The factories.yml Configuration File

Factories are core objects needed by the framework during the life of any request. They are configured in the factories.yml configuration file and always accessible via the sfContext object:

// get the user factory
sfContext::getInstance()->getUser();

The main factories.yml configuration file for an application can be found in the apps/APP_NAME/config/ directory.

As discussed in the introduction, the factories.yml file is environment-aware, benefits from the configuration cascade mechanism, and can include constants.

The factories.yml configuration file contains a list of named factories:

FACTORY_1:
  # definition of factory 1
 
FACTORY_2:
  # definition of factory 2
 
# ...

The supported factory names are: controller, logger, i18n, request, response, routing, storage, user, view_cache, and view_cache_manager.

When the sfContext initializes the factories, it reads the factories.yml file for the class name of the factory (class) and the parameters (param) used to configure the factory object:

FACTORY_NAME:
  class: CLASS_NAME
  param: { ARRAY OF PARAMETERS }

Being able to customize the factories means that you can use a custom class for symfony core objects instead of the default one. You can also change the default behavior of these classes by customizing the parameters sent to them.

If the factory class cannot be autoloaded, a file path can be defined and will be automatically included before the factory is created:

FACTORY_NAME:
  class: CLASS_NAME
  file:  ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_FILE

Factories

• mailer

  • charset
  • delivery_address
  • delivery_strategy
  • spool_arguments
  • spool_class
  • transport

• request

  • formats
  • path_info_array
  • path_info_key
  • relative_url_root

• response

  • charset
  • http_protocol
  • send_http_headers

• user

  • default_culture
  • timeout
  • use_flash

• storage

  • auto_start
  • database
  • db_table
  • db_id_col
  • db_data_col
  • db_time_col
  • session_cache_limiter
  • session_cookie_domain
  • session_cookie_httponly
  • session_cookie_lifetime
  • session_cookie_path
  • session_cookie_secure
  • session_name

• view_cache_manager

  • cache_key_use_vary_headers
  • cache_key_use_host_name

• view_cache

• i18n

  • cache
  • debug
  • source
  • untranslated_prefix
  • untranslated_suffix

• routing

  • cache
  • extra_parameters_as_query_string
  • generate_shortest_url
  • lazy_routes_deserialize
  • lookup_cache_dedicated_keys
  • load_configuration
  • segment_separators
  • suffix
  • variable_prefixes

• logger

  • level
  • loggers

• controller

mailer

sfContext Accessor: $context->getMailer()

Default configuration:

mailer:
  class: sfMailer
  param:
    logging:           %SF_LOGGING_ENABLED%
    charset:           %SF_CHARSET%
    delivery_strategy: realtime
    transport:
      class: Swift_SmtpTransport
      param:
        host:       localhost
        port:       25
        encryption: ~
        username:   ~
        password:   ~

Default configuration for the test environment:

mailer:
  param:
    delivery_strategy: none

Default configuration for the dev environment:

mailer:
  param:
    delivery_strategy: none

charset

The charset option defines the charset to use for the mail messages. By default, it uses the charset setting from settings.yml.

delivery_strategy

The delivery_strategy option defines how email messages are delivered by the mailer. Four strategies are available by default, which should suit all the common needs:

• realtime: Messages are sent in realtime.

• single_address: Messages are sent to a single address.

• spool: Messages are stored in a queue.

• none: Messages are simply ignored.

delivery_address

The delivery_address option defines the recipient of all message when the delivery_strategy is set to single_address.

spool_class

The spool_class option defines the spool class to use when the delivery_strategy is set to spool:

• Swift_FileSpool: Messages are stored on the filesystem.

• Swift_DoctrineSpool: Messages are stored in a Doctrine model.

• Swift_PropelSpool: Messages are stored in a Propel model.

spool_arguments

The spool_arguments option defines the constructor arguments of the spool. Here are the options available for the built-in queues classes:

• Swift_FileSpool:

  • The absolute path of the queue directory (messages are stored in this directory)

• Swift_DoctrineSpool:

  • The Doctrine model to use to store the messages (MailMessage by default)

  • The column name to use for message storage (message by default)

  • The method to call to retrieve the messages to send (optional).

• Swift_PropelSpool:

  • The Propel model to use to store the messages (MailMessage by default)

  • The column name to use for message storage (message by default)

  • The method to call to retrieve the messages to send (optional). It receives the current Criteria as an argument.

The configuration below shows a typical configuration for a Doctrine spool:

# configuration in factories.yml
mailer:
  class: sfMailer
  param:
    delivery_strategy: spool
    spool_class:       Swift_DoctrineSpool
    spool_arguments:   [ MailMessage, message, getSpooledMessages ]

transport

The transport option defines the transport to use to actually send email messages.

The class setting can be any class that implements from Swift_Transport, and three are provided by default:

• Swift_SmtpTransport: Uses a SMTP server to send messages.

• Swift_SendmailTransport: Uses sendmail to send messages.

• Swift_MailTransport: Uses the native PHP mail() function to send messages.

• Swift_NullTransport: Disables the transport altogether (useful with the none strategy to bypass the connection to the mail server).

You can further configure the transport by setting the param setting. The "Transport Types" section of the Swift Mailer official documentation describes all you need to know about the built-in transport classes and their different parameters.

request

sfContext Accessor: $context->getRequest()

Default configuration:

request:
  class: sfWebRequest
  param:
    logging:           %SF_LOGGING_ENABLED%
    path_info_array:   SERVER
    path_info_key:     PATH_INFO
    relative_url_root: ~
    formats:
      txt:  text/plain
      js:   [application/javascript, application/x-javascript, text/javascript]
      css:  text/css
      json: [application/json, application/x-json]
      xml:  [text/xml, application/xml, application/x-xml]
      rdf:  application/rdf+xml
      atom: application/atom+xml

path_info_array

The path_info_array option defines the global PHP array that will be used to retrieve information. On some configurations you may want to change the default SERVER value to ENV.

path_info_key

The path_info_key option defines the key under which the PATH_INFO information can be found.

If you use IIS with a rewriting module like IIFR or ISAPI, you may need to change this value to HTTP_X_REWRITE_URL.

formats

The formats option defines an array of file extensions and their corresponding Content-Types. It is used by the framework to automatically manage the Content-Type of the response, based on the request URI extension.

relative_url_root

The relative_url_root option defines the part of the URL before the front controller. Most of the time, this is automatically detected by the framework and does not need to be changed.

response

sfContext Accessor: $context->getResponse()

Default configuration:

response:
  class: sfWebResponse
  param:
    logging:           %SF_LOGGING_ENABLED%
    charset:           %SF_CHARSET%
    send_http_headers: true

Default configuration for the test environment:

response:
  class: sfWebResponse
  param:
    send_http_headers: false

send_http_headers

The send_http_headers option specifies whether the response should send HTTP response headers along with the response content. This setting is mostly useful for testing, as headers are sent with the header() PHP function which sends warnings if you try to send headers after some output.

charset

The charset option defines the charset to use for the response. By default, it uses the charset setting from settings.yml, which is what you want most of the time.

http_protocol

The http_protocol option defines the HTTP protocol version to use for the response. By default, it checks the $_SERVER['SERVER_PROTOCOL'] value if available or defaults to HTTP/1.0.

user

sfContext Accessor: $context->getUser()

Default configuration:

user:
  class: myUser
  param:
    timeout:         1800
    logging:         %SF_LOGGING_ENABLED%
    use_flash:       true
    default_culture: %SF_DEFAULT_CULTURE%

timeout

The timeout option defines the timeout for user authentication. It is not related to the session timeout. The default setting automatically unauthenticates a user after 30 minutes of inactivity.

This setting is only used by user classes that inherit from the sfBasicSecurityUser base class, which is the case of the generated myUser class.

use_flash

The use_flash option enables or disables the flash component.

default_culture

The default_culture option defines the default culture to use for a user who comes to the site for the first time. By default, it uses the default_culture setting from settings.yml, which is what you want most of the time.

storage

The storage factory is used by the user factory to persist user data between HTTP requests.

sfContext Accessor: $context->getStorage()

Default configuration:

storage:
  class: sfSessionStorage
  param:
    session_name: symfony

Default configuration for the test environment:

storage:
  class: sfSessionTestStorage
  param:
    session_path: %SF_TEST_CACHE_DIR%/sessions

auto_start

The auto_start option enables or disables the session auto-starting feature of PHP (via the session_start() function).

session_name

The session_name option defines the name of the cookie used by symfony to store the user session. By default, the name is symfony, which means that all your applications share the same cookie (and as such the corresponding authentication and authorizations).

session_set_cookie_params() parameters

The storage factory calls the session_set_cookie_params() function with the value of the following options:

• session_cookie_lifetime: Lifetime of the session cookie, defined in seconds.
• session_cookie_path: Path on the domain where the cookie will work. Use a single slash (/) for all paths on the domain.
• session_cookie_domain: Cookie domain, for example www.php.net. To make cookies visible on all subdomains then the domain must be prefixed with a dot like .php.net.
• session_cookie_secure: If true cookie will only be sent over secure connections.
• session_cookie_httponly: If set to true then PHP will attempt to send the httponly flag when setting the session cookie.

session_cache_limiter

If the session_cache_limiter option is set to null (which is the default), the session cache limiter value will be set by PHP automatically according to the php.ini configuration file. For all other values, PHP's session_cache_limiter() function is called and the option value is passed as an argument.

Database Storage-specific Options

When using a storage that inherits from the sfDatabaseSessionStorage class, several additional options are available:

• database: The database name (required)
• db_table: The table name (required)
• db_id_col: The primary key column name (sess_id by default)
• db_data_col: The data column name (sess_data by default)
• db_time_col: The time column name (sess_time by default)

view_cache_manager

sfContext Accessor: $context->getViewCacheManager()

Default configuration:

view_cache_manager:
  class: sfViewCacheManager
  param:
    cache_key_use_vary_headers: true
    cache_key_use_host_name:    true

Most configuration of this factory is done via the view_cache factory, which defines the underlying cache object used by the view cache manager.

cache_key_use_vary_headers

The cache_key_use_vary_headers option specifies if the cache keys should include the vary headers part. In practice, it says if the page cache should be HTTP header dependent, as specified in vary cache parameter (default value: true).

cache_key_use_host_name

The cache_key_use_host_name option specifies if the cache keys should include the host name part. In practice, it says if page cache should be hostname dependent (default value: true).

view_cache

sfContext Accessor: none (used directly by the view_cache_manager factory)

Default configuration:

view_cache:
  class: sfFileCache
  param:
    automatic_cleaning_factor: 0
    cache_dir:                 %SF_TEMPLATE_CACHE_DIR%
    lifetime:                  86400
    prefix:                    %SF_APP_DIR%/template

The view_cache factory defines a cache class that must inherit from sfCache (see the Cache section for more information).

i18n

sfContext Accessor: $context->getI18N()

Default configuration:

i18n:
  class: sfI18N
  param:
    source:               XLIFF
    debug:                false
    untranslated_prefix:  "[T]"
    untranslated_suffix:  "[/T]"
    cache:
      class: sfFileCache
      param:
        automatic_cleaning_factor: 0
        cache_dir:                 %SF_I18N_CACHE_DIR%
        lifetime:                  31556926
        prefix:                    %SF_APP_DIR%/i18n

source

The source option defines the container type for translations.

Built-in containers: XLIFF, SQLite, MySQL, and gettext.

debug

The debug option sets the debugging mode. If set to true, un-translated messages are decorated with a prefix and a suffix (see below).

untranslated_prefix

The untranslated_prefix defines a prefix to used for un-translated messages.

untranslated_suffix

The untranslated_suffix defines a suffix to used for un-translated messages.

cache

The cache option defines a anonymous cache factory to be used for caching i18n data (see the Cache section for more information).

routing

sfContext Accessor: $context->getRouting()

Default configuration:

routing:
  class: sfPatternRouting
  param:
    load_configuration:               true
    suffix:                           ''
    default_module:                   default
    default_action:                   index
    debug:                            %SF_DEBUG%
    logging:                          %SF_LOGGING_ENABLED%
    generate_shortest_url:            false
    extra_parameters_as_query_string: false
    cache:                            ~

variable_prefixes

Default: :

The variable_prefixes option defines the list of characters that starts a variable name in a route pattern.

segment_separators

Default: / and .

The segment_separators option defines the list of route segment separators. Most of the time, you don't want to override this option for the whole routing, but for specific routes.

generate_shortest_url

Default: true for new projects, false for upgraded projects

If set to true, the generate_shortest_url option will tell the routing system to generate the shortest route possible. Set it to false if you want your routes to be backward compatible with symfony 1.0 and 1.1.

extra_parameters_as_query_string

Default: true for new projects, false for upgraded projects

When some parameters are not used in the generation of a route, the extra_parameters_as_query_string allows those extra parameters to be converted to a query string. Set it to false to fallback to the behavior of symfony 1.0 or 1.1. In those versions, the extra parameters were just ignored by the routing system.

cache

Default: none

The cache option defines an anonymous cache factory to be used for caching routing configuration and data (see the Cache section for more information).

suffix

Default: none

The default suffix to use for all routes. This option is deprecated and is not useful anymore.

load_configuration

Default: true

The load_configuration option defines whether the routing.yml files must be automatically loaded and parsed. Set it to false if you want to use the routing system of symfony outside of a symfony project.

lazy_routes_deserialize

Default: false

If set to true, the lazy_routes_deserialize setting enables lazy unserialization of the routing cache. It can improve the performance of your applications if you have a large number of routes and if most matching routes are among the first ones. It is strongly advised to test the setting before deploying to production, as it can harm your performance in certain circumstances.

lookup_cache_dedicated_keys

Default: false

The lookup_cache_dedicated_keys setting determines how the routing cache is constructed. When set to false, the cache is stored as one big value; when set to true, each route has its own cache store. This setting is a performance optimization setting.

As a rule of thumb, setting this to false is better when using a file-based cache class (sfFileCache for instance), and setting it to true is better when using a memory-based cache class (sfAPCCache for instance).

logger

sfContext Accessor: $context->getLogger()

Default configuration:

logger:
  class: sfAggregateLogger
  param:
    level: debug
    loggers:
      sf_web_debug:
        class: sfWebDebugLogger
        param:
          level: debug
          condition:       %SF_WEB_DEBUG%
          xdebug_logging:  false
          web_debug_class: sfWebDebug
      sf_file_debug:
        class: sfFileLogger
        param:
          level: debug
          file: %SF_LOG_DIR%/%SF_APP%_%SF_ENVIRONMENT%.log

Default configuration for the prod environment:

logger:
  class:   sfNoLogger
  param:
    level:   err
    loggers: ~

If you don't use the sfAggregateLogger, don't forget to specify a null value for the loggers parameter.

level

The level option defines the level of the logger.

Possible values: EMERG, ALERT, CRIT, ERR, WARNING, NOTICE, INFO, or DEBUG.

loggers

The loggers option defines a list of loggers to use. The list is an array of anonymous logger factories.

Built-in logger classes: sfConsoleLogger, sfFileLogger, sfNoLogger, sfStreamLogger, and sfVarLogger.

controller

sfContext Accessor: $context->getController()

Default configuration:

controller:
  class: sfFrontWebController

Anonymous Cache Factories

Several factories (view_cache, i18n, and routing) can take advantage of a cache object if defined in their configuration. The configuration of the cache object is similar for all factories. The cache key defines an anonymous cache factory. Like any other factory, it takes a class and a param entries. The param entry can take any option available for the given cache class.

The prefix option is the most important one as it allows to share or separate a cache between different environments/applications/projects.

Built-in cache classes: sfAPCCache, sfEAcceleratorCache, sfFileCache, sfMemcacheCache, sfNoCache, sfSQLiteCache, and sfXCacheCache.