Hi, I'm working through fixing up a bit of SSL code and have encountered a difficulty. The PHP manual[1] says that unused parameters "may be given as NULL". In my testing, setting them = ''; works fine, but of course we want to do what PHP expects. In config.inc.php, we don't have any values that default to NULL, and I think it may confuse users in this case. I'd much prefer to leave them set = ''; in config.inc.php for consistency and to make it easy for users to plug in their own values.
What I am thinking of is in libraries/config.default.php to set the parameters to NULL, then if the user decides to overwrite it in config.inc.php there is no problem. In that case, I'm not sure I'd write the end-user documentation as if the default was = ''; or NULL.
If my question has made sense, what do you think?
Le 2013-08-16 08:07, Isaac Bennetch a écrit :
Hi, I'm working through fixing up a bit of SSL code and have encountered a difficulty. The PHP manual[1] says that unused parameters "may be given as NULL". In my testing, setting them = ''; works fine, but of course we want to do what PHP expects. In config.inc.php, we don't have any values that default to NULL, and I think it may confuse users in this case. I'd much prefer to leave them set = ''; in config.inc.php for consistency and to make it easy for users to plug in their own values.
Hi Isaac, what do you mean, in config.inc.php? We do not offer this file in the download kit. Do you mean the generated config.inc.php via setup? or the sample config file?
What I am thinking of is in libraries/config.default.php to set the parameters to NULL, then if the user decides to overwrite it in config.inc.php there is no problem. In that case, I'm not sure I'd write the end-user documentation as if the default was = ''; or NULL.
Indeed we should do what PHP expects and use NULL; and I suggest that the user doc tell the truth (config.default.php contains NULL). The doc should give a clear example when a value other than NULL needs to be used.
If my question has made sense, what do you think?
On 8/17/13 10:01 AM, Marc Delisle wrote:
Le 2013-08-16 08:07, Isaac Bennetch a écrit :
Hi, I'm working through fixing up a bit of SSL code and have encountered a difficulty. The PHP manual[1] says that unused parameters "may be given as NULL". In my testing, setting them = ''; works fine, but of course we want to do what PHP expects. In config.inc.php, we don't have any values that default to NULL, and I think it may confuse users in this case. I'd much prefer to leave them set = ''; in config.inc.php for consistency and to make it easy for users to plug in their own values.
Hi Isaac, what do you mean, in config.inc.php? We do not offer this file in the download kit. Do you mean the generated config.inc.php via setup? or the sample config file?
Yes, in libraries/config.default.php, although technically I was more concerned about what the user sees and does in their own config.inc.php which is how I introduced the confusion. But you say below (and I agree) that we should document the truth so where I said config.inc.php just pretend I said libraries/config.default.php.
What I am thinking of is in libraries/config.default.php to set the parameters to NULL, then if the user decides to overwrite it in config.inc.php there is no problem. In that case, I'm not sure I'd write the end-user documentation as if the default was = ''; or NULL.
Indeed we should do what PHP expects and use NULL; and I suggest that the user doc tell the truth (config.default.php contains NULL). The doc should give a clear example when a value other than NULL needs to be used.
Thanks for the help. I've opened a pull request[2] about this; it works on my ssl server so the only real question is whether the documentation is sufficient.
If my question has made sense, what do you think?
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Isaac Bennetch -
Marc Delisle