php reading custom config file and allowing edits via html form - php

Question

I have a "config" file that lists some configs of another program, and I have a need for my PHP backend application to be able to read and write to this file, hopefully via html forms.
The config file is in the format:
something: 4
something_else: false
then_this: 68000
and_then_this: false
finally_this: true
There is one config parameter per line, and each config parameter is in the format: parameter: value. Ideally I would need the function to read all the parameters and values in this file, stuff them in an array and then iterate through them and allow them to be edited via forms:
$configArray = array(); // The config array would contain the key/value pairs of the parameter: value mentioned above
<form action="edit.php" method="post">
<?php foreach($configArray as $p=>$v) { ?>
<strong><?php echo $p; ?></strong> <input type="text" name="<?php echo $p; ?>" value="<?php echo $v; ?>" />
<?php } ?>
<input type="submit">Save changes!</input>
</form>
Using the above example of how I wish the array to be laid out, I would expect to use var_dump($configArray); and produce the following results:
array(5) {
["something"]=>
int(4)
["something_else"]=>
bool(false)
["then_this"]=>
int(68000)
["and_then_this"]=>
bool(false)
["finally_this"]=>
bool(true)
}
This would produce a list of forms from the config file parameter: value and allow the user to edit them and then save them back to the same file.
Is something like this even possible with PHP?

Answer 1

This might help you. Please change the path and name of the config file instead of "config.txt" in the example below:
<?php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', 1);
ini_set('log_errors', 0);
// Read the file content
$content = file('config.txt', FILE_SKIP_EMPTY_LINES);
if ( $content === FALSE ) {
die('Could not read the config file.');
}
// Parse content to create array
$configArray = array();
foreach($content as $config_line) {
list($key, $val) = explode(':', $config_line);
// Remove white space
$val = trim($val);
// Check type of $val
switch(strtolower($val)) {
case 'true':
case 'false':
$type = 'boolean';
break;
case (preg_match('/^[0-9]/', $val) ? true : false) :
$type = 'integer';
break;
default:
$type = 'string';
break;
}
// And set it dynamically
settype($val, $type);
$configArray[$key] = $val;
}
var_dump($configArray);
?>