PHP include triggers HTTP cascade

Originally Posted by kh99

http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/m..._externalfiles

Just to be clear, I'm not saying that it's always the best thing to do just because it's in the manual, I'm just saying that's probably one reason you see it so much.

But I'm not a PHP expert - maybe you could elaborate on why you consider ob_start/ob_end "nasty".


ETA: BTW, my guess would be that the above is crashing because this line

PHP Code:

require_once('SimplePie/simplepie.inc'); 


has the wrong path to the include file. But it's just a guess.

Well, in my opinion, it adds an additional (and often unnecessary) layer of overhead and muddles transparency.

I think forum owners are using it as a quick means to modify their forums without understanding exactly what they are doing and how it works.

The manual states "Including external files," but I am seeing people create external files just to use that generalized snippet of code.