symfony custom configuration files

dynamic and cross-application configuration

If your project gets very big and it has several applications, you may want to create cross-application configuration - store it in one place and let all applications use it (no matter how big it is). Or simply if your configuration is becoming really big and you want to arrange it somehow, custom config files is exactly what you are looking for!

how to do that

That's only three easy steps. First, let's create a custom configuration YAML file (config/something.yml, in the project main directory, not the app config directory) and put some data there:

prod:
  test:  ok

dev:
  test: ko

all:
  foo:  bar
  john: doe

The second step is to create/update a config handler YAML file (config/config_handlers.yml) with following example content:

config/something.yml:
  class:    sfDefineEnvironmentConfigHandler
  param:
    prefix: something_

The last step is to register the configuration file in all applications you want (after this step, the configuration will be available for an application). Use the application configuration class (e.g. apps/frontend/config/frontendConfiguration.class.php):

public function configure()
{
  ....
  require_once($this->getConfigCache()->checkConfig('config/something.yml'));
}

Now all config options defined in the new file are available in the application with the _something prefix. The best way to check if the new file is available for the application is to run it in the dev mode in the browser and check the web debug toolbar, config icon, settings section. All configuration available for the application is displayed there. If you followed all three steps above, new file configuration should be available.

sfAdminDashPlugin trick

This plugin provides an easy-to use menu divided into sections, which is configurable in YAML files. If you want to have different menus for different applications, you just have to put all configuration in the application config (by default, it's stored in the plugin config). One way is to put all menu config in the app.yml file, but, as mentioned before, it can make the app.yml file grow to an enormous size, so a better solution is to create a menu.yml file, which is loaded by the config handler. Everything is done the same way as before:

• create apps/APP/config/menu.yml file and define sfAdminDash menu there
• create or update (if exists) the config handler file (apps/APP/config/config_handlers.yml)
• finally, update the APP configuration class (apps/APP/config/APPConfiguration.class.php) by registering new config file

I hope some of you will find this flexible configuration useful :).