ADVANCED.md

How it works & Helper Functions

Overview

The Cherry Picker package now provides global helper functions (config(), data_get(), env()) similar to Laravel's helpers but working standalone with the PHP DI container.

How It Works

1. Helper Functions

File: src/helpers.php

Three helper functions are provided:

// Get a config value using dot notation
config('cherry-picker.git.username')        // Returns: 'your.username'
config('cherry-picker.gitlab.api_url')      // Returns: API URL

// Get all config
config()                                     // Returns: entire config array

// Get environment variable
env('GIT_USERNAME')                          // Returns: env var value
env('MISSING_VAR', 'default')                // Returns: default if not found

data_get('array.in.some.value')              // get data from array safely

2. Auto-Loading Helpers

The helpers are automatically loaded via composer's files autoload configuration:

"autoload": {
    "psr-4": {"Mu\\CherryPicker\\": "src"},
    "files": ["src/helpers.php"]
}

This means helpers are available everywhere after composer install.

5. Initialization Flow

When you run the CLI or use the container:

1. Container is created with base path
2. ConfigLoader.initialize() is called:
   • Loads .env file using vlucas/phpdotenv
   • Loads all config files from src/config/
3. Config is singleton

6. Adding New Config

To add new configuration:

1. Add to .env:

MY_NEW_VAR=value

2. Add to src/config/cherry-picker.php:

return [
    'my_section' => [
        'my_key' => env('MY_NEW_VAR', 'default'),
    ],
    // ... other config
];

3. Use in code:

$value = config('cherry-picker.my_section.my_key');