Zend Framework resource plug in and avoid using Zend_Application_Resource_Multidb in wrong way

Personally, I do not think it has significant advantage to use configuration file (application.ini) from Zend Framework because 1) I do not see big difference between PHP script file and plain text configuration file in PHP enviroment. Probably, placing configuration directly in PHP script is better in terms of performance, easy maintenance and flexible. 2) the cost of following design of Zend Framework, for example resource plugin, is that programmer has to be very careful about each components' life cycle in the system. In other words, the programmer has to understand how the thing happens insight.

Here, I have an example. I was given an authentication library as resource plugin for Zend Framework. It asks for multidb resource configuration in application.ini. It has two databases resources. The second one gets the database connection confidential parameters by calling through the first one (default db).

After checking the source code of Zend Framework. We can see that bootstrap will initialize all database adapters from multidb resource specified in application.ini. So, here is the problem. What will happen to the second database connection in multidb when bootstrap tried to initialize it without properly database connection parameters? Fortunately, Zend Framework does not really call php database connection function ( in my case db2_(p)connect) when the DB adapter is initialized. Database connection function call is only called when php script tries to get connection from DB adapter.

However, it is really confusing to specify wrong connection parameters in application.ini as multidb plugin. Then, correcting parameters in some place else. Using multidb as resource plugin might be good practice when multiple database adapters are needed in multiple places in the code and all connection parameters are known. Otherwise, it is neat to create database connection when it is needed.

Simple should be always one of main considerations of software design. Especially, for an interpret language like PHP, this could be more important.