CakePHP: passing a variable to a view - php

Question

I basically want to echo the number of articles on the articles index template page. I have a method in the controller. How do I echo the result of that method in the index page?
Controller
public function articleCount()
{
$article_count = $this->Articles->find('all')->count();
$this->set('article_count',$article_count );
}
index
<div class="col-xs-12 col-md-6 col-lg-3 widget">
<div class="panel panel-red panel-widget">
<div class="row no-padding">
<div class="col-sm-3 col-lg-5 widget-left">
</div>
<div class="col-sm-9 col-lg-7 widget-right">
<div class="large"><?= echo article count here! ?></div>
<div class="text-muted">Categories</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Im fairly new to cakephp and would appreciate any help you can give

Answer 1

The code you used needs to be in the index action, in the Controller:
public function index()
{
// ...
$article_count = $this->Articles->find('all')->count();
$this->set('article_count',$article_count );
// ...
}
Once you've done that, you can use the $article_count variable:
<div class="col-xs-12 col-md-6 col-lg-3 widget">
<div class="panel panel-red panel-widget">
<div class="row no-padding">
<div class="col-sm-3 col-lg-5 widget-left">
</div>
<div class="col-sm-9 col-lg-7 widget-right">
<div class="large"><?= echo $article_count ?></div>
<div class="text-muted">Categories</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>