Category:Library -> Controller | Category:Library -> Community
Introduction
Since i started using the CI, I was searching a way to support master pages or master templates if you like to call it.
When a view is loading, i would like the output to be displayed at a certain position of the master page.
So i started building a library to do such a thing, when i realized that i had to write more code than before to load my template and all of its components. When i read about the output method made me to think a more efficient way to add the functionality that i wanted.
I have created a MY_Controller class that extends the common Controller class, so i have added the _output method into the MY_Controller class.
My controllers now, that have to use this template system, just extends the MY_Controller class instead of extending the Controller class.
With this way i was able to add even more common functionality for my controllers without have to write everytime a lot of code in each one of my controllers.
Requirements
CodeIgniter 1.6.x
PHP 5
Installation
Create a MY_Controller.php, insert the class that follows and store it in
APPPATH/libraries/ folder
Download
<?php
/**
* This library extends the default controller and adds some useful extra features.
* Features:
* 1. Enables the usage of master page/templates.
* 2. Can add css and javascript files.
* 3. Uses the _output method for controling the controllers output.
* 4. Can load relative content with in the form of modules (views)
*/
class MY_Controller extends Controller {
/* Output control constants */
const OUTPUT_TEMPLATE = 10;
const OUTPUT_NORMAL = 11;
/* Private properties */
//the default template
private $template_view = 'default';
//the default public folder this means that content inside this folder will be accessed directly
//without using the routing.
//Note!!! This folder must be enabled in the .htaccess file.
private $public_folder = 'public/';
//the default location for the templates inside the views folder this means (views/templates/)
private $template_folder = 'templates/';
//the default css location for the css files inside the $public_folder("public/" by default) (public/css/)
private $css_folder = 'css/';
//the default js location for the css files inside the $public_folder("public/" by default) (public/js/)
private $js_folder = 'js/';
//Inline scripting (Javascript)
private $inline_scripting = '';
private $modules = array(); //An array that contains the modules output.
private $charset = ''; //The page charset
private $title = ''; //The page Title
//Media files and data
private $media = array('css'=>array(),
'js'=>array(),
//meta tags
'meta'=>array(),
//RDF are 3rd genreration meta tags
'rdf'=>array());
//The requested controller
protected $controller = '';
//The requested method to be called
protected $method = '';
private $_output_data = array();
/**
* The MY_Controller constructor method.
*/
function __construct(){
parent::Controller();
//Initializing the controller
//Get the default charset from the config file.
$this->charset = $this->config->item('charset');
//Set the default mode to use a template view
$this->_setOutputMode(self::OUTPUT_TEMPLATE);
//Passing as properties the controller and the method that should be called.
$this->controller = $this->uri->rsegment(1);
$this->method = $this->uri->rsegment(2);
}
/**
* CodeIgniter magic method that controls the output of a controller.
* You can't call it directly.
*
* @see http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/general/controllers.html#output
* @final this method cannot be overloaded
* @param string $output the controller output
* @return void
*/
final function _output($output){
switch($this->mode){
//Use the template
case self::OUTPUT_TEMPLATE:
$data = array( 'meta'=>$this->media['meta'],
'rdf'=>$this->media['rdf'],
'js'=>$this->media['js'],
'css'=>$this->media['css'],
'title'=>$this->title,
'charset'=>$this->charset,
'output'=>$output,
'modules'=>(object)$this->modules,
'inline_scripting'=>"[removed]" . $this->inline_scripting . "[removed]");
//Merge the data arrays
$data = array_merge($data, $this->_output_data);
//Load the final output
$out = $this->load->view($this->template_folder . $this->template_view, $data, TRUE);
//The End
echo $out;
break;
//or just echo output.
case self::OUTPUT_NORMAL:
default:
echo $output;
break;
}
}
/**
* Pass extra data on the final output.
*
* @param string $paramName the parameter name.
* @param mixed $value $the value of the parameter
*/
protected function _setOutputData($paramName, $value){
$this->_output_data[$paramName] = $value;
}
/**
* This method sets the output mode. That the controller should use to display the content
*
* @access protected
* @param int $mode One of the constants self::OUTPUT_TEMPLATE, self::OUTPUT_NORMAL
* @return void
*/
protected function _setOutputMode($mode){
$this->mode = $mode;
}
/**
* Sets the template that will be used at the final output.
*
* @access protected
* @param string $template
* @return bool
*/
public function _template_to_use($template){
$filepath = APPPATH . "views/" . $this->template_folder . str_replace('.php','',$template) . ".php";
if(!$this->_is_file_exists($filepath)){
show_error("Cannot locate template file <tt>$template</tt>");
return false;
}
$this->template_view = $template;
return true;
}
/**
* Adds a Javascript file into the template.
*
* @access protected
* @param string $file a js file located inside the public/js/ folder or an url.
* @param boolean $custom_url Default FALSE. A flag to determine if the given $file is an url or just a file inside the public/js/ folder.
* @return bool
*/
public function _add_js_file($file, $custom_url=false){
if($custom_url===false){
$filepath = $this->public_folder . $this->js_folder . str_replace('.js','',$file) . ".js";
if(!$this->_is_file_exists($filepath)){
show_error('Cannot locate javascript file <tt><a href="'.$filepath.'">'.$filepath.'</a></tt>');
return false;
}
$filepath = base_url() . $filepath;
}else{
$filepath = $file;
}
if (array_search($filepath, $this->media['js']) === false)
$this->media['js'][] = $filepath;
else
return false;
return true;
}
/**
* Adds a CSS file into the template.
*
* @access protected
* @param string $file a css file located inside the public/js/ folder or an url.
* @param boolean $custom_url Default FALSE. A flag to determine if the given $file is an url or just a file insite the public/js/ folder.
* @return bool
*/
public function _add_css_file($file, $custom_url=false){
if(!$custom_url){
$filepath = $this->public_folder . $this->css_folder . str_replace('.css','',$file) . ".css";
if(!$this->_is_file_exists($filepath)){
show_error('Cannot locate css file: <tt><a href="'.$filepath.'">'.$filepath.'</a></tt>');
return false;
}
$filepath = base_url() . $filepath;
}else{
$filepath = $file;
}
if(array_search($filepath, $this->media['css']) === false)
$this->media['css'][] = $filepath;
else return false;
return true;
}
/**
* Sets the default charset
*
* @access protected
* @param string $charset
* @return void
*/
public function _set_chartset($charset){
$this->charset = $charset;
}
/**
* Sets the page title
*
* @access protected
* @param string $new_title
* @return void
*/
public function _set_title($new_title){
$this->title = $new_title;
}
/**
* Appends a string at the title text
*
* @access protected
* @param string $title
* @return void
*/
public function _append_title($title){
$this->title .= " - $title";
}
/**
* Adds meta tags.
*
* @access protected
* @param string $name the name of the meta tag
* @param string $content the content of the mneta tag
* @return bool
*/
public function _add_meta($name, $content){
if(array_key_exists($name, $this->media['meta']))
show_error("Duplicate usage of meta tag file <tt>$name</tt>.");
$this->media['meta'][$name] = $content;
return true;
}
/**
* Adds RDF meta tags (3rd generation meta tags).
*
* @access protected
* @param string $name the name of the meta tag
* @param string $content the content of the mneta tag
* @return bool
*/
public function _add_RDF($name, $content){
if(array_key_exists($name, $this->media['rdf']))
show_error("Duplicate usage of meta tag file <tt>$name</tt>.");
$this->media['rdf'][$name] = $content;
return true;
}
/**
* Registers module positions
*
* @access protected
* @param string $position_name the name of the position (no special chars or spaces are allowed)
* @return bool
*/
public function _register_module_position($position_name){
if(array_key_exists($position_name, $this->modules))
show_error("Module position failed because position <tt>$position_name</tt> has already been registered.");
//Check for illegal characters.
if(!preg_match("/[a-zA-Z0-9]*/", $position_name))
show_error("Position name <tt>$position_name</tt> contains some illegal characters. Only letters or numbers are allowed.");
$this->modules[$position_name] = array();
return true;
}
/**
* Loads a view file (module) in a certain position.
*
* @access protected
* @param string $position the module position
* @param string $view_file the view file path.
* @param array $params the parameter to be passed in the view file.
* @return bool
*/
public function _load_module($position, $view_file, $params = array()){
if(!array_key_exists($position, $this->modules))
show_error("Module position <tt>$position</tt> hasn't ever been registered.");
$this->modules[$position][] = $this->load->view($view_file, $params, TRUE);
return true;
}
/**
* Marks the begining of inline scripting.
* Example:
* <?php ....
*
* $this->_start_inline_scripting();
* ?>
* [removed] .... [removed]
* <?php
* $this->_end_inline_scripting();
* .....
*!!!Note that the <scrpt*>[removed] tags will be removed!!!
*
*/
public function _start_inline_scripting(){
ob_start();
}
/**
* Marks the end of the inline scripting.
*/
public function _end_inline_scripting(){
$s = ob_get_clean();
$s = preg_replace("/[removed]]*>/", '', $s);
$s = preg_replace("/<\/script>/", '', $s);
$this->inline_scripting .= $s;
}
/**
* Checks if the given file exists in the filesystem.
*
* @access private
* @param string $filepath The file path, using a physical relative path
* @return bool
*/
private function _is_file_exists($filepath){
return file_exists($filepath);
}
}
?>
Create a file default.php insert the foolowing code and store it in APPPATH/views/templates/ folder:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html >
<head>
<title><?php echo $title; ?></title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="<?php echo isset($lang) ? $lang : 'en';?>" />
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=<?php echo $charset; ?>" />
<?php foreach($meta as $name=>$content): ?>
<meta name="<?php echo $name; ?>" content="<?php echo $content; ?>" />
<?php endforeach; ?>
<?php if(count($rdf) > 0): ?>
<!--
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:ddc="http://purl.org/net/ddc#">
<rdf:Description rdf:about="<?php echo base_url(); ?>">
<?php foreach($rdf as $name=>$content): ?>
<<?php echo $name; ?>><?php echo $content; ?></<?php echo $name; ?>>
<?php endforeach;?>
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>
-->
<?php endif;?>
<?php foreach($js as $js_file): ?>
[removed][removed]
<?php endforeach; ?>
<?php foreach ($css as $css_file): ?>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="<?php echo base_url() . $css_file; ?>" />
<?php endforeach; ?>
<?php if (isset($fav_icon)) :?>
<link rel='shortcut icon' type="image/x-icon" href='<?php echo base_url() . $fav_icon; ?>' />
<?php endif; ?>
<?php echo $inline_scripting ?>
</head>
<body>
<div>
<div id="main">
<?php echo $output; ?>
</div>
</div>
<div id="bottom"><?php
//If we had to display some extra modules (views). This will display all the modules that have
//loaded at the "bottom" position. But first we should propably register the postion inside
//the MY_Controller construct (or whatever) using the $this->_register_module_potion() method.
//eg: $this->_load_module("bottom", "modules/my_module_view", $data);
// foreach ($modules->bottom as $mod ){
// echo $mod;
// }
?>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Example
A controller should look like this:
<?php
class SomeController extends MY_Controller{
function __construct(){
parent::__construct();
$this->_template_to_use("my_template_file");
}
function index(){
$this->load->view("some_view_file");
}
}
?>
As you can see here it shouldn’t change the structure or the way that you are usually writing a controller.
For more portability you can use a config file to configure the MY_Controller class in which default template will be using, or which position should register an more. it’s up to you.