Question

In PHP when we include or require some file using some initializers like the following. How can we overcome filepath issues which occurs if you include the same initializer in a sub-directory or different location.

<?php

// settings
$settings = array('config');

foreach ($settings as $setting) {
    require_once "../system/settings/{$setting}.php";
}

// neutrals
$neutrals = array('functions');

foreach ($neutrals as $neutral) {
    require_once "../system/neutrals/{$neutral}.php";
}

// helpers
$helpers = array('database', 'file', 'logger', 'user', 'session', 'database');

foreach ($helpers as $helper) {
    require_once "../system/helpers/{$helper}.php";
}

// models
$models = array('test');

foreach ($models as $model) {
    require_once "../system/models/{$model}.php";
}

?>

Above script is in a file all_initializer.php. The hurdle here is that i cant use the same initializer in a public sub-directory or other location as it will occur fatal errors (if its a required file) of file not found.

EDIT

For e.g. I am using this initialzer in a public folder in a index.php file then there’s a sub-directory in the public folder public/sub. How can I use the same initializer in public/sub/index.php as I used in public/index.php ?

Answer 1

You could use the file_exists to avoid fatal errors

// neutrals
$neutrals = array('functions');

foreach ($neutrals as $neutral) {
    if (file_exists("../system/neutrals/{$neutral}.php") 
    {
        require_once "../system/neutrals/{$neutral}.php";
    }
    else
    {
        // Do some logging here so as to know that something went wrong
    }
}

As for the path issues you are referring to, you can include this file from anywhere so long as you supply the proper base path for your operations. Defining a ROOT_PATH in your index.php file would help you detect where your script is and what it needs to load.

So for instance if you have this structure:

/system
/system/neutrals
/system/models
/public
/public/index.php

in your index.php you can define a ROOT_PATH constant that will be used throughout the application and serve as a point of reference.

// this points to the folder that has /public and /system
define('ROOT_PATH', dirname(dirname(__FILE__)))); 

You can also have a constant just for your system folder

define('SYSTEM_PATH', ROOT_PATH . '/system'); 

and then all your require_once declarations become:

require_once SYSTEM_PATH ."/neutrals/{$neutral}.php";

EDIT: Based on additional information in the question

Structure:
/all_includes.php
/system
/system/neutrals
/system/models
/public
/public/index.php
/public/sub/index_sub.php

In index.php you define

// this points to the folder that has /public and /system
define('ROOT_PATH', dirname(dirname(__FILE__)))); 

and then:

require_once ROOT_PATH . '/all_includes.php';

to do your initialization. The same thing happens in the public/sub/index_sub.php.

Your all_includes.php becomes:

// neutrals
$neutrals = array('functions');

foreach ($neutrals as $neutral) {
    if (file_exists(ROOT_PATH . "/system/neutrals/{$neutral}.php") 
    {
        require_once ROOT_PATH . "/system/neutrals/{$neutral}.php";
    }
    else
    {
        // Do some logging here so as to know that something went wrong
    }
}