saving variables

golles

what is the best way to save text, like number of rows for the questbook and the admin name.
should I save it to a php file like:

rohan2kool

you can do it either way you want. If needed, you can save it to a php file and then call it using 'include()' in php and use the variables. Or, you can save it in a text file in various formats (like XML or maybe .ini-styled) and then parse it from the php. If needed, you can also use MySQL to save it (in case the info is confidential)... nothing's silly if it serves the purpose Very Happy

as a part of the recommendation, i'd recommend u storing it as a php file with the variables stored by define() rather than $varname (no specific reason.. just personal preference Very Happy

).

AftershockVibe

Storing that information in a database rather defeats the object, as you'd have to specify database credentials to get your administrator credentials, which is like keeping your front door key in a box locked with a key.

I therefore recommend doing things like most PHP programs do and just storing the information in a flat .php file. If it's good enough for PHPBB, it's good enough for this.

You can simply specify the information exactly the way you originally suggested.

However, for reasons of safety you may only want these variables to be able to be defined from within a certain file (or files).

If you add the following code snippet to the top of the file, this will only allow the variables to be defined when the visitor is looking at a certain page;

Philip

i think it's not really dumb for save 1 variable in db,
just u need to know how to keep it effecient.

like making a table config_portal

ammonkc

Yeah, it would be more trouble to have to query you db everytime you needed that 1 variable. if it were a lot of variables and each user had different values for each variable (IE custom user prefferences) then a db would be the way to go.
I always save my db connection script variables in an include file called config.php and require() it whenever its needed.