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Configurations

Configurations are widely used in Yii when creating new objects or initializing existing objects. Configurations usually include the class name of the object being created, and a list of initial values that should be assigned to the object's properties. Configurations may also include a list of handlers that should be attached to the object's events and/or a list of behaviors that should also be attached to the object.

In the following, a configuration is used to create and initialize a database connection:

$config = [
    'class' => 'yii\db\Connection',
    'dsn' => 'mysql:host=127.0.0.1;dbname=demo',
    'username' => 'root',
    'password' => '',
    'charset' => 'utf8',
];

$db = Yii::createObject($config);

The Yii::createObject() method takes a configuration array as its argument, and creates an object by instantiating the class named in the configuration. When the object is instantiated, the rest of the configuration will be used to initialize the object's properties, event handlers, and behaviors.

If you already have an object, you may use Yii::configure() to initialize the object's properties with a configuration array:

Yii::configure($object, $config);

Note that, in this case, the configuration array should not contain a class element.

Configuration Format

The format of a configuration can be formally described as:

[
    'class' => 'ClassName',
    'propertyName' => 'propertyValue',
    'on eventName' => $eventHandler,
    'as behaviorName' => $behaviorConfig,
]

where

  • The class element specifies a fully qualified class name for the object being created.
  • The propertyName elements specify the initial values for the named property. The keys are the property names, and the values are the corresponding initial values. Only public member variables and properties defined by getters/setters can be configured.
  • The on eventName elements specify what handlers should be attached to the object's events. Notice that the array keys are formed by prefixing event names with on . Please refer to the Events section for supported event handler formats.
  • The as behaviorName elements specify what behaviors should be attached to the object. Notice that the array keys are formed by prefixing behavior names with as ; the value, $behaviorConfig, represents the configuration for creating a behavior, like a normal configuration described here.

Below is an example showing a configuration with initial property values, event handlers, and behaviors:

[
    'class' => 'app\components\SearchEngine',
    'apiKey' => 'xxxxxxxx',
    'on search' => function ($event) {
        Yii::info("Keyword searched: " . $event->keyword);
    },
    'as indexer' => [
        'class' => 'app\components\IndexerBehavior',
        // ... property init values ...
    ],
]

Using Configurations

Configurations are used in many places in Yii. At the beginning of this section, we have shown how to create an object according to a configuration by using Yii::createObject(). In this subsection, we will describe application configurations and widget configurations - two major usages of configurations.

Application Configurations

The configuration for an application is probably one of the most complex arrays in Yii. This is because the application class has a lot of configurable properties and events. More importantly, its components property can receive an array of configurations for creating components that are registered through the application. The following is an abstract from the application configuration file for the Basic Project Template.

$config = [
    'id' => 'basic',
    'basePath' => dirname(__DIR__),
    'extensions' => require __DIR__ . '/../vendor/yiisoft/extensions.php',
    'components' => [
        'cache' => [
            'class' => 'yii\caching\FileCache',
        ],
        'mailer' => [
            'class' => 'yii\swiftmailer\Mailer',
        ],
        'log' => [
            'class' => 'yii\log\Dispatcher',
            'traceLevel' => YII_DEBUG ? 3 : 0,
            'targets' => [
                [
                    'class' => 'yii\log\FileTarget',
                ],
            ],
        ],
        'db' => [
            'class' => 'yii\db\Connection',
            'dsn' => 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=stay2',
            'username' => 'root',
            'password' => '',
            'charset' => 'utf8',
        ],
    ],
];

The configuration does not have a class key. This is because it is used as follows in an entry script, where the class name is already given,

(new yii\web\Application($config))->run();

More details about configuring the components property of an application can be found in the Applications section and the Service Locator section.

Since version 2.0.11, the application configuration supports Dependency Injection Container configuration using container property. For example:

$config = [
    'id' => 'basic',
    'basePath' => dirname(__DIR__),
    'extensions' => require __DIR__ . '/../vendor/yiisoft/extensions.php',
    'container' => [
        'definitions' => [
            'yii\widgets\LinkPager' => ['maxButtonCount' => 5]
        ],
        'singletons' => [
            // Dependency Injection Container singletons configuration
        ]
    ]
];

To know more about the possible values of definitions and singletons configuration arrays and real-life examples, please read Advanced Practical Usage subsection of the Dependency Injection Container article.

Widget Configurations

When using widgets, you often need to use configurations to customize the widget properties. Both of the yii\base\Widget::widget() and yii\base\Widget::begin() methods can be used to create a widget. They take a configuration array, like the following,

use yii\widgets\Menu;

echo Menu::widget([
    'activateItems' => false,
    'items' => [
        ['label' => 'Home', 'url' => ['site/index']],
        ['label' => 'Products', 'url' => ['product/index']],
        ['label' => 'Login', 'url' => ['site/login'], 'visible' => Yii::$app->user->isGuest],
    ],
]);

The above code creates a Menu widget and initializes its activateItems property to be false. The items property is also configured with menu items to be displayed.

Note that because the class name is already given, the configuration array should NOT have the class key.

Configuration Files

When a configuration is very complex, a common practice is to store it in one or multiple PHP files, known as configuration files. A configuration file returns a PHP array representing the configuration. For example, you may keep an application configuration in a file named web.php, like the following,

return [
    'id' => 'basic',
    'basePath' => dirname(__DIR__),
    'extensions' => require __DIR__ . '/../vendor/yiisoft/extensions.php',
    'components' => require __DIR__ . '/components.php',
];

Because the components configuration is complex too, you store it in a separate file called components.php and "require" this file in web.php as shown above. The content of components.php is as follows,

return [
    'cache' => [
        'class' => 'yii\caching\FileCache',
    ],
    'mailer' => [
        'class' => 'yii\swiftmailer\Mailer',
    ],
    'log' => [
        'class' => 'yii\log\Dispatcher',
        'traceLevel' => YII_DEBUG ? 3 : 0,
        'targets' => [
            [
                'class' => 'yii\log\FileTarget',
            ],
        ],
    ],
    'db' => [
        'class' => 'yii\db\Connection',
        'dsn' => 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=stay2',
        'username' => 'root',
        'password' => '',
        'charset' => 'utf8',
    ],
];

To get a configuration stored in a configuration file, simply "require" it, like the following:

$config = require 'path/to/web.php';
(new yii\web\Application($config))->run();

Default Configurations

The Yii::createObject() method is implemented based on a dependency injection container. It allows you to specify a set of the so-called default configurations which will be applied to ALL instances of the specified classes when they are being created using Yii::createObject(). The default configurations can be specified by calling Yii::$container->set() in the bootstrapping code.

For example, if you want to customize yii\widgets\LinkPager so that ALL link pagers will show at most 5 page buttons (the default value is 10), you may use the following code to achieve this goal:

\Yii::$container->set('yii\widgets\LinkPager', [
    'maxButtonCount' => 5,
]);

Without using default configurations, you would have to configure maxButtonCount in every place where you use link pagers.

Environment Constants

Configurations often vary according to the environment in which an application runs. For example, in development environment, you may want to use a database named mydb_dev, while on production server you may want to use the mydb_prod database. To facilitate switching environments, Yii provides a constant named YII_ENV that you may define in the entry script of your application. For example,

defined('YII_ENV') or define('YII_ENV', 'dev');

You may define YII_ENV as one of the following values:

  • prod: production environment. The constant YII_ENV_PROD will evaluate as true. This is the default value of YII_ENV if you do not define it.
  • dev: development environment. The constant YII_ENV_DEV will evaluate as true.
  • test: testing environment. The constant YII_ENV_TEST will evaluate as true.

With these environment constants, you may specify your configurations conditionally based on the current environment. For example, your application configuration may contain the following code to enable the debug toolbar and debugger in development environment.

$config = [...];

if (YII_ENV_DEV) {
    // configuration adjustments for 'dev' environment
    $config['bootstrap'][] = 'debug';
    $config['modules']['debug'] = 'yii\debug\Module';
}

return $config;
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