note 31804 added to function.include

How to minimize use of absolute filepaths in include() statements across your website, and make your coding life simpler: Using absolute paths to include() files such as custom function libraries is problematic because it relies on a fixed directory structure that must never change - if you reorganize your code or change the name of an include file, you'll have to go back through your code and update every effected include(). That's a huge waste of time and a big hassle. Here's a way to get around that. First, in the root directory of your website, create a file called includes.php. As the name implies, this file will make use of define() to centralize all the absolute filenames that would otherwise be strung throughout your code. The benefit is that if you restructure your code (i.e. rename or move an include file), you only need to edit this one file to make the change propogate site-wide. Here's a simplified example: [includes.php] /*** begin includes.php ***/ // defines define ("ROOT", "/www/path_to/your_website_dir/"); // filesystem path to root directory define ("URL_ROOT", "http://www.mydomain.com/"); // absolute URL to website // my custom function libraries define("DATABASE_H", ROOT."db_control.php"); // database control functions define("MESSAGE_H", ROOT."message.php"); // system/error message functions define("SESSION_H", ROOT."session.php"); // sets session information to be used in other functions define("SYSTEM_CONFIG_H", ROOT."system_config.php"); // system configuration functions define("USER_H", ROOT."user.php"); // general user information functions // commonly used page definitions define ("PAGE_ADMIN", URL_ROOT."admin/admin.php"); // admin page define ("PAGE_LOGIN", URL_ROOT."login.php"); // login page define ("PAGE_USER", URL_ROOT."myaccount/manage.php"); // user account home page define ("PAGE_LOGOUT", URL_ROOT."logout.php"); // logout page /*** end includes.php ***/ In the above code, I use define() to create new constants called ROOT, DATABASE_H, MESSAGE_H, SESSION_H and so on. Those constants are what I will use throughout my website when I need to include() other files - see example.php below. You'll note that some constants are for my custom function libraries, and some are for commonly used pages, such as the login and logout pages (PAGE_LOGIN, PAGE_LOGOUT, etc.). Note that some constants reference files in different subdirectories. Also note that some defines rely on ROOT and others on URL_ROOT; that's because those that rely on ROOT are all custom libraries that the filesystem needs to find, and those that use URL_ROOT are page definitions that rely on a fully qualified domain name that the webserver needs to find. The following example can be located anywhere within your website's directory structure, and because we've defined the paths elsewhere, you no longer have to bother with absolute paths in your code - just use the constants you defined in includes.php: [example.php] /*** begin example.php ***/ <? // Include includes.php so all our new defines() can be found include $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']."/includes.php"; // include paths // Include the custom library functions we need to use. // In some instances, using require_once() might be better. YMMV. include DATABASE_H; // database control functions include SESSION_H; // session functions include USER_H; // general user information functions // go to a specific, commonly used page in the site header("Location: ". PAGE_USER); /*** end example.php ***/ This method does require that you NEVER rename or move includes.php, but it is very transportable and a big time saver. Hope this helps simplify your coding life a bit! :) ?> -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.include.php http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=edit+31804 http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+31804 http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=reject+31804