Zend\Config\Writer

Zend\Config\Writer gives you the ability to write config files out of array, Zend\Config\Config and any Traversable object. The Zend\Config\Writer is an interface that defines two methods: toFile() and toString(). We have five specific writers that implement this interface:

• Zend\Config\Writer\Ini
• Zend\Config\Writer\Xml
• Zend\Config\Writer\PhpArray
• Zend\Config\Writer\Json
• Zend\Config\Writer\Yaml

Zend\Config\Writer\Ini

The INI writer has two modes for rendering with regard to sections. By default the top-level configuration is always written into section names. By calling $writer->setRenderWithoutSectionsFlags(true); all options are written into the global namespace of the INI file and no sections are applied.

As an addition Zend\Config\Writer\Ini has an additional option parameter nestSeparator, which defines with which character the single nodes are separated. The default is a single dot, like it is accepted by Zend\Config\Reader\Ini by default.

When modifying or creating a Zend\Config\Config object, there are some things to know. To create or modify a value, you simply say set the parameter of the Config object via the parameter accessor (->). To create a section in the root or to create a branch, you just create a new array (“$config->branch = array();”).

Using Zend\Config\Writer\Ini

This example illustrates the basic use of Zend\Config\Writer\Ini to create a new config file:

// Create the config object
$config = new Zend\Config\Config(array(), true);
$config->production = array();

$config->production->webhost = 'www.example.com';
$config->production->database = array();
$config->production->database->params = array();
$config->production->database->params->host = 'localhost';
$config->production->database->params->username = 'production';
$config->production->database->params->password = 'secret';
$config->production->database->params->dbname = 'dbproduction';

$writer = new Zend\Config\Writer\Ini();
echo $writer->toString($config);

The result of this code is an INI string contains the following values:

[production]
webhost = "www.example.com"
database.params.host = "localhost"
database.params.username = "production"
database.params.password = "secret"
database.params.dbname = "dbproduction"

You can use the method toFile() to store the INI data in a file.

Zend\Config\Writer\Xml

The Zend\Config\Writer\Xml can be used to generate an XML string or file starting from a Zend\Config\Config object.

Using Zend\Config\Writer\Xml

This example illustrates the basic use of Zend\Config\Writer\Xml to create a new config file:

// Create the config object
$config = new Zend\Config\Config(array(), true);
$config->production = array();

$config->production->webhost = 'www.example.com';
$config->production->database = array();
$config->production->database->params = array();
$config->production->database->params->host = 'localhost';
$config->production->database->params->username = 'production';
$config->production->database->params->password = 'secret';
$config->production->database->params->dbname = 'dbproduction';

$writer = new Zend\Config\Writer\Xml();
echo $writer->toString($config);

The result of this code is an XML string contains the following data:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<zend-config>
    <production>
        <webhost>www.example.com</webhost>
        <database>
            <params>
                <host>localhost</host>
                <username>production</username>
                <password>secret</password>
                <dbname>dbproduction</dbname>
            </params>
        </database>
    </production>
</zend-config>

You can use the method toFile() to store the XML data in a file.

Zend\Config\Writer\PhpArray

The Zend\Config\Writer\PhpArray can be used to generate a PHP code that returns an array representation of an Zend\Config\Config object.

Using Zend\Config\Writer\PhpArray

This example illustrates the basic use of Zend\Config\Writer\PhpArray to create a new config file:

// Create the config object
$config = new Zend\Config\Config(array(), true);
$config->production = array();

$config->production->webhost = 'www.example.com';
$config->production->database = array();
$config->production->database->params = array();
$config->production->database->params->host = 'localhost';
$config->production->database->params->username = 'production';
$config->production->database->params->password = 'secret';
$config->production->database->params->dbname = 'dbproduction';

$writer = new Zend\Config\Writer\PhpArray();
echo $writer->toString($config);

The result of this code is a PHP script that returns an array as follow:

<?php
return array (
  'production' =>
  array (
    'webhost' => 'www.example.com',
    'database' =>
    array (
      'params' =>
      array (
        'host' => 'localhost',
        'username' => 'production',
        'password' => 'secret',
        'dbname' => 'dbproduction',
      ),
    ),
  ),
);

You can use the method toFile() to store the PHP script in a file.

Zend\Config\Writer\Json

The Zend\Config\Writer\Json can be used to generate a PHP code that returns the JSON representation of a Zend\Config\Config object.

Using Zend\Config\Writer\Json

This example illustrates the basic use of Zend\Config\Writer\Json to create a new config file:

// Create the config object
$config = new Zend\Config\Config(array(), true);
$config->production = array();

$config->production->webhost = 'www.example.com';
$config->production->database = array();
$config->production->database->params = array();
$config->production->database->params->host = 'localhost';
$config->production->database->params->username = 'production';
$config->production->database->params->password = 'secret';
$config->production->database->params->dbname = 'dbproduction';

$writer = new Zend\Config\Writer\Json();
echo $writer->toString($config);

The result of this code is a JSON string contains the following values:

{ "webhost"  : "www.example.com",
  "database" : {
    "params"  : {
      "host"     : "localhost",
      "username" : "production",
      "password" : "secret",
      "dbname"   : "dbproduction"
    }
  }
}

You can use the method toFile() to store the JSON data in a file.

The Zend\Config\Writer\Json class uses the Zend\Json\Json component to convert the data in a JSON format.

Zend\Config\Writer\Yaml

The Zend\Config\Writer\Yaml can be used to generate a PHP code that returns the YAML representation of a Zend\Config\Config object. In order to use the YAML writer we need to pass a callback to an external PHP library or use the Yaml PECL extension.

Using Zend\Config\Writer\Yaml

This example illustrates the basic use of Zend\Config\Writer\Yaml to create a new config file using the Yaml PECL extension:

// Create the config object
$config = new Zend\Config\Config(array(), true);
$config->production = array();

$config->production->webhost = 'www.example.com';
$config->production->database = array();
$config->production->database->params = array();
$config->production->database->params->host = 'localhost';
$config->production->database->params->username = 'production';
$config->production->database->params->password = 'secret';
$config->production->database->params->dbname = 'dbproduction';

$writer = new Zend\Config\Writer\Yaml();
echo $writer->toString($config);

The result of this code is a YAML string contains the following values:

webhost: www.example.com
database:
    params:
      host:     localhost
      username: production
      password: secret
      dbname:   dbproduction

You can use the method toFile() to store the YAML data in a file.

If you want to use an external YAML writer library you have to pass the callback function in the constructor of the class. For instance, if you want to use the Spyc library:

// include the Spyc library
require_once ('path/to/spyc.php');

$writer = new Zend\Config\Writer\Yaml(array('Spyc','YAMLDump'));
echo $writer->toString($config);