Question

I have a little problem: I began a project as a subdirectory in a larger web project. Thus the web file path is something like /../myProject. But things have progressed and I’ve realized that this should be its own project. However, I’d like to be able to keep it where it (as a sub-directory) also make it a sub-domain wherein myProject becomes the root. (There is also the possibility that my project will be mirrored at a library site, where it will once be in a sub-directory).

The problem I having with all this is that in some cases I have html_partial files, (for instance for the header or footer). But the relative path of these partials differs depending on where you are in the file tree. I originally solved this by always going back to the root.

But now, you see, depending on where my project lives, the root will be different. What I’d like to do is declare myProject as the “application root” and then be able to use relative paths based on this application root rather the than the web root'. This way, all of the relative paths within 'myProject' will work no matter wheremyProject` lives in the web path.

Does PHP have a way to declare something like an Application Root if so, can you explain it me or direct me to its documentation. Thanks!

Answer 1

I usually do something lile this in the front controller:

define('APPLICATION_PATH', realpath(__DIR__));

Then you can do things like:

set_include_path(APPLICATION_PATH . '/include');

Or:

$fp = fopen(APPLICATION_PATH . '/path/to/some/file', 'r');

If your app doesn’t make use of a front controller, you could define an environment variable in your vhost config or .htaccess:

SetEnv APPLICATION_PATH /full/path/to/my/app

And then use:

getenv('APPLICATION_PATH')