Slim Framework 3 - using router in a global template - php

Question

I'm relatively new to Slim Framework 3. One thing I'm trying to understand is how to use the router, $this->router, in a "global" template.
What I mean by this is a template such as a navigation menu - something that appears on every page.
For templates I'm using the "php-view" library as per the example tutorial which I installed with:
composer require slim/php-view
In my templates directory I have a file called nav.php where I want to output my links.
I understand how to call the router like so
Sign Up
But... the example tutorial only shows how you would pass that link from 1 individual place, e.g. $app->get('/sign-up' ... })->setName("sign-up");
How can you use the router globally in any template, without passing it into every individual URL route as a parameter?
I'm more familiar with frameworks like CakePHP where there is an "AppController" which allows you to set things globally, i.e. available in every request. I don't know if this is how it's done in Slim but this is the effect I'm after.

Answer 1

Well, you can pass it as template variable.
When you instantiate or register PhpRenderer in a container, you have multiple options to define a "global" variable, i.e. a variable that is accessible in all of your templates:
// via the constructor
$templateVariables = [
"router" => "Title"
];
$phpView = new PhpRenderer("./path/to/templates", $templateVariables);
// or setter
$phpView->setAttributes($templateVariables);
// or individually
$phpView->addAttribute($key, $value);
Assuming you're registering PhpRenderer via Pimple:
<?php
// Create application instance
$app = new \Slim\App();
// Get container
$container = $app->getContainer();
// Register PhpRenderer in the container
$container['view'] = function ($container) {
// Declaring "global" variables
$templateVariables = [
'router' => $container->get('router')
];
// And passing the array as second argument to the contructor
return new \Slim\Views\PhpRenderer('path/to/templates/with/trailing/slash/', $templateVariables);
};

Answer 2

<?php namespace App\Helpers;
/********************/
//LinksHelper.php
/********************/
use Interop\Container\ContainerInterface;
class LinksHelper
{
protected $ci;
public function __construct(ContainerInterface $container){
$this->ci = $container;
}
public function __get($property){
if ($this->ci->has($property)) {
return $this->ci->get($property);
}
}
public function pathFor($name, $data = [], $queryParams = [], $appName = 'default')
{
return $this->router->pathFor($name, $data, $queryParams);
}
public function baseUrl()
{
if (is_string($this->uri)) {
return $this->uri;
}
if (method_exists($this->uri, 'getBaseUrl')) {
return $this->uri->getBaseUrl();
}
}
public function isCurrentPath($name, $data = [])
{
return $this->router->pathFor($name, $data) === $this->uri->getPath();
}
public function setBaseUrl($baseUrl)
{
$this->uri = $baseUrl;
}
}
?>
<?php
/********************/
//dependencies.php
/********************/
$container['link'] = function ($c) {
return new \App\Helpers\LinksHelper($c);
};
// view renderer
$container['view'] = function ($c) {
$settings = $c->get('settings');
$view = new App\Views\MyPhpRenderer($settings['renderer']['template_path']);
$view->setLayout('default.php');
//$view->addAttribute('title_for_layout', $settings['title_app'] .' :: ');
$view->setAttributes([
'title_for_layout'=>$settings['title_app'] .' :: ',
'link' => $c->get('link')
]);
return $view;
};
?>
<?php
/********************/
//routes.php
/********************/
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface as Request;
use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface as Response;
$app->get('/', function (Request $request, Response $response, array $args) {
return $this->view->render($response, 'your_view.php');
})->setName('home');
?>
<?php
/********************/
//your_view.php
/********************/
?>
Home

Answer 3

You should create a new class, e.g. MainMenu, and there you should create an array with all paths for menu. Object of MainMenu should return an array with labels and paths and then you can pass that array to your view:
$menu = (new MainMenu())->buildMenu();
$response = $this->view->render($response, "index.phtml", [
'menu' => $menu
]);
Then in your *.phtml file you have access to the $menu variable. But what if you do not want repeat that code in each route?
Use middlewares. You can pass a variable from middleware using
$request = $request->withAttribute('foo', 'bar');
and retrieve
$foo = $request->getAttribute('foo');