php parse variables

[mwpclark]

Hi

I use php includes all the time, and I'm looking for a way to do something that **may** not be possible.

Often I include a file using the server path:

include ('path/file.php');

If I have identified variables in the parent script, they are passed to the included script, and the included script is treated as an add-on to the parent script.

However in other cases I need to include a url in order to pass variables to be parsed:

include ('[URL unfurl="true"]http://somedomain.com/file.php?var=x');[/URL]

I have very many of these running, and I want to speed up page loading times and minimize server load. Is there any way -- a flag, a function, a class -- to get php to parse these variables without the http call?

Thanks
Mike

 

[jpadie]

that sounds like you have an architecture issue more than a php issue. using http:// protocol essentially means that you want to grab plain text. you cannot get executable php code from including via http (without subsequently exec'ing

you might try a straightforward exec or backtick call. you would need to set the necessary variables first. in your case you would explicitly set the $_GET super global. Messy, bad programming practice, but it can be done.

but i think you could probably get the same effect from manipulating the $_GET superglobal and simply including the file as php code.

if you need to capture the output as a string then you can use output control functions, but since you are using include(http:// ... at the moment, it seems that output control is not the aim here.

 

[mwpclark]

Thanks jpadie

I found the answer -- to set variables first then include with full path -- some includes seem to work using a relative path -- but not this one.

Cheers
Mike

 

[jpadie]

that's what i said

get the same effect from manipulating the $_GET superglobal and simply including the file as php code

php does not need an absolute url but it does need to know where to find the file and a script with a relative path may not always itself be called from the same location. two ways around this: first is to set the include path in php.ini (or equivalent) and the second (which I use) is to have a file that is definitively called for every script that sets a definition equal to the path to the root of your site; then everywhere else in your code you can do

include BASE .'/path/to/script'

this makes the code very portable as you need only change one definition to make all the includes work