I'm very new to CI. :)
In my project, I have separated the page into header, footer and body. And the body portion(view) is loaded based on the controller. The header and footer are common to all pages.
For example, for a login page it would be like this:
$this->load->view('header');
$this->load->view('login');
$this->load->view('footer');
But now my concern is, how to generate the "category" section (which will list several category names on the left of the body portion). Upon clicking a category, the corresponding details page would be show to the right(ie. in content portion). So, in all views(all pages) I need to display the list of categories.
Visual example:
----------------------------
Header Portion of Page
----------------------------
Body Portion
============
Cat1 |
Cat2 |
Cat3 | Content
Cat4 |
Cat5 |
----------------------------
Footer
----------------------------
These categories are populated from the data in db.
I have just done some searching. So, I am thinking about creating a helper class and autoload it. So, in all views, I would call the function and and echo the result.
For eg:
function hlp_getCategories()
{
$ci =& get_instance();
$q = $ci->db->query('SELECT cat_name FROM tblCategories');
return $q;
}
And in the view:
<?php
$q = hlp_getCategories();
foreach ($q->result_array() as $row)
{
echo anchor('cat/' . $row['cat_name'], $row['cat_name']) ;
}
?>
Is this the correct approach ?
Am I in the right track ?
Thanks in advance :)
That is one way to solve it - although if you follow a strict MVC approach - the helper would call the model $this->category->select_cat(), and put the SQL query in the model. Furthermore, the SQL query should use active record selections, not a text SQL query.
The other way to solve it is to use some CSS that has a DIV for the left menu (i.e. categories), and a DIV for the right (i.e. content).
Then you could do
$this->load->view('header');
$this->load->view('categories');
$this->load->view('login');
$this->load->view('footer');
Then inside your categories view
<div class = "left">
// show categories here
</div>
and inside your content views
<div class = "right">
// show content here
</div>
Related
I'm using CodeIgniter. I want to load views inside of other views. How can I do this?
Example:
Let's say I have a "view" called "CommentWall". In CommentWall, I want a bunch of "Comment" views. I use the view for "comment" all over my site!
How can I do this? It seems CodeIgniter only allows me to load views sequentially, which is sort of strange considering I use reusable views INSIDE of other views!
Can I do a $this->load->view('comment'); inside of my view for CommentWall? Or is there some other way to have reusuable views contained inside a view?
You can do it easily, just load the main view, for example CommentWall from the controller
$this->load->view('CommentWall');
To add child views in CommentWall view you can add following line inside your CommentWall view
$this->view('Comment');
For example, if you load CommentWall view from your controller like this
$data['comments'][] = 'Comment one';
$data['comments'][] = 'Comment two';
// load the parrent view
$this->load->view('CommentWall', $data);
Now in the CommentWall (parent view), if you put this
foreach ($comments as $comment) {
$this->view('Comment', array('comment' => $comment));
}
And in your Comment (child view) if you have this
echo $comment . '<br />';
Then you should get output something like this
Comment one
Comment two
Update : Alos, check this answer.
Try
class Main extends CI_Controller {
function __construct()
{
parent::__construct();
$data->comments =$this->load->view('comment');
$this->load->vars($data);
}
And in every view try
echo $comments;
Just load the "Comment" vies as string in controller and pass it to "CommentWall" view.
You can do it like this:
//Controller:
public function load_comment_wall($param) {
$comments_view = ""; //String that holds comment views
//here load the comments for this wall as follows:
//assuming $comment_ids is array of id's of comment to be put in this wall...
foreach($comment_ids as $comment_id) {
$temp = $this->load->view("comment",array('comment_id'=>$comment_id),TRUE); //Setting last parameter to TRUE will returns the view as String
$comments_view = $comment_views.$temp;
}
$data['comments'] = $comments_view;
//load comment wall
$this->load->view('comment_wall',$data);
}
//In Comment wall View, add the following line
echo $comments;
lets say that i hv this view (main)
<body>
lorem epsim
<div table></div>
lorem epsim
</body>
in controller control1.php i do
$this->load->view('header');
$this->load->view('main',$data);
$this->load->view('footer');
Now i need to load content of div=table from another view (tbl.php),which is called from another controller
control2.php
function load_table(){
$data['x']=1;
$this->load->view('tbl.php',$data);
}
tbl.php view
<ul>$x</ul>
how can i do that ?
i tried to load controler 2 from controller 1 and assign the function load_table to variable and pass that to main view, but it didnt work cuz load->view is executed instead of saving output to variable..
Reason:
i need to do this is that tbl.php view is a complex table that i need to refresh and load via ajax calls, so i need it to be on different view alone
so can some one explain to me how can i work this out ?
You can't call one controller method from another, separate controller. You can, however, get the output of the table view and use that:
// main.php
<body>
lorem epsim
<div table><?php echo $table_content; ?></div>
lorem epsim
</body>
.
// control1.php
$table_data['x'] = 1;
$data['table_content'] = $this->load->view('tbl.php', $table_data, TRUE);
$this->load->view('header');
$this->load->view('main',$data);
$this->load->view('footer');
So, you get the data to pass to the tbl.php view and pass that to the load->view method - also passing TRUE as the third parameter - which will return the contents of that view as a string (instead of outputting that to the browser). Now, you have a $data variable to pass to the main view with the table html included and you can just echo that out in the main view.
How you get the $data['table_content'] data from the view is up to you. You can create another controller method inside control1.php, you can create a helper file that can load the view into a string and return that, etc.
Maybe you can create a view with the table code within and then you can do inside your div for ajax
<div id="for_ajax">
<?php $this->load->view('table'); ?>
</div>
I've similar needs but mine its like a comments wall for issues.
Inside a view use following in a php block
$CI = &get_instance();
$CI->load->view('view_name');
My client needs a a small box on CMS pages and on Category landing pages that will show thumbnail/price/short description of a random item related to that category (separate from the grid view)
Any thoughts on what would be the best way to accomplish this?
Thanks,
-Sam
go to template/catalog/product/view/ and make a new phtml file random_product.phtml with the following code
<?php
$catId = $this->getCat_id();
$cat=Mage::getModel("catalog/category")->load($catId);
$prodCollection = $cat->getProductCollection();
$pids=array();
foreach($prodCollection as $product)
{
array_push($pids,$product->getId());
}
$randProductId=array_rand($pids);
echo $randProductId;
?>
now if your category id is for example 10, make a static block and paste the following code in the contents
{{block type="catalog/product" cat_id="10" template="catalog/product/view/random_product.phtml"}}
now when you will view the static block, you will see a random product id every time you refresh.
THen,you can write your own custom html in the phtml file after loading the product.
To load your product from here you can do $product = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load($randProductId); then call methods such as $product->getName() etc to get the details you need to output.
I'm trying to display an image but is dependent on a dropdown list in Yii. I can get the image from the database and display it, but how to do it dynamically depending on the choice from the dropdown?
Here is the reference: http://www.yiiframework.com/wiki/24/creating-a-dependent-dropdown#hh0 but, let me show you how to do it.
First all all, we need a div where the image will be displayed; I'll create one whose id will be 'img'. Then, the ajax request is specified inside the dropdownlist() as follows:
<?php echo $form->labelEx($model,'attribue'); ?>
<?php echo $form->dropDownList($model,'attribute',
array(/*The options in the DropDownList*/),
array(
'ajax'=>array(
'type'=>'POST',
'url'=>CController::createUrl('YourController/actionWhichEchoesTheImage'),
'update'=>'#img',
)));
?>
<div id="img"> // <---- the result of the ajax call will be displayed here
</div>
In the 'url' attribute we specify the function which will be called when the ajax request triggers. In the 'update' attribute we specified the div where will be displayed the result of calling that function (the image).
Finally, we have to declare the action actionWhichEchoesTheImage(). Let's declare it in the current controller. It would look something like this:
public function actionWhichEchoesTheImage()
{
if(isset($_POST['ModelName']['attribute']))
/*Here goes your code to load the image*/
echo CHtml::image(//Check the reference to see how to set this function);
}
Check CHtml::image() here: http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/api/1.1/CHtml/#image-detail
I'm coming from CodeIgniter, and the terminology overlap between it and other MVC frameworks (particularly Zend) is giving me a mental block of some kind.
I want my users to visit http://mysite.com/do/this.
I understand that "do" is the Controller, and "this" is a function (well, method) within that Controller.
My site will have common elements like a header and sidebar; I understand that those go into a Layout, which will be incorporated into the final output.
I want the /do/this page to display three visual blocks of information (I'm deliberately not using the word "modules"). Let's call them BlockA, BlockB, and BlockC. Maybe one is a list of "new events" and another is a list of "new posts" and another is something else. Whatever. The trick is, these blocks of information will also be displayed on other pages of the site - say, http://mysite.com/did/that.
Both the "did" and the "do" Controllers (and the "this" and "that" methods, obviously) would be arranging BlockA, BlockB, and BlockC differently. Each Controller would have different criteria for what went into those blocks, too - one might be current information, while another might be archived information from the past.
I want to ensure that future programmers can easily alter the appearance of BlockA, BlockB, and/or BlockC without having to touch the code that populates their data, or the code which arranges them on each page.
So my general feeling is that BlockA, BlockB, and BlockC need to have their visual layout defined in a View - but that View wouldn't be specifically associated with either the "do" or the "did" Controllers. And the code which populates those blocks - that is, queries information from a database, selects the bits that are to be displayed, and whatnot - shouldn't reside entirely in those Controllers, either.
I started down the path of putting the logic - that is, assembling what will be displayed in each block - into Models. I feel I'm on the right path, there; both the "do" and "did" Controllers can thus summon the block-creation code via Models. But how (and where) do I abstract the visual element of those blocks, in such a way that the visual elements can also be shared by these two Controllers? Do the Models somehow load a View and output HTML to the Controllers (that doesn't feel right)? Or is there a way for the Controllers to run the Model, get the data to display, and then somehow feed it to a common/centralized View?
I know how I'd do this in CodeIgniter. But... what's the correct architecture for this, using Zend Framework? I'm convinced that it's very different than what CodeIgniter would do, and I want to start writing this application with the right architecture in mind.
One small naming thing: /:controller/:action/* => /do/this = this is an action (although also both a function and a method in the controller, action is the proper name)
Your blocks to me sound like "partial views". There are a few ways to approach this problem, and depending on how the views work, or what information they need to know, you adapt your strategy
Rendering Partials
You want to use this method when you have some view code you want to be used by multiple views. There are two different approaches using the view helpers Zend_View_Helper::render or Zend_View_Helper_Partial* The render($phtmlfile) view helper is more efficient, the partial($phtmlfile, $module, $params) view helper clones a new view, unseting all parameters, and setting the ones you pass in. An example of how to use them:
case/list.phtml:
<?php
$this->headTitle($this->title);
// works because our controller set our "cases" property in the view, render
// keeps our variables
echo $this->render("case/_caseListTable.phtml");
case/view.phtml
<?php
$this->headTitle($case->title);
?><!--- some view code showing the case -->
<?php if ($cases = $case->getChildren()): ?>
<h3>Children</h3>
<?php echo $this->partial("case/_caseListTable.phtml", "default", array(
"cases"=>$cases,
)); ?>
<?php endif; ?>
case/_caseListTable.phtml
// table header stuff
<?php foreach ($this->cases as $case): ?>
// table rows
<?php endforeach; ?>
// table footer stuff
Custom View Helpers
Sometimes the controller has no business knowing what information is being displayed in the block, and preparing it for your view would be silly, at this point you want to make your own view helpers. You can easily add them to the global view in application.ini:
resources.view.doctype = "XHTML1_STRICT"
resources.view.helperPath.My_View_Helper = APPLICATION_PATH "/../library/My/View/Helper"
I have a tendency to use this method for things that will require additional information from the model not provided by the controller, or blocks of reusable formatting code for the view. A quick example, from a project that I used: Olympic_View_Helper_Ontap grabs the draught beer list and renders it:
class Olympic_View_Helper_Ontap extends Zend_View_Helper_Abstract {
public function Ontap()
{
$view = $this->view;
$box = Olympic_Db::getInstance()->getTable('box')->getBoxFromName('Draught-Beer');
if ($box) $menu = $box->getMenu(); else $menu = null;
$content = "";
if ($menu)
{
$content = "<h1>".$view->escape($menu->title)."</h1>";
$content .= "<ul>";
foreach($menu->getItems() as $item) {
$content .= "<li>".$view->escape($item->name)."</li>";
}
$content .= "</ul>";
}
return $content;
}
}
Then in my layout:
<?php echo $this->ontap(); ?>
Your View Helpers can also accept arguments (of course), can call other view helpers (including partial). Consider them template functions. I like using them for short tasks that are required a lot, for instance $this->caseLink($case) generates a properly formatted <a href='/case/2' class='case project'>Project</a> tag.