The SQLMap PHP DataMapper is configured using a central XML descriptor file, usually named SqlMap.config, which provides the details for your data source, data maps, and other features like caching, and transactions. At runtime, your application code will call a class method provided by the SQLMap library to read and parse your SqlMap.config file. After parsing the configuration file, a DataMapper client will be returned by SQLMap for your application to use.
Currently, the SQLMap PHP DataMapper framework revolves around the TSqlMapper class, which acts as a facade to the DataMapper framework API. You can create a DataMapper client by instantiating an object of the TSqlMapper class. An instance of the TSqlMapper class (your DataMapper client) is created by reading a single configuration file. Each configuration file can specify one database or data source. You can of couse use multiple DataMapper clients in your application. Just create another configuration file and pass the name of that file when the DataMapper client is created. The configuration files might use a different account with the same database, or reference different databases on different servers. You can read from one client and write to another, if that's what you need to do. First, let's take a look at the DataMapper configuration file.
A sample configuration file for a PHP web application is shown below.
Not all configuration elements are required. See
DataMapper Configuration Elements
for details of each configuration elements in a SqlMap.config file.