Symfony2

The Symphony2 Boxfile

Create a file named "Boxfile" in the base directory of your git repo and paste in the following code snippet. The Boxfile is your Pagoda Box config file. If you want the Boxfile explained in more detail, click here.

 YAMLSymfony2 Boxfile Example 

If you want to know more about writing your own or customizing your Boxfile, check out Boxfile Guide. Any settings you define in your own Boxfile will override settings defined in the default Boxfile.

First things first—you need to create a database to connect to. Creating databases is really simple and is covered in our Creating a Database Guide.

Once your database is created, you have two options for connecting to it:

1. Using environment variables
2. Hard-coding your database credentials into your source

Using Environment Variables to Connect to Your Database

Using environment variables allows your app to connect to your database without exposing any databases credentials in your git repository.

Make the following changes to app/config/parameters.ini and app/config/config.yml.

 INIChanges to parameters.ini 

 YAMLChanges to config.yml 

Go to your application's Environment Vars tab in your Pagoda Box dashboard and add the following environment variables:

   

For the key values, use the database credentials found in the Databases tab of your App Dashboard. Just click "Show Credentials" on the database you are trying to connect to.

   

Once the environment variables are setup, push and deploy your changes and your app will be connected to a database without exposing database credentials in your git repo.

Hard-Coding Database Credentials in Your Source

We admit that hard-coding database credentials in your source is the quick and dirty way to connect to your database and it's not our recommended method. Doing it this way exposes your database credentials to anybody who has access to your git repo. However, this doesn't matter if you are connecting to a database provided by Pagoda Box. Multiple layers of database authentication do not allow other apps or "non-collaborator" users to connect to your database, even if they have all of your database credentials. When it does become a problem is when you are connecting to a database hosted on another service. Others will be able to access those databases with credentials found in your source and viewable in your git repo.

When adding database credentials directly to your source, you need to make the following changes to app/config/parameters.ini and app/config/config.yml.

 INIChanges to parameters.ini 

 YAMLChanges to config.yml 

Your database credentials can be found in the Databases tab of your App Dashboard. Just click "Show Credentials" on the database you are trying to connect to.

After making these changes, push your application and deploy it on Pagoda Box and your Symfony2 app will be connected to its database.

To clear your Symfony2 app's cache, enable the Pagoda SSH Portal and check out the Cache Management Section of the Shared Writable Storage Management Guide.