How do I catch the HTML generated by a function? - php

Question

I have a php function that generates HTML code like below
function j_uf_SomeFunction($some_var) {
?><div class="db_photo">
<img alt="<?php echo some_php_function ?>" src="<?php echo $some_var; ?>" />
</div><?php
}
Of course, its much more advanced and add all sorts of user options.
In most case I place this function inline, as opposed to have to append it to a string. However, I've come to the first occurrence (probably not the last occurrence) where I need to store the rendered HTML in a string and not have it sent straight off to the parser for building the page.
I need to cut the function off and tell it to take the html generated and store it in a string, and not send it off to the page, only on certain situations.

Answer 1

function j_uf_SomeFunction($some_var) {
ob_start();
?><div class="db_photo">
<img alt="<?php echo some_php_function ?>" src="<?php echo $some_var; ?>" />
</div><?php
return ob_get_clean();//suggestion by GWW
}
ob_start() is starting buffer receive
ob_get_clean() cleans current buffer and returns its value.
More info on http://php.net/manual/en/function.ob-start.php
ob * output buffering

Answer 2

It sounds like output buffers are one possible solution to your problem.
You use an output buffer like so:
ob_start();
j_uf_SomeFunction($someVar);
$buffer = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();
The $buffer variable now contains anything printed out by the function.
It's important to always close output buffers with ob_end_clean or ob_end_flush. You can read more here: http://php.net/manual/en/book.outcontrol.php
Regards,
Chris

Answer 3

I don't I have a template system to parse this functions value into... its not your standard function call.
sure you do... its jsut contained within the function :-)
using translation:
function j_uf_SomeFunction($some_var) {
$html = "<div class="db_photo"><img alt="%some_function_result%" src="%some_var%" /></div>";
$tokens = array(
'%some_var%' => $some_var,
'%some_function_call_result%' => some_function_call()
);
return strtr($html, $tokens); // or echo
}
using string manipulation:
function j_uf_SomeFunction($some_var) {
$html = '<div class="db_photo"><img alt="%s" src="%s" /></div>';
return sprintf($html, some_function_call(), $some_var); //or echo
}
if some_function_call actually outputs html directly with its own echo then jsut use a buffer:
function j_uf_SomeFunction($some_var) {
ob_start();
some_function_call();
$somefunc = ob_get_clean();
$html = '<div class="db_photo"><img alt="%s" src="%s" /></div>';
return sprintf($html, $somefunc, $some_var); //or echo
}