How do I access custom config.php variables in a plugin?

Question

I'm writing a plugin for which I'd like to be able to set site-wide preferences via custom variables in config.php (eg $['myplugin_config_item']), and have those variables available in all my plugins methods, eg:

...
class Myplugin {

  public $return_data;

  function Method(){
    //how do I access $['myplugin_config_item'] here?

  }
  function Method2(){
    //and if I want to access $['myplugin_config_item'] here too, what's the most efficient way to do so?
  }

}
...

What's the cleanest/neatest way to do this?

Answer 1

If you need to access a variable repeatedly then you should generally place it within a constructor method and assign it as a class property, rather than continuously checking config values. This approach also gives you the opportunity to set a default value which you can use class-wide if the config item is not found.

<?php
class Myplugin {

    var $return_data;
    var $my_setting;

    function __construct()
    {
        $this->EE =& get_instance();

        if($this->EE->config->item('my_setting') !== false)
        {
            $this->my_setting = $this->EE->config->item('my_setting');
        }
        else
        {
            $this->my_setting = "Default value if config value doesn't exist.";
        }
    }

    function one()
    {
        echo $this->my_setting;
    }

    function two()
    {
        echo $this->my_setting;
    }

}

Answer 2

Since ExpressionEngine is based on Codeigniter, you can use the CI Config class to fetch config items.

http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/libraries/config.html

class Myplugin {

    public $return_data;

    function Method()
    {
        $this->EE =& get_instance();

        $item = $this->EE->config->item('myplugin_config_item');
    }

    function Method2()
    {
        $item = $this->EE->config->item('myplugin_config_item');
    }

}