Infinite includes

[Anon]

Hi, 2 issues:

1. If I have an application spanning over 30 files for example, would there be a significant overhead in including all of them for each execution. Note that all files contain functions, which may or may not be executed.

2. To make my codes portable, I've set an include path in a config file. How do I now include the config file without hard coding the full path (e.g. /www/something/htdocs/... etc). I'm trying to find a solution without making the config file a default include in php, expecially when the application runs on a shared server.

Thanks in advance!

[Anon]

Starting with the second question first... I typically deal with the situation as follows, using a generic config file that goes something like this:

switch($HTTP_SERVER_VARS["SERVER_NAME"]) {
case "thisdomain.com":
define(APPS_PATH,"/home/me/myapps/");
break;
case "anotherdomain.com":
define(APPS_PATH,"/usr/home/myapps/");
break;
}

From there, just include your files pre=pending them with your defined APPS_PATH, such as:
include(APPS_PATH."myfile.php");

For your first question, I often get around the issue by deciding what includes rely on other includes, and then only including what's necessary to get the job done. Keep in mind, each include represents a disk-hit, and disk-hits do impact server performance.

Have fun...