$settings array or Config Class to store project settings?

Question

How should I store settings for project?

Which is better - to use a $settings array with all my settings:

$settings[\'max_photos\'] = 30;
//         


        

Answer 1

I think it is best to use constants for configuration. For example using class constants:

class Config {
    const
    max_photos     = 30,
    something_else = 100,
    // ...
    ;
}

echo Config::max_photos;

If you have PHP 5.3 you could also define them as global constants:

const MAX_PHOTOS = 30;

echo MAX_PHOTOS;

But I think this is far less clean and straightforward.

Obviously this will only work as long as you are only storing constants, i.e. scalar, non-expression values. If your configuration contains arrays for example, this won't work anymore. In this case I would use a Config class with public static properties:

class Config {
    public static $per_page = 30;
    public static $array = array(...);
}

echo Config::$per_page;

The latter is very similar to the $config array approach, but has the benefit (or may this be a drawback?) that the class is accessible from everywhere including functions and classes, whereas the array is accessible only in the global space unless you import it into functions/classes using global $config;.