Absolute URL's in PHP Includes?

[Asia_Expat]

I have two related questions.

1) I use common includes ( <?php require("divleft.html");?> ) but I want to create one that I can change site wide instead of on a directory basis but when I try to make one with the full path, I get errors. How can I do this?

2) On each page, I have a PHP module that adds a PHP generates RSS feed to each page. I want to include the code to invoke this in a PHP include... will having a PHP generated feed within a PHP include, like the one above, cause any problems?... here is what I want to add to the include...

<?php
require_once '/homepages/24/d143989976/htdocs/mydirectory/carp/carp.php';
CarpConf('iorder','link,');
CarpConf('bi','# ');
CarpConf('maxitems',10);
CarpConf('poweredby','<br /><i>Powered by <a href="h##p://www.examplecom">www.example.com</a></i>');
CarpCacheShow('h##p://www.example.com/forum/index.php?act=rssout&id=5');
?>

Thanks for your help and advice.

[edited by: Asia_Expat at 9:26 pm (utc) on April 27, 2007]

[edited by: dreamcatcher at 8:41 am (utc) on April 28, 2007]
[edit reason] Use example.com, thanks. [/edit]

[Asia_Expat]

Regarding my first question, I got it to work by using the full path like this...

<?php require("/homepages/24/d1234567/htdocs/mydirectory/centre-content.php");?>

... but if I moved servers, it would be a nightmare to update every page for the new path... how would I get around this?

[thecoalman]

I'm pretty new to PHP myself but I've been using:

include($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/somepublicdirectory/somefile.php');

Works on my local machine and the server.

[Asia_Expat]

I'm not sure that would work. I need to include files from various locations on the domain from various folders, some in the root directory (called on pages in deeper folders) and vice cersa.

[g1smd]

In the server configuration you can usually set the default path for the base "include" folder.

[Asia_Expat]

I figured it out... it works perfectly as described above... now for a few days of copying and pasting into every page :( ... (teaches you to get it right the first time I guess).

I also changed from 'require' to 'include'... can anyone explain to me the advantage of using 'require' and the fact that it produces a fatal error? Why would you want that?

Also, any comments on my second question in the OP?

[edited by: Asia_Expat at 2:32 am (utc) on April 29, 2007]

[eelixduppy]

As with your second question, I do not think that it will cause any troubles for you.

>> can anyone explain to me the advantage of using 'require' and the fact that it produces a fatal error?

As you have mentioned, require produces a fatal error if there is a problem. This is useful is you don't want to continue the execution of the following script if the file was not included correctly. In the case of

include

, if the file wasn't successfully included a warning will be thrown, however the rest of the script will still execute.

[Tastatura]

require() and include() are identical in every way except how they handle failure. They both produce a Warning, but require() results in a Fatal Error. In other words, don't hesitate to use require() if you want a missing file to halt processing of the page. include() does not behave this way, the script will continue regardless. Be sure to have an appropriate include_path setting as well.

from php.net/require [php.net]

[Asia_Expat]

Yes, I read that but I still don't understand WHY you would want the processing of the page to stop.

[edited by: Asia_Expat at 2:53 am (utc) on April 29, 2007]

[eelixduppy]

Well, what would happen if the rest of the script required (hence the name :)) that include for it to work properly? Then you would get unexpected results and many errors. It would be much better to stop the execution before anything like that ever happens.

[Asia_Expat]

Hmmm... seems obvious when explained properly.

So, about my second question... Can I have includes within and include?... and can I safely call other PHP scripts/modules with this method, such as the carp rss feed output I described above?

[edited by: Asia_Expat at 3:13 am (utc) on April 29, 2007]

[willybfriendly]

Can I have includes within and include?

Yes.

I usually include and "include" file. That allows me to update all of my includes in one place.

<?php
/* includes.php lists all files needed for script (A misnomer, since this file is "required" */

require_once("config.php");
require_once("vars.php");
require_once("db-functions.php");
require_once("display-functions.php");

?>

etc.

By doing this I know that all the required scripts have been loaded up, and if they are not, everything comes to a screaching halt.

WBF

[cameraman]

It's also usually a good idea to use include_once or require_once as wbf just did, instead of include or require - that way if, in that example, vars.php included db-functions inside it, the second inclusion of db-functions won't cause any duplicate function errors or re-execution of common code that might not be desired.