Thanks to Miles for setting me straight on the constant requirement.
I've followed this lead as far as I can take it and here is what I
think I've learned.
1. In the context of database.php it is not possible to define
constants from the $_SERVER superglobal for non-standard elements,
namely, those which I have defined with SetEnv statements. When I
reference elements such as NCGE_NEW_DB_HOST, CakePHP gives index out
of range messages.
2. As an alternative I tried using a getenv function such as:
define( 'HOST', getenv('NCGE_NEW_DB_HOST') );
This does not generate errors. It just returns an empty string for
the constant.
3. When I tested all this in separate scripts, it works fine, so I've
come to the conclusion that, in ways that I don't have the knowledge/
skill to unravel, the environment in which database.php runs is
designed specifically to prevent what I'm trying to do.
The general presumption must be that putting cleartext dbConnect
strings into database.php is the secure and best practice approach.
Any clarification on why this is so would be appreciated, as I've not
been able to find any explanation. Thanks again.
On Jan 25, 12:53 pm, Miles J <mileswjohn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Because you cant use variables or functions within class properties.
> You can only use constants.
>
> define('HOST', $_SERVER['NCGE_NEW_DB_HOST']);
>
> 'host' => HOST,
>
> On Jan 25, 6:25 am, bj204 <bobj...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Okay, let me be more specific in hopes of a response.
>
> > My database.php file contains the following class statement:
>
> > class DATABASE_CONFIG {
>
> > var $default = array(
> > 'driver' => 'mysql',
> > 'persistent' => false,
> > 'host' => $_SERVER['NCGE_NEW_DB_HOST'],
> > 'login' => 'xxxxxxx',
> > 'password' => 'xxxxxxxxxx',
> > 'database' => 'xxxxxxx',
> > 'prefix' => '',
> > );
>
> > var $test = array(
> > 'driver' => 'mysql',
> > 'persistent' => false,
> > 'host' => 'localhost',
> > 'login' => 'user',
> > 'password' => 'password',
> > 'database' => 'test_database_name',
> > 'prefix' => '',
> > );
>
> > }
>
> > Use of $_SERVER[['NCGE_NEW_DB_HOST'], which is set to "localhost",
> > produces the error:
>
> > Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_VARIABLE in /var/www/test/soc/
> > ncge/app/config/database.php on line 84
>
> > If I define the same $default array elsewhere in a test php program
> > and display it with a print_r function, it works fine.
>
> > Why do values from the $_SERVER array fail to resolve in this context
> > or is there an obvious syntax error in what I've specified?
>
> > On Jan 23, 10:04 am, bj204 <bobj...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > When configuring database.php, is it possible to assign elements from
> > > the $_SERVER array (which I have set up to include login, password and
> > > database name values) to corresponding elements of the $default or
> > > $test arrays?
>
> > > If so, could someone please describe the syntax or other requirements
> > > for doing this properly.
>
> > > I have experimented with many different specifications, some of which
> > > work without giving syntax errors, but none so far have allowed me to
> > > connect to a database, whereas just including the actual strings works
> > > fine.
>
> > > Is doing something like this considered good database security
> > > practice in the CakePHP world, or are there other preferred ways of
> > > protecting database access information? As may be obvious, I'm very
> > > new to this environment.
>
> > > Thanks in advance.
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