Loading data from config files

Instead of assigning data to templates from PHP, you can also use a config file.

Example config file

Config files are best suited to manage template settings from one file. One example is a multi-language application. Instead of writing multiple templates to support different languages, you can write a single template file and load your language dependent strings from config files.

Example lang.en.ini:

# global variables
pageTitle = "Main Menu"

[Customer]
pageTitle = "Customer Info"

[Login]
pageTitle = "Login"
focus = "username"
Intro = """This is a value that spans more
           than one line. you must enclose
           it in triple quotes."""

Values of config file variables can be in quotes, but not necessary. You can use either single or double quotes. If you have a value that spans more than one line, enclose the entire value with triple quotes ("""). You can put comments into config files by any syntax that is not a valid config file syntax. We recommend using a # (hash) at the beginning of the line.

The example config file above has two sections. Section names are enclosed in [brackets]. Section names can be arbitrary strings not containing [ or ] symbols. The variable at the top is a global variable. Global variables are always loaded from the config file. If a particular section is loaded, then the global variables and the variables from that section are also loaded. If a variable exists both as a global and in a section, the section variable is used.

Loading a config file

Config files are loaded into templates with the built-in template function {config_load} or by calling configLoad() from PHP:

<?php
$smarty->configLoad('lang.en.ini');

Load a specific section with:

<?php
$smarty->configLoad('lang.en.ini', 'Customer');

Note that the global section will always be loaded.

Retrieving config variables in PHP

Loading from a resource

Config files (or resources) are loaded by the same resource facilities as templates. That means that a config file can also be loaded from a db. See resources for more information.

Config overwrite

If you name two variables the same within a section, the last one will be used unless you call:

<?php
$smarty->setConfigOverwrite(false);

When config overwrite is disabled, Smarty will create arrays of config file variables when it encounters multiple entries with the same name.