Re: How do YOU set default function/method params?

Jim Lucas wrote:

Here is a problem that I have had for years now. I have been trying to come up with the perfect solution for this problem. But, I have come down to two different methods for solving it. Here is the problem... <?php function sendEmail(

    $to,
    $from,
    $subject,
    $body,
    $attachments=array(),
    $headers=array()
    ) { # I typically do not put each argument on seperate lines, but I ran
        #out of width in this email...

    # do something here...
    mail(...);

} sendEmail('john@doe.com',

    'marykate@uhhh.net',
    'Hi!',
    'Check out my new pictures!!!',
    $hash_array_of_pictures
    );

Now, we all have a function or method like this floating around somewhere. My question is, how do YOU go about setting the required entries of the $headers array() ? I see three possible solutions. I want to see a clean and simple solution. Here are my ideas so far: function sendEmail(

    $to,
    $from,
    $subject,
    $body,
    $attachments=array(),
    $headers=array()
    ) { # I typically do not put each argument on seperate lines, but I ran
        #out of width in this email...

    if ( empty($headers['Date']) ) {
        $headers['Date'] = date('c');
    }
    if ( empty($headers['Message-ID']) ) {
        $headers['Date'] = md5($to.$subject);
    }
    # and the example goes on...

    # do something here...
    mail(...);

} Or, another example. (I will keep it to the guts of the solution now)

    $headers['Date']       = empty($headers['Date']) ?
                             date('c') : $headers['Date'];
    $headers['Message-ID'] = empty($headers['Message-ID']) ?
                             md5($to.$subject) : $headers['Message-ID'];

OR, yet another example... $defaults = array(

    'Date'       => date('c'),
    'Message-ID' => md5($to.$subject),

); $headers += $defaults; END of examples... Now, IMO, the last one is the simplest one and for me, I think it will be the new way that I solve this type of problem. But, my question that I put out to all of you is... How would you solve this problem? TIA Jim Lucas

To me the key word in your question is "default". Here is a send mail example of how I do it. You'll see that I assign default stuff in the function. The all caps are constants set in my config file. For extremely high volume applications, one could memory cache the defaults. I also use arrays assigned in my config file and then assign the array in the function using "global". When I do this, I immediately reassign the array so the function can't change the the assignments made in the config. e.g., function foo() global booArray(); boo2Array= booArray(); Only use boo2Array() in the function. function pearEmailSend($recipient, $emailSubj, $emailText, $applicEmailAddr) {

    $emailTo = $recipient;
    $headers['From'] = $applicEmailAddr;
    $headers['To'] = $emailTo;
    if(!empty($emailCC)) $headers['Cc'] = $emailCC;
    $headers['Return-Path'] = $applicEmailAddr; //or can use SMTP_USER; bounces are sent to applic address
    $headers['Reply-To'] = $applicEmailAddr;
    $headers['X-miniReg'] = APPLIC_NAME;
    $headers['Date'] = date('r');
    $headers['Subject'] = $emailSubj;
    $params['debug'] = EMAIL_DEBUG; //Careful, do not leave on, creates a nasty message for admins
    $params['host'] = $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'];
    $params['auth'] = true; //binary, set in config; some servers require auth
    $params["username"] = $applicEmailAddr; //was SMTP_USER; //If auth true, must have value
    $params["password"] = SMTP_PW; //If auth true, must have value
    $params["localhost"] = $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'];
    $params['persist'] = true; //Default true
    $mail_object = @Mail::factory(EMAIL_MODE, $params);