Setup and Settings
Setting up and configuring Reason, while not a trivial process, is getting easier and easier with each release. Reason 4 Beta 6 has a significantly smaller set of dependencies than earlier versions of Reason, and also runs in Windows environments.
- Setting Up Reason
- Settings File Location
- Getting Started with Reason Settings
- Error Handler Settings
- Settings Changes when Upgrading Reason
Setting Up Reason
Each version of reason is distributed with a file install.htm inside the reason_package folder. This file contains detailed information about setting up and configuring Reason.
Settings File Location
Reason settings are located within a single folder that consists of various files. The default folder is located at: /reason_package/settings/
Getting Started with Reason Settings
In order for the settings to be properly loaded, the reason_package directory must be part of the include path (probably set in php.ini).
The file reason_package/paths.php indicates the location of the package_settings.php file, which includes a constant SETTINGS_INC that indicates the settings directory. You may want to copy the settings directory to a new location, and modify paths.php and SETTINGS_INC to reflect your custom settings location. That way, you can modify settings while maintaining a copy of the default settings distributed with Reason.
Individual settings are explained within the various settings files, and the reason install documentation also provides information on particular settings. While first setting up reason, you will need to edit package_settings.php and reason_settings.php, and while not essential in a literal sense, you'll thank yourself if you also edit error_handler_settings.php.
Error Handler Settings
Getting the error handler setup properly is very important to debugging problems with Reason. We recommend having display errors turned off in your php.ini file. Regardless of the display_errors php setting, if you are using Reason's error handling you will see much more helpful, verbose error messages, and in many cases, see them onscreen instead of being redirected to the Reason "error" page.
It is difficult to debug problems in Reason without having the error handler properly setup.
The error handler settings file (error_handler_settings.php) defines an array $GLOBALS['_DEVELOPER_INFO']. To add yourself, define the array like this:
array('reason_username' => array('email' => 'you@emailaddy.com', 'ip' => '1.2.3.4'))
Settings Changes when Upgrading Reason
Reason has a lot of settings. When upgrading from version to version, it is likely that settings will be added, and existing settings could change. For now, when upgrading you will need to manually edit the settings files. The upgrade script index for each version upgrade will specify which settings have changed or been added. If you upgrade Reason via subversion and appear to have a settings problem, load reason_package/reason_upgrade.php, and make sure there are no scripts you need to run and/or settings you need to update.
We often try to build in error triggers that indicate the need to add a settings - this helps ensure that a Reason install updated via subversion will function, but indicate to a developer that upgrade scripts / new settings are needed. This mechanism, however, will only work properly if the developer is using the Reason error handler.
In future versions of Reason, we hope to have a more defined framework for settings that will allow for new settings to be automatically added.