How to insert HTML using foreach() without echo - php

Question

I have this working code in my view:
<?php
$task_num = 0;
foreach ($curent_day->getTasksList() as $task){
echo '<div class="task">';
echo '<span class="task_id">'.($task_num+1).'.'.'</span>';
echo '<div class="task_time">';
echo '<span class="task_time_start">'.$task->getStartTime().'</span>';
echo '<span class="task_time_finish">'.$task->getFinishTime().'</span>';
echo '</div>';
echo ''.$task->name.'';
echo 'Start';
echo 'Finish';
echo '<div class="status_round '.$task->status.'"></div>';
echo '</div>';
$task_num++;
}
?>
Is there any way to get rid of 'echo'?
P.S. and is the way to insert HTML with HTML helper more correct even if it takes more space?

Answer 1

You can drop echo completely and use native HTML syntax:
<?php $task_num = 0 ?>
<?php foreach ($curent_day->getTasksList() as $task): ?>
<div class='task'>
<span class='task_id'><?= ++$task_num ?></span>
<div class='task_time'>
<span class='task_time_start'><?= $task->getStartTime() ?></span>
<span class='task_time_finish'><?= $task->getFinishTime() ?></span>
</div>
<a href='/' class='task_name'><?= $task->name ?></a>
<a href='/' class='btn task_start btn_disabled'>Start</a>
<a href='/' class='btn task_finish btn_disabled'>Finish</a>
<div class='status_round <?= $task->status ?>'></div>
</div>
<?php endforeach ?>
This will give you better syntax highlighting and autoformatting support in your IDE/editor.

Answer 2

There are several different ways that you can concatenate the string by using single quotes and double quotes, or by using a variable and the ".=" operator to append text onto the end of a string. Just google php strings & concatenation and it will have more than you need to figure this out.
But using you example here is a method:
$task_num = 0;
foreach ($curent_day->getTasksList() as $task){
echo
'<div class="task">' .
'<span class="task_id">' . ($task_num+1) . '.'.'</span>' .
'<div class="task_time">' .
'<span class="task_time_start">' . $task->getStartTime() . '</span>' .
'<span class="task_time_finish">' . $task->getFinishTime() . '</span>' .
'</div>' .
''.$task->name.'' .
'Start' .
'Finish' .
'<div class="status_round '.$task->status.'"></div>' .
'</div>';
$task_num++;
}
You have to echo to output you data to the browser.

Answer 3

You need not use string concatenation or multiple echo statements.
Alternative
$task_num = 0;
foreach ($curent_day->getTasksList() as $task){
$task_num++;
echo
"<div class='task'>
<span class='task_id'>{$task_num}</span>
<div class='task_time'>
<span class='task_time_start'>{$task->getStartTime()}</span>
<span class='task_time_finish'>{$task->getFinishTime()}</span>
</div>
<a href='/' class='task_name'>{$task->name}</a>
<a href='/' class='btn task_start btn_disabled'>Start</a>
<a href='/' class='btn task_finish btn_disabled'>Finish</a>
<div class='status_round {$task->status}'></div>
</div>";
}

Answer 4

You can concatenate your html in one variable and then you can use it with one time echo statement
<?php
$task_num = 0;
$html = '';
foreach ($curent_day->getTasksList() as $task){
$html .= '<div class="task">';
$html .= '<span class="task_id">'.($task_num+1).'.'.'</span>';
$html .= '<div class="task_time">';
$html .= '<span class="task_time_start">'.$task->getStartTime().'</span>';
$html .= '<span class="task_time_finish">'.$task->getFinishTime().'</span>';
$html .= '</div>';
$html .= ''.$task->name.'';
$html .= 'Start';
$html .= 'Finish';
$html .= '<div class="status_round '.$task->status.'"></div>';
$html .= '</div>';
$task_num++;
}?>