Best practices

1. Naming Conventions

When defining and reading constants with laze, it's recommended to define the name of each Lazy constant in a separate constant. This practice helps avoid hardcoding strings throughout your code and makes your constants easier to manage and update. For example:

// Define the constant name separately:
define('C_MAX_USERS', 'MAX_USERS');

// Use it with Laze:
Laze::define(C_MAX_USERS, function() {
    return getMaxUsersFromConfig();
});

You can also use a more descriptive name:

// Define with a more descriptive name:
define('C_MAX_USERS', 'global.constants.max_users');

// Use it with Laze:
Laze::define(C_MAX_USERS, function() {
    return getMaxUsersFromConfig();
});

By using separate constants for Lazy constant names, you enhance code clarity, maintainability, and reduce the risk of errors.

2. Handling Non-Existent Constants

If you attempt to read a constant with Laze that has not been defined, an exception will be thrown, ensuring strict constant management. This behavior is intentional to prevent undefined or incorrectly defined constants from causing errors in your application. Here’s how it works:


try {
    $maxUsers = Laze::read(C_MAX_USERS);
} catch (\Exception $e) {
    // Handle the undefined constant scenario
    echo $e->getMessage();
}

In this example, if C_MAX_USERS has not been defined using laze::define, an exception will be raised with a message like "Undefined lazy constant: MAX_USERS". Always ensure that constants are properly defined before attempting to read them to avoid such exceptions.