Pogwatch

Using config files

As well as setting Ditto parameters in the snippet call, you can include a set of parameters in an external PHP file. The file is stored in Ditto's configs folder using a name such as my_setup.config.php, and is included by a parameter like this: &config=`my_setup`.

Config files can make editing easier and less error-prone for large sets of parameters, and provide an opportunity for some pre-processing of the data -- the config file becomes an active part of your script. For instance, if the Request extender is overpowered for the simple job of retrieving a parameter from the URL query string, simply include a line of code in a config file:

http://www.example.com/myPage.html?param_name=62

in config file: $param = $_GET['param_name'];

Every &parameter=`value` pair in a Ditto call has an equivalent $parameter=value statement in the PHP config file. Care is needed with some kinds of parameter that the snippet call would normally transform into an array, possibly a complex one. For instance, the config file equivalent of &orderBy=`pkDate ASC` is

$orderBy = array('parsed'=>array(),'custom'=>array(),
'unparsed'=>'pkDate ASC');

(I don't claim to know how that works - I just lifted it from the snippet call and substituted my values for $orderBy on the right) (View the config file)

Click to sort in ascending or descending order of date

Articles

• A very basic call
• Selection by parent folder
• Displaying dates
• Sort order
• Template chunks
• Positional templates
• Limiting output
• Selecting further by properties
• Pagination
• Filtering
• Ditto and PHx
• Templates in files
• Using config files
• Extenders
  • Summary
  • Tagging
  • Request
  • DateFilter
• Debug
• Parameters Reference
• Links to other resources
• Coming up