CodeIgniter - Variable scope - php

Question

I have a controller which I use for a login form. In the view, I have a {error} variable which I want to fill in by using the parser lib, when there is an error. I have a function index() in my controller, controlled by array $init which sets some base variables and the error message to '':
function index()
{
$init = array(
'base_url' => base_url(),
'title' => 'Login',
'error' => ''
);
$this->parser->parse('include/header', $init);
$this->parser->parse('login/index', $init);
$this->parser->parse('include/footer', $init);
}
At the end of my login script, I have the following:
if { // query successful }
else
{
$init['error'] = "fail";
$this->parser->parse('login/index', $init);
}
Now, of course this doesn't work. First of all, it only loads the index view, without header and footer, and it fails at setting the original $init['error'] to (in this case) "fail". I was trying to just call $this->index() with perhaps the array as argument, but I can't seem to figure out how I can pass a new $init['error'] which overrides the original one. Actually, while typing this, it seems to impossible to do what I want to do, as the original value will always override anything new.. since I declare it as nothing ('').
So, is there a way to get my error message in there, or not? And if so, how. If not, how would I go about getting my error message in the right spot? (my view: {error}. I've tried stuff with 'global' to bypass the variable scope but alas, this failed. Thanks a lot in advance.

Answer 1

$init musst be modified before generating your view.
To load your header and footer you can include the following command and the footer's equivalent into your view.
<?php $this->load->view('_header'); ?>
to display errors, you can as well use validation_errors()
if you are using the codeigniter form validation.
if you are using the datamapper orm for codeigniter you can write model validations, and if a query fails due to validation rule violation, you get a proper error message in the ->error property of your model.
Code for your model:
var $validation = array(
'user_name' => array(
'rules' => array('required', 'max_length' => 120),
'label' => 'Name'
)
);

Answer 2

You might try this:
function index() {
$init = array(
'base_url' => base_url(),
'title' => 'Login',
'error' => ''
);
$string = $this->parser->parse('include/header', $init, TRUE);
$string .= $this->parser->parse('login/index', $init, TRUE);
$string .= $this->parser->parse('include/footer', $init, TRUE);
$this->parser->parse_string(string);
}
In parse()you can pass TRUE (boolean) to the third parameter, when you want data returned instead of being sent (immediately) to the output class. By the other hand, the method parse_string works exactly like `parse(), only accepts a string as the first parameter in place of a view file, thus it works in conjunction.