Codeigniter Database Based Configuration Settings

Question

I am building an application using the latest copy of Codeigniter 2.0. My application is dynamic and is kind of like a custom CMS I guess you could say. I have a database table called 'settings' with the following fields:

• id
• name
• value

Basically what I am currently doing is using a helper function to retrieve specific settings from my settings table like the site name or current theme. However I've started thinking that maybe the constant amount of database calls for retrieving settings is a bit too much on the database.

Is there a way of retrieving settings for my application from the database and then appending them to my configuration file? I've noticed Mojomotor does something similar and it is a CI 2.0 application, however I would much rather the simplest and easiest code to do so.

I would preferably like to be able to check every so often if a setting in the database has changed and update the configuration file. The less strain on the database the better.

Answer 1

The best solution lies in the middle. Not zero DB calls; and not one DB call per setting. Do one DB call per page load instead, and get every setting in a recordset / object that the rest of your app can refer to as needed.