Proper place to store a value for the duration of a request?

[Michael Lenaghan]

I know that in PHP everything is built up and torn down on each request — so a global variable would be a reasonable place to store a value for the duration of a request. Still: is there a better ProcessWire-specific answer? For example, maybe there's a spot to put such things that debug tools know about?

[bernhard]

$session->myVariable = "MyValue";
// or
wire()->session->myVariable = "MyValue";

It will be available for the session of the user and will only be available/editable by the server side.

[Michael Lenaghan]

Thanks, Bernhard. I know about "session scope". I was wondering if there was something similar for "request scope." (Something other than global variables, that is.)

[bernhard]

I'm not sure I understand ...

For one request you can store your variable wherever you want (and where it is allowed), for example you can set $config->foo = "Foo!" somewhere and later you can access that runtime property.

On the next request $config->foo will be null again unless you set it somewhere.

Until PHP8.2 it was possible to use $wire for that as well, eg $wire->foo = "Foo!", but since PHP8.2 setting dynamic properties is deprecated.

[Michael Lenaghan]

Yes, understood. I was thinking that if there was an official way to do it — like the deprecated example you just gave! — then tools like Tracy Debugger would know about it, and show it. But it looks like the answer to my question is "no!" Thanks, Bernhard.

[Ivan Gretsky]

Hey, @Michael Lenaghan. The setting() function might be a fit.

[Michael Lenaghan]

That is very interesting, thank you!

For others: The `setting()` function is defined here. It's just a one-line wrapper around the `wireSetting()` function, which is define here. (`wireSetting()` is a small wrapper around a static var named `$settings`.)

Here's the way `setting()` is described:

/**
 * Get or set a runtime site setting
 *
 * This is a simple helper function for maintaining runtime settings in a site profile.
 * It simply sets and gets settings that you define. It is preferable to using ProcessWire’s
 * `$config` or `config()` API var/function because it is not used to store anything else for
 * ProcessWire. It is also preferable to using a variable (or variables) because it is always
 * in scope and accessible anywhere in your template files, even within existing functions.
 * 
 * *Note: unlike other functions in the Functions API, this function is not related to API variables.* 

Perfect!