Remarks#

What is the config system

SilverStripe uses a global config system to store settings for classes and the application. These config variables can be used to define the structure of Models, security settings on Controllers or API keys for third party services.

How it works

Config values are populated by the SS_ConfigStaticManifest during a dev/build and cache flush (appending ?flush to any URL`) or on first ever run of the application code.

The SS_ConfigStaticManifest will scan all PHP classes and YAML config files for any config values and build a cache of these values.

When making change to Config settings via YAML or private static variables, you’ll need to flush the cache for these changes to take effect.

Setting config values

Config values can be set in three ways:

1. Via private static variables on any class within a SilverStripe project
2. Via yaml config files (stored in module-folder/_config/[file].yml)
3. Via PHP at run time (Config::inst()->update('Director', 'environment_type', 'dev')

Generally it’s best to set config values via the first 2 methods as these are statically cached when flushing the cache.

Setting with private statics

class MyDataObject extends DataObject {

    private static $db = array(
        'Title' => 'Varchar',
    );

}

All private static class variables in a SilverStripe project’s code (including modules, but not packages in the vendor/ directory) will be loaded into the Config.

Setting with YAML

You can add this to mysite/_config/config.yml (or any other YAML file in that path).

Director:
  environment_type: dev

Using YAML files is a great way to override default Config values for core classes or modules

Setting at runtime

This would typically be done in mysite/_config.php

Config::inst()->update('Director', 'environment_type', 'dev');

Updating the Config in PHP should be avoided where possible as it’s slower than using the cached values