Namespace issues

At the moment, I am testing XML/Transformer.php by implementing a few classes that make use of it. As a typical problem I tried to duplicate the functionality described in http://docs.roxen.com/roxen/2.2/creator/text/foldlist.tag This system of tags implements a foldable <dl/> called foldlist <fl/>. A <fl/> is is written <fl> <ft>Head 1</ft> <fd>Data 1</fd> <ft>Head 2</ft> <fd>Data 2</fd> </fl> and is rendered [+] Head1 [+] Head2 The [+] are clickable and expand to [-] Head 1 Data 1 [+] Head 2 In writing such code, I encountered several problems which need a PEAR global solution, since they are namespace issues that will arise again in all classes that have similar requirements. The issues are 1. Use of the URL namespace of the webserver 2. Use of the GPC namespace 3. Use of sessions (enabling them) 4. Use of sessions and GLOBALS namespace Please read on: 1. Image namespace issues/URL namespace issues The foldlist requires the use of two URLs for images, the folded and unfolded arrows, denoted [+] and [-] in my ASCII representation. At the moment, I store them as /internal-pear/foldlist/folded.gif and /internal-pear/foldlist/unfolded.gif. That is, as a PEAR global rule, "For the admin/application developer: PEAR reserves the right to use the /internal-pear branch in your webservers URL namespace tree. Your application must not use URLs starting with /internal-pear for its own purposes. For PEAR developers: Any PEAR class that needs URLs may use names below the /internal-pear/<classname>/ branch in a webservers URL namespace tree." What are your opinions on this? 2. GET/POST/COOKIE (GPC) namespace issues The foldlist requires self-submitting URLs with GET parameters to activate state changes from folded to unfolded and back. These parameters names must not clash with application used variable names. At the moment, I use internal_pear_foldlist[]. That is, as a PEAR global rule, "For the admin/application developer: PEAR reserves the right to use GPC variable names starting with internal_pear on any page. Your application must not use GPC variables starting with internal_pear. For PEAR developers: Any PEAR class that needs GPC parameters may use names starting with internal_pear_<classname> in the GPC namespace. Again, your opinions on this? 3. Session storage and session use The foldlist needs to store state, and I want to use sessions to do so. I do not want to interfere with session management of the application, and I want to thread lightly on the need to include class code on every page, which would be necessary when an object becomes part of the session. What is the current way of the PHP session handler regarding the storage of objects in a session? That is, a) what happens when an object is part of the session and the class include for that object has not been loaded on all pages? Does the object keep its class and methods on the following pages? b) when does the class of an object has to be included for such objects are part of the session, i.e. what happens when a class include is being loaded after the session_start() call? When does a class have to be included when the session is auto started in php.ini? Does one have to include the class code in auto_prepend_file in such cases? On a PEAR global scale: When a PEAR class needs sessions, what kind of code is required to check that sessions are not already started, and if not, to start the session? Should PEAR classes start sessions themselves or should the session management configuration be left to the PEAR class user (administrator/developer) and only be noted as a requirement? Should PEAR classes store their objects as part of the session or should they store a classless hash as part of the session and use that hash instead of their object-internal data, in order to keep the size of the session small and in order to save code includes which must be part of each and every page? What is, in your opinion, the correct way to handle this? 4. Namespace in Sessions and in GLOBALS How do we handle namespace issues in sessions? When a PEAR class wants to use variables that have to become of the session, or of the global namespace, what names do we reserve here? Again, I propose internal_pear_<classname> for use by PEAR. What are your opinions on this? Kristian -- http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/wishlist/18E5SVQ5HJZXG