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In this post on StackExchange How do I add a new settings page for my extension? the way to create settings in CiviCRM is stated as : Create a settings dir in your extension's base directory, and within that create a whateveryouwant.setting.php.
I always use Civi::settings()->set and Civi::settings()->get. What is the recommended way?
One option is to create settings using Setting Reference
How I would do through extension is
Register metadata for setting using hook_civicrm_alterSettingsMetaData
To set the setting using civicrm api code:
civicrm_api3('Setting', 'create', [ 'setting_name_goes_here' => 123, ]);
To get the setting using civicrm api
civicrm_api3('Setting', 'getvalue', [ 'name' =>'setting_name_goes_here', ]);
If you want to add this setting on one of the Admin config form then below is a good example on how you can do it.(New version of CiviCRM provides more flexibility to add settings to UI by appending settings in $form->_settings in preprocess hook)
Thanks @Jon G, that makes sense :-) So summarizing the recommended way is:
hook_civicrm_alterSettingsMetaData or create myfile.setting.php in my extensionCivi::settings() methods. The API is a terrible pattern (security risk, unless you know about it and mitigate this - example) and if we can all stop using it then we might be able to improve it without breaking stuff. Also, the API includes lots of params that aren't(/don't seem to be) needed any more, like settings group. This too can lead you to mistakes like naming a setting "api_key" because you thought your settings group was a namespace; it's not.
Dec 13 '20 at 7:40
Instead of hook_civicrm_alterSettingsMetaData you can also create a myfile.setting.php file in your extension.
See also issue core#495 for recent work that allows you to add settings to the UI based SOLELY on metadata - very exciting!
