Is It Possible to use Laravel 4 without a Default Database

Question

I'm creating an application that reads information from a number of different databases, but doesn't actually have its own database, as there is no information being written anywhere.

Basically, a user selects a record and a type, and the application will generate a .pdf file based on their choices. I have multiple connections defined in app/config/database.php but I don't want to connect to any of them by default. Is there a way to tell Laravel not to connect to a database? I've tried a few things (all in app/config/database.php), first being:

'default' => NULL,
// and 
//'default' => '',

Which both return:

Undefined index: driver

I've also tried:

'default' => 'none',

'connections' => array(
    'none' => array(
        'driver' => '',
        'host' => '',
        ...
     ),
 ),

which in turn returns:

Unsupported driver []

Unsupported host[]

...

And lastly setting 'default' => '', which returns:

Database [] not configured.

I've found ways to use Laravel's models without a database connection, but not actually Laravel itself.

Edit:

Setting the connection to an existing mysql connection and not selecting a database "works":

'default' => array(
    'driver'    => 'mysql',
    'host'      => 'localhost',
    'database'  => '',
    'username'  => '****',
    'password'  => '****',
    'charset'   => 'utf8',
    'collation' => 'utf8_unicode_ci',
    'prefix'    => '',
),

but I'm not sure if that's the right way to do it. It feels like a work-around and not an actual solution.

Answer 1

I would do the following:

'driver' => 'sqlite',

and for the sqlite connection settings

'sqlite' => [
    'driver' => 'sqlite',
    'database' => ':memory:',
    'prefix' => '',
]

That way, it'll use an in-memory database and the database will cease to exist when the database connection is closed, and since you won't be opening a connection, you'll never have a local database open.

You could also remove the database service provider from your app.php config file:

    'Illuminate\Cookie\CookieServiceProvider',
    //'Illuminate\Database\DatabaseServiceProvider',
    'Illuminate\Encryption\EncryptionServiceProvider',

and the facades for Fluent and Eloquent in the same file:

    'Crypt'     => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Crypt',
    //'DB'        => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB',
    //'Eloquent'  => 'Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model',
    'Event'     => 'Illuminate\Support\Facades\Event',

which will prevent you from being able to connect to local databases and not even boot the sqlite database connection you've just set up.