How to define a global variable(value) in codeIgniter - php

I simply do not mean how to define a global variable/constant in CodeIgniter.
Let me explain:
I have made a theme engine which is select-able from the current logged in user's control panel. This engine is not very complicated, but a simple folder. anyway, what I do across the application, is that I write one line of code to get the current theme selected by the user. I use a one line of code to get the name, and then store it in a variable:
$theme_name = $this->theme->get_theme_with_slash(false);
And then, I user $theme_name like this to get the proper view:
$this->load->view($theme_name.'result', $data);
And in all of my controllers that loads view I should repeat this process. What I need, is to call the function which gets the theme_name and store in the variable and then use the variable/session/function across the application. My approach currently is the helper's function which is a little less convenient compared to session/variable.

I got this from the manual and this what I have at the top of my config/config.php file: (i have a custom config set to paypal testing)
// HOW TO USE - For example if there's $config['foo'] = 'bar';
// in the config
// using $this- >config->item('foo') will be 'bar'.
// example for my paypal testing:
$config['paypaltest']=0;
http://ellislab.com/codeigniter%20/user-guide/libraries/config.html
and how to access in a controller:
$paypaltest = $this->config->item('paypaltest');

Create A core controller, since your process requires logical operations then you need a method for that.
application/core/MY_Controller.php
class MY_Controller Extends CI_Controller
{
protected $default_theme = 'theme';
public function __construct()
{
parent::__construct();
}
public function get_theme()
{
//your code for selecting the current theme selected from
//the database
$theme_from_db = '';
return $theme_from_db == NULL ? $this->default_theme : $theme_from_db;
}
}
Your Controller must extend MY_Controller
application/controller/view.php
class view extends MY_Controller
{
public function index()
{
$this->load->view($this->get_theme().'result', $data);
}
}

in code igniter global constants can be defined in
config->constants.php
even you no need to load it,it automatically autoloaded by CI automatically.

In Codeigniter all constant is defined inside application/config/constant.php.
like: define("CONSTANTNAME","value");
Constant degined here is accessible throughout all pages, ie; controllers, models and views

Related

how to retrieve data in view Independent of controller in codeigniter

I have a sidebar in my site that receive some information from db and I can't use controller for retrieve data because I have different controller and same sidebar. How can I print this data in view page.
when I wrote in P.h.P code in the view it shows an error that it cant define variables.
How could I do this?
When you find that you need the same code in many different controllers a "custom library" (class) is the perfect choice. Documentation for creating your own libraries is found HERE.
Controllers should be using models to get data from the database. Custom libraries can also use models just like controllers. Here is a very basic custom library called Sidebar. It depends on a model (sidebar_model) that will not be shown. The purpose of the Sidebar library is to return the variables need by the sidebar_view file.
File: application/libraries/Sidebar.php
<?php
defined('BASEPATH') OR exit('No direct script access allowed');
class Sidebar
{
protected $CI; // Read the documentation link to see why this is needed.
public function __construct()
{
$this->CI = & get_instance();
$this->CI->load->database(); //only needed if not already done
$this->CI->load->model('sidebar_model');
}
public function get_sidebar_data()
{
return $this->CI->sidebar_model->get_sidebar();
}
}
The library method get_sidebar_data() returns the variables for the view.
Here is a controller that uses the custom library. It will use the custom library and a view file (not shown) containing HTML for the sidebar.
File: application/controllers/Main.php
class Main extends CI_Controller
{
function __construct()
{
parent::__construct();
$this->load->library('sidebar'); //can also be autoloaded
}
public function index()
{
$data['sidebar'] = $this->sidebar->get_sidebar();
$this->load
->view('banner')
->view('sidebar_view', $data)
->view('main_view')
->view('footer_view');
}
}
Any other controller that needs to show the sidebar would use this same pattern.
This controller loads four different view files and is using "method chaining" which is encouraged. Method chaining executes a tiny bit faster. But the best reason for using it? Less typing.
The method chaning could also be type like this:
$this->load->view('banner')->view('sidebar_view', $data)->view('main_view')->view('footer_view');
But, IMO, putting each ->view() on a separate line makes it easier to read.
You can create a helper for your common tasks. Then create a function for your sidebar and call it where you need it. Check this link for more details about creating helper
You can also create a library for it. Although it will not a very good choice.
create sidebar (view page) and Call model directly inside that sidebar (view page).
secondly call sidebar (view page) directly inside all other view pages.

Make things available in any view file Laravel

I have a question about making some elements available in any view file
Lets say im building a webshop and on every page i will be having my sidebar, shoppingcart, user greeting in the top.
How can i make these things available in all my view files?
I could make a class, lets say class Frontend
I could do something like this:
class Frontend {
static $me;
public function get(){
if(!self::$me){
self::$me = new self();
}
return self::$me;
}
private function getShoppingCart(){
// do things
}
public function getData(){
return array(
'Username' => User::find(1)->UserName,
'Cart' => $this->getShoppingCart()
);
}
}
Now in my controller i could pass this Frontend object into the view
View::make('file.view')->with(array('data' => Frontend::get()->getData()));
But this way i will end up with a god class containing way too much stuff and in every controller method i would have to pass these data, which is not relevant to the controller method
Is there a way in Laravel that makes specific data available across all view files?
Thanks!
Use share:
View::share('name', 'Steve');
as per http://laravel.com/docs/responses#views
To keep everything clean, every part of the page should be its own *.blade.php file which would be put together using a master template of sorts.
master.blade.php
#yield('includes.sidebar')
#yield('users.greeting')
#yield('store.shoppingcart')
Then you can use view composers so that each time these views are loaded, the data you want is injected into them. I would probably either create a new file which would get autoloaded, or if you have service providers for the separate portions of your app that these views would use, it would also go great in there.
View::composer('users.greeting', function($view)
{
$view->with('user', Auth::user());
});
In this case, it would make the user model available inside your view. This makes it very easy to manage which data gets injected into your views.
You are close with your 'god class' idea.
Setting a $data variable in a basecontroller has helped me with similar issues
class BaseController extends Controller {
protected $data;
public function __construct() {
$this->data['Username'] = User::find(1)->UserName
$this->data['Cart'] = $this->getShoppingCart()
}
}
class Frontend extends BaseController {
function someMethod(){
View::make('file.view', $this->data)
}
}

Why are two controller methods being called in CodeIgniter?

Should I not be using Index as the name for a controller class in CodeIgniter? I have an Index controller, and I'm seeing its methods being called multiple times. More specifically, I always see its index method called first, whether or not I'm visiting a path that should be routed there.
In application/controllers/index.php
class Index extends CI_Controller
{
public function index()
{
echo "index";
}
public function blah()
{
echo "blah";
}
}
When I visit index/blah, I see indexblah printed. When I visit index/index, I see indexindex. If I rename the controller to something else (e.g. Foo), it doesn't have a problem. That's the obvious workaround, but can anyone tell me why this is happening? Should I report this as a bug to CodeIgniter?
(Notes: I have no routes set up in configs/routes.php; my index.php is outside the CodeIgniter tree)
To further clarify what the issue is, in PHP4 Constructors were a function that had the same name as the Class...
example
class MyClass
{
public function MyClass()
{
// as a constructor, this function is called every
// time a new "MyClass" object is created
}
}
Now for the PHP5 version (Which codeigniter now, as of 2.0.x, holds as a system requirement)
class MyClass
{
public function __construct()
{
// as a constructor, this function is called every
// time a new "MyClass" object is created
}
}
So To answer the question that addresses the problem...
Should I not be using Index as the name for a controller class in CodeIgniter?
I believe it would be best to not choose Index as a controller name as the index() function has a reserved use in codeigniter. This could cause issues depending on your PHP configuration.
can anyone tell me why this is happening?
When your controller get's instantiated, index as the constructor is getting called.
Compare Constructors and DestructorsDocs:
For backwards compatibility, if PHP 5 cannot find a __construct() function for a given class, it will search for the old-style constructor function, by the name of the class . [highlighting by me]
In your case your Controller does not have any __construct() function but a function that has the same name as the class: index. It is getting called in the moment Codeigniter resolves and loads and then instantiates your Index Controller.
You can solve this by just adding the constructor to your Controller:
class Index extends CI_Controller
{
public function __construct() {}
public function index()
{
echo "index";
}
public function blah()
{
echo "blah";
}
}
After this change, it does not happen again.
Should I report this as a bug to CodeIgniter?
No, there is not really a need to report this as a bug, it's how the language work and as Codeigniter supports PHP 4 it must remain backwards compatible and needs to offer PHP 4 constructors. (Note: The Codeigniter project documents, they need server support for PHP version 5.1.6 or newer, but the actual code has PHP 4 compatiblity build in, I'm referring to the codebase here, not the documentation.)
Here is another solution using Codeigniter3
require_once 'Base.php';
class Index extends Base
{
public function __construct()
{
parent::index();
$classname=$this->router->fetch_class();
$actioname=$this->router->fetch_method();
if($actioname=='index' || $actioname == '')
{
$this->viewall();
}
}
}
And the viewall() had the following
$this->siteinfo['site_title'].=' | Welcome';
$this->load->view('templates/header', $this->siteinfo);
$this->load->view('templates/menu', $this->siteinfo);
$this->load->view('index/viewall', $data);
$this->load->view('templates/footer', $this->siteinfo);
The Base controller does all the library and helper loading for the entire application which is why it is being required in the default class
Basically from my short understanding of CodeIgniter, having a default action as index is a wrong. I found this out by using the printing the result of $this->router->fetch_method(); in the construct() of my index class. The default action by CodeIgniter is index, you may only set the default controller within application/config/routes.php and not the default action.
So my advice, never use index() as the default action especially if you are using index as the default controller

All admin/user functions checking if he/she is logged in - How to avoid this?

I am very, very new with MVC (just started yesterday) so this question is probably stupid, but I need to know how to check automatically if user is logged in on my functions that are in admin/user models.
I can put the checking in construct, this would help, but I have several models and maybe there is some even better way. I hope you will understand better what I want after you see my folder structure and code. Oh, and by the way - I use Code Igniter 2.0
Folders:
controllers/
../admin/
../../item.php
../../cat.php
Let's see my item.php file...
<?php
class Item extends CI_Controller
{
function Index()
{
//Checking if admin is logged in on every function is bad
/*
* Is it possible to somehow make all admin functions go through
* some kind of Admin class that will check automatically?
*/
$isLogged = $this->session->userdata('is_logged_in');
if ($isLogged == true)
{
$this->load->view('admin/item/main');
}
else
{
$this->load->view('admin/login');
}
}
function Add()
{
$this->load->view('admin/item/add');
}
function Edit()
{
$this->load->view('admin/item/edit');
}
function Delete()
{
$this->load->view('admin/item/delete');
}
}
I hope that this is easy question, thanks in advance :)
I would implement the login-function in CI_Controller.
Then I would set an protected variable in Item protected $loginRequired = true;.
In function __construct() or Item() I would call parent::isLoginRequired($this->loginRequired) which checks if a login is required.
I would also redirect to a specific login page with a parameter which redirects the user back to the page he needs to be logged in.
Make a new class, for example, My_Controller extends Ci_Controller and write some auth checker code in it... in controller file just extend My_Controller
what i usually do is -like Teeed recommends- Create my own controller Class which is between the CI_Controller and each controller you might create.
In that class (MY_Controller) you can instantiate a model which handles all user related data and logics (loading session data, executing specific checks, etc..) and finally set as class variables those results, so you will end up having:
$this->isLogged ;
$this->isPaying ;
$this->isPlatinumMember ;
etc..
in any of your classes extending from MY_Controller
that makes very easy to check any condition within any of your Controllers.

CodeIgniter global variable

I am using $data in all my views $this->load->view('my_view', $data);
I have also autoload a Controller following this guide Extending Core Controller
But I want to make $data global because in views there is a sidebar which is constant for whole project and displays info fetched through db in autoloaded controller
Currently I have to manually write $data['todo'] for each and fetch info from autoloaded model.
Thank You.
1: Create MY_Controller in application/libraries with following:
class MY_Controller extends Controller {
var $data;
//constructor function
}
2: Replace Controller to MY_Controller in all your controller files and load views with $this->data
class Contact extends Controller { //to.. }
class Contact extends MY_Controller {
$this->load->view('contact_view', $this->data);
}
this way you can perform default functions that are applicable for whole site in MY_Controller like loading settings.
I ran into a similar problem earlier today. I found that an easier way, rather than globals, was to use constants. You can define a constants file that will load from your index.php file:
// Include additional constants
$defines_file = 'includes/defines.php';
if (file_exists($defines_file))
{
require_once($defines_file);
}
Then you can add your constants to the defines.php file:
define(MY_CONSTANT,'my constant info');
This way they will be available in any file throughout the system either directly: echo MY_CONSTANT; or you can assign them to variables.
I decided this way would be easier for me as I would only have 1 location to go to when/if I needed to change the constants.
More: http://codeigniter.com/forums/viewthread/56981/#280205
I used a helper function to call a global function!
eg.
function get_user($userid){
$CI =& get_instance();
$query = $CI->db->get_where('users', array('id' => $userid), 1, 0);
foreach ($query->result() as $row){
// Return a object with userdata!
return $row;
}
}
Now I have access to my userdata everywhere..
Rather than making the view data global, I'd recommend using HMVC to build a module to produce this sidebar view. HMVC is a nice clean way of coding partial views.

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