Question

I am writing a PHP application that will have the ability to edit settings through a web interface. I didn’t mean for the user (and actually, it will only be admins) to be able to load the file up in a text editor, but rather, they make a change using a form, and that will change the settings file (and do other things as well).

At this stage in the development, settings are stored in a PHP file, for example:

define ('UPLOAD_DIR','uploads/');
define ('DISPLAY_NUM',true);
$names = array('a' => 'b','c'=>'d','e'=>'f');

However, parsing arrays (and they get more complicated (i.e multilevel nested) than the above), doesn’t seem so fun. And because specific settings can be added and removed, reading the entire file, and then writing out all the settings again, doesn’t seem fun either.

What are the advantages and disadvantages to using the following formats? (And any others that I missed out):

• Custom XML
• INI (able to use parse_ini_file)

(Using a database is not suitable due to the requirements for the project. I understand in many situations a database would be prefered, just not in this case.)

If you were unable to use a database, and had to store settings that could be edited using a web interface, what would you do?

(Note: This is a different question to this one, where settings can’t be changed, it’s PHP file all the way. And yes, the setup does currently write out a PHP file with the correct settings.)

Answer 1

OK, I didn’t get any sort of answer I was looking for. Here’s the sort of thing I was expecting.

INI

• Storing settings in an INI file might be appropriate for simple settings which you want the user to edit by hand.
• However, creating complex arrays is not easy, and would require some mental acrobatics to understand which heading is at which level of the array.
• Reserved words, which must not be used anywhere in the file, include: yes, no, true, and false, this might be problematic.
• Constants can be used in the file.
• No built in method of writing out INI files.

XML

• Can use the SimpleXML Extension, which “provides a very simple and easily usable toolset” to turn XML into an object that can then be processed using the normal methods.
• Allows the use of very complex arrays.
• Possible to edit by hand, if required.
• Can use external tools to verify the validity of the file.
• Many many XML processors available for PHP.

YAML

• http://yaml.org/
• http://www.techyouruniverse.com/software/dont-use-yaml-for-php-use-parse%5Fini%5Ffile

Remember: no database. Requires being able to use complex arrays.