Hi I am new to Zend Framework and using version 1.12 to start with. I am trying to build my first site and dont know which direction to take.
I have an HTML template that I set as my Zend Layout and the navigation menu has link structured in a
Should I just create my site structure by assigning links in the layout or use Zend Navigation.
What are the benefits of using Zend Navigation? At this point it seems much simpler to adapt the HTML to go to the controller/action than trying to format the menu created from zend navigation with css.
You can create an xml file with your structure so it'll be easy to edit and keep track of. It'll add the class .active automatically to your li's. You'll have a cleaner layout script.
I mainly use it with my ACL. There is probably more reasons.
Related
How to make master pages in php? Like a Layout.cshtml (and RenderBody()) in ASP.NET MVC?
Thanks!
P.S. Maybe there's a third-party tool for the purpose?
EDIT
Ok. The thing is not about MVC architecture! Do look here: http://jsfiddle.net/challenger/8qn22/109/
I want the master page/layout to stay when user gets redirected to the other page
Want an average page to be nested inside the content division. So if it is a form I want this form to be displayed like: http://jsfiddle.net/challenger/XgFGb/17/
Here's what PHP standard framework/api supports:
The require("/definitions.php") function loads class, function and constants defines from a file and outputs the content outside of PHP code to php://stdout (on a webserver this is what is sent to the browser). You might wanna use require_once for importing dependencies (php files with definitions).
Use the PHP's open and close tags to obtain something close to templating functionality.
For example a normal page would look like this:
while an included (and repeatably includable) one could look like this:
I'm not saying "don't use templating engines", just showing a clear and simple way of achieving things which PHP is purposely built for. If this is enough for you needs, I then do say "don't use templating engines for the sake of it" (btw, if you are tidy, you can easily separate logic from views, without strict and sometimes cumbersome MVC frameworks).
Off hand, I know that the Laravel framework includes the Blade templating engine. It uses a syntax very similar to Razor.
Example:
#layout('master')
#section('navigation')
#parent
<li>Nav Item 3</li>
#endsection
#section('content')
Welcome to the profile page!
#endsection
(Razor, Blade, loller skates)
In PHP, there is a very similar technique called templating. Instead of a master page, you have a template. The language itself has no built-in templating features, but there are third-party templating engines (Smarty, PHPTAL, and XTemplate, to name a few).
If you want to have "real" master pages, it is entirely possible to implement them. Just wrap you master page into a class and include() that class into your content pages.
Also Zend Framework supports a two step view, where a view template is rendered inside a layout template. I think this satisfies your need for master pages.
See following links:
Approximating Master Pages in PHP
Is there anything like MasterPages on CodeIgniter Framework?
PHP Equivalent of Master page in ASP.NET
ASP.Net MVC or Zend Framework. What is your opinion
http://hoolihan.net/blog-tim/2008/09/24/simple-masterpages-with-php/
The Twig template engine offers Template Inheritance
The most powerful part of Twig is template inheritance. Template inheritance allows you to build a base "skeleton" template that contains all the common elements of your site and defines blocks that child templates can override.
Can be used as a standalone, but was made by the people behind the popular symfony framework.
A while ago (several years), I achieved something like this using Smarty, and extending it to contain a method to the effect of DisplayMaster("NameOfTemplate", "NameOfMasterTemplate")
It works by rendering a template and passing the result into another (master) template.
Above has 2 templates:
NameOfTemplate, just has the main content section, e.g.
<div>...{$someProcessing}</div>
NameOfMasterTemplate has the outer html
<html>...<body><div class="layout">{$innerHtml}</div></body></html>
Ok. The solution that suits me the best is described here http://www.phpro.org/tutorials/Introduction-to-PHP-templating.html#9. It is easy, fast to imlement and doesn't enforce you to use a templating engine. Cool!
Add this piece of code in the content area of your master.php file...
I am using it like this and it perfectly working for me
<li>BLOG</li>
<div class="container content">
<?php
if(isset($_GET['page']))
{
$page_name = $_GET['page'];
include("/".$page_name);
}
?>
</div>
I am making a site with Joomla mainly because of the user levels. Now hands on into development enough that I cannot back out, I've realized that Joomla's theming is not as awesome as WordPress'.
When I started making the Joomla theme I realized there is no single.php like separate template for displaying article pages. But I want that when I click on an article link the page layout is wider so that the full article is more readable, basically I wanna hide the sidebar and make the article column wider when viewing a single article.
The biggest problem is that I have finished the HTML & CSS pre Joomla or any CMS jump with all the HTML5 tags and what not. I figured there would be template tags like WordPress or something similar that would give me complete control of my HTML but with Joomla everything just gets rendered as complete components with HTML and CSS all set in. It was such a pain when the pagination just rendered as a list when all I wanted was 2 links of previous page and next page. Am I doing something wrong or is Joomla just built this way.
If I start changing the components and modules the way I want, will they be changed back to defaults when I update the core. I read somewhere from 1.7 Joomla has integrated 1 click upgrades.
I sincerely hope I'm just wrong.
Sorry for jamming three questions in one but I think my title is quite explanatory so anyone looking for similar things would understand.
Thanks! I appreciate all the help.
and welcome to Joomla. Because your question(s) are long so will your answer so hold still...
First of all just to clear it up, the Joomla templating is a proper templating engine where as Wordpress is not (it's not even a CMS - check their website), this is often construed as poor coding rather than best practice as it's more of a steep learning curve.
1) I wanna hide the sidebar and make the article column wider when viewing a single article.
This can be done through conditional assignment within your template, if around your RH column in your template you can place this if statement:
if (JRequest::getString('option') != 'com_content' && JRequest::getString('view') != 'article') { echo '<div id="myRightHandColumn"><jdoc:include type="modules" name="right" style="xhtml" /></div>'; }
You will also need to apply this code to add a class to your wrapper around your main content to tell your CSS to make it wide.
2) give me complete control of my HTML but with Joomla everything just gets rendered as complete components with HTML and CSS all set in
That's not entirely true, all WELL made extensions have a views folder containing overridable html output. For example if you wished different HTML to be outputted for the article view from com_content you would copy this file:
/components/com_content/views/article/tmpl/default.php
and place it in your template like so:
/templates/your_template_name/html/com_content/article/default.php
3) If I start changing the components and modules the way I want, will they be changed back to defaults when I update the core.
Assuming you follow my instructions and use overrides rather than core-hacks then you will not lose changes when upgrading the core. Naturally you should never upgrade in a production environment.
If any parts are unclear just drop a comment and I will help as best I can.
You are definitely doing it wrong, Joomla's templating system is far more advanced and flexible than WP. You need to read up on the template override system and how to use collapsible module positions. The official documentation is still 1.5 focused, but it's pretty much the same thing as far as overrides and modules are concerned.
Overrides - http://docs.joomla.org/Understanding_Output_Overrides
Collapsing columns - http://docs.joomla.org/Collapsing_columns
All template docs - http://docs.joomla.org/Template_Development
You should also look in to the new template style options.
I want to create a form similar to drupal's permissions form (http://i.stack.imgur.com/qJunz.jpg) using zend framework. any tips to create this using zend Decorators?
This is a very good explanation from the creator of Zend_Form , he also discusses how to use td,tr html tags to create grid
http://devzone.zend.com/article/3450
I started using symfony a few weeks ago, and there are some things that are not clear for me.
My question is that how could I put a list of categories (for menu) in the main layout of an application? How can I pass a variable for this layout and where to put this variable? I don't want to put it in every module.
Thanks.
Did you read about components, slots and partials? Start here: http://www.symfony-project.org/gentle-introduction/1_4/en/07-Inside-the-View-Layer#chapter_07_code_fragments
And here's the best menu plugin ever: http://www.symfony-project.org/plugins/ioMenuPlugin
You can't pass variables for the layout. Instead you can use partials or components.
I was recently brought on to help with a project that was made up of individual HTML files with the exception of a PHP contact form. So there's not even a hint of object oriented programming, MVC, or layouts (or even PHP for that matter).
The project is quite large, but I wanted to slowly integrate the Zend Framework into this project, mostly to start using layouts. There are so many redundancies that it is such a waste of time to make small updates that should have been made in one file.
In the early days of PHP, you could separate your content blocks by including them in each page (a header and footer for example). Now, using MVC frameworks like the Zend Framework, you can create layout files that include the individual page content (views) using a view helper. I really like this because it means I only have to "include" my header, or footer, in one place.
However, I'm not sure how this would work without dispatching/bootstrapping the application (i.e. using the Zend Framework MVC components as standalone components instead). What would be the best approach to switching the site over to use layouts? How would it work? Is this even a good idea?
I've recently begun a transformation of a mish-mash file structure* to make use of ZF's layout & views. The goal is to move all files containing html into the recommended file structure for layouts and views. This is how to prepare for it:
Extract all markup from each file, keep variables in it but no logic. Name this file /application/views/scripts/page/view.phtml (for example /application/views/scripts/index/login.phtml)
Create a skeleton that fits most pages as /application/layouts/scripts/layout.phtml and let it contain something like this:
<?php echo $this->doctype('XHTML1_STRICT'); ?>
<html>
<head>
<?php echo $this->headLink(); ?>
</head>
<body>
<div id="wrapper">
<?php echo $this->layout()->content; ?>
</div>
</body>
</html>
(Add Zend to your include path and register its Autoloader.) Create a file that will be included in all of your files (unless you have a single point of entry, in that case - place it there!) Create a reference to your layout, equivalent to this:
$view = new Zend_View();
$view->setScriptPath('/application/views/scripts');
$layout = new Zend_Layout();
$layout->setLayoutPath('/application/layouts/scripts');
$layout->setView($view);
Zend_Registry::getInstance()->set('layout', $layout);
Each php file you have left (with logic, not html) needs to have access to the layout, and modifying it:
$layout = Zend_Registry::getInstance()->get('layout');
$view = $layout->getView();
$view->headLink()->appendStylesheet('/css/a_css_file.css');
// most important step, done automatically when using MVC, but now you have to do it manually
$layout->content = $view->render('index/login.phtml');
echo $layout->render();
Most important next step is adding another layout:
// /application/layouts/scripts/blank.phtml
<?php echo $this->doctype('XHTML1_STRICT'); ?>
<html>
<head></head>
<body>
<?php echo $this->layout()->content; ?>
</body>
</html>
and in one of your logic-containg files
$layout = Zend_Registry::getInstance()->get('layout');
$layout->setLayout('blank');
Ideally, in a near future you can start adapting to a MVC-like structure by looking at a design pattern like Front Controller.
*One file: model, controller, html, in no logical order.
You can certainly use Zend_Layout in isolation and it's detailed in the manual:
28.2.3. Using Zend_Layout as a Standalone Component
I believe you would then need to capture you script's output via output buffering, and pass it to the layout to be echoed.
This situation is not ideal, and without moving to the full MVC I'd probably recommend using a different, basic templating system or following the advice in other comments here.
Personally, I'd recommend not using the Zend Framework if you're only planning on using it for template/layout management. There are much better solutions for templating with PHP, with Smarty being the obvious choice (formerly part of the PHP project).
Smarty does provide a reasonably easy integration with the Zend Framework, if you need to do this at a later date, and there are a few articles on it on the Zend DevZone.
I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but the bbc has some videos where they use parts of the zend framework without using the whole MVC. I think they are in parts 4 & 5, http://bbcwebdevelopers.blip.tv/
Zend_Layout isn't really about including a header or footer, rather it is best used to insert various bits of content into a single large template. It's pretty sophisticated and as well as common use cases such as inserting the main body of content you can insert HEAD tags such as CSS, scripts or title tags and custom placeholders such as navigation.
From your description I'd go for a simple PHP include header and footer solution. It will be easier to implement and will remove any duplication of common template elements.
If you really want to use this to learn Zend Framework you could use Zend_Layout in the standalone mode as dcaunt suggests. There is no point trying to use the MVC bootstrap system since your site doesn't appear to need it. I'd simply do something like use URL rewriting to send all *.html requests to a single PHP file which then starts Zend_Layout and loads the requested file into the $layout->content variable via something like file_get_contents()
You could then also use ZF for the form processing if you wished.
i dont think you can do this by default, i think you need to use the Zend View as well.
But i am sure you can modify the Zend_Layout to work with your existing setup. Sorry i cant be more specific on how to do this, because it depends a lot of what is currently in place.
As a starting point i recommend looking into Smarty integrations into Zend to see how you can modify it.