How to Import Configuration Files/Resources
How to Import Configuration Files/Resources¶
Tip
In this section, service configuration files are referred to as resources. While most configuration resources are files (e.g. YAML, XML, PHP), Symfony is able to load configuration from anywhere (e.g. a database or even via an external web service).
The service container is built using a single configuration resource
(app/config/config.yml by default). All other service configuration
(including the core Symfony and third-party bundle configuration) must
be imported from inside this file in one way or another. This gives you absolute
flexibility over the services in your application.
External service configuration can be imported in two different ways. The first
method, commonly used to import other resources, is via the imports
directive. The second method, using dependency injection extensions, is used by
third-party bundles to load the configuration. Read on to learn more about both
methods.
Importing Configuration with imports¶
By default, service configuration lives in app/config/services.yml. But if that
file becomes large, you’re free to organize into multiple files. For suppose you
decided to move some configuration to a new file:
- YAML
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# app/config/services/mailer.yml parameters: # ... some parameters services: # ... some services
- XML
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<!-- app/config/services/mailer.xml --> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> <container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd"> <parameters> <!-- ... some parameters --> </parameters> <services> <!-- ... some services --> </services> </container>
- PHP
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// app/config/services/mailer.php // ... some parameters // ... some services
To import this file, use the imports key from a file that is loaded:
- YAML
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# app/config/services.yml imports: - { resource: services/mailer.yml }
- XML
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<!-- app/config/services.xml --> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> <container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd"> <imports> <import resource="services/mailer.xml"/> </imports> </container>
- PHP
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// app/config/services.php $loader->import('services/mailer.php');
The resource location, for files, is either a relative path from the
current file or an absolute path.
Note
Due to the way in which parameters are resolved, you cannot use them to build paths in imports dynamically. This means that something like the following doesn’t work:
- YAML
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# app/config/config.yml imports: - { resource: '%kernel.project_dir%/app/parameters.yml' }
- XML
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<!-- app/config/config.xml --> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> <container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd"> <imports> <import resource="%kernel.project_dir%/app/parameters.yml" /> </imports> </container>
- PHP
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// app/config/config.php $loader->import('%kernel.project_dir%/app/parameters.yml');
Importing Configuration via Container Extensions¶
Third-party bundle container configuration, including Symfony core services, are usually loaded using another method: a container extension.
Internally, each bundle defines its services in files like you’ve seen so far.
However, these files aren’t imported using the import directive. Instead, bundles
use a dependency injection extension to load the files automatically. As soon
as you enable a bundle, its extension is called, which is able to load service
configuration files.
In fact, each configuration block in config.yml - e.g. framework or twig-
is passed to the extension for that bundle - e.g. FrameworkBundle or TwigBundle -
and used to configure those services further.
If you want to use dependency injection extensions in your own shared bundles and provide user friendly configuration, take a look at the How to Load Service Configuration inside a Bundle article.
This work, including the code samples, is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license.