on my computer (running xampp) it maps to /Applications/xampp/htdocs

The problem with this is that I am working on a couple of different websites and keep them in folders within the htdocs folder (i.e. /Applications/xampp/htdocs/websitename).

So how can I change this locally so it points to /Applications/xampp/htdocs/websitename WITHOUT me having to add code to every single php page? Is there something I can do in Apache or the php.ini file?

Ideally it would work the same as my web hosting, so that for multiple folders it would map correctly to that folder (i.e. the path /Applications/xampp/website1 would be the DOCUMENT_ROOT in the folder website1 but the path /Applications/xampp/website2 would be the document root in the folder website2)

Thanks
Steve

[cahva]

DocumentRoot directive is set in server config(httpd.conf) and/or inside virtual host. In xampp you probably dont have any vhosts configured(localhost only) so you would have to change the documentroot to point to the directory you want.

So just search for DocumentRoot in httpd.conf and change it to correct directory.

[webbiedave]

Well, putting virtual host entries in your xampp-apache conf would be really helpful and is probably the best approach.

Another approach that you can use for this specific problem or other problems encountered when the development box and production box vary greatly is:

if ($_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] == 'localhost') {
    define('DOC_ROOT', 'C:\xampp\htdocs');
} else {
    define('DOC_ROOT', $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']);
}

This solves two issues for me:

1) I don't have to worry about where I run it as it will automatically use the correct define.

2) As VirtualDocumentRoot is used a lot, $SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] doesn't always yield the right answer! In that case, I don't have $SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] littered all over my code and I can make the adjustment by altering one line.

[slindstr]

Thanks very much for your replies - I started going through some of the documentation and I learned some new stuff.

Unfortunately I'm lazy and really didn't want to start troubleshooting when I inevitably would have messed something up, so I tried Headdress, which takes care of everything for you if you are an OS X user. Works great!

http://headdress.twinsparc.com/

Thanks
Steve

[slindstr]

And here's how to use it with MAMPP (same deal for XAMPP):

http://headdress.twinsparc.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=18