Setting local variables cleanly in a MVC pattern in PHP

Question

I am experimenting with using the MVC pattern to set local vars in some code ie

$action=basename(__FILE__, '.php');               // load action from filename for consistancy (index for this case)
$controller = new seoController($action . '-seo'); // register controller with page action and parameter
$controller->invoke();                            // invoke controller for processing

$page_title = "<insert page title here>";
$page_desc = "<insert page desc here>";
$page_keys = "<insert page keywords here>";

Of course the controller calls the model and does all the backend stuff parsing the input, getting the data and then returning.

What I would like is a clean way to set the local $page_title etc vars from the seoModel that is instantiated in setController without using the $_SESSION or any other hacky kind of way.

Is it ok from a design POV to put methods in the controller to get the info? ie

$page_title = seoController->getPageTitle();

My controllers as of now are not being used in this type of way as all they do is connect my models to the views.

I hope I'm being clear enough with my explanation.

sitilge · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-21 13:08:46Z

Is it ok from a design POV to put methods in the controller to get the info?

Yes, thats what Controller is meant for.

What I would like is a clean way to set the local $page_title etc vars from the seoModel that is instantiated in setController without using the $_SESSION or any other hacky kind of way.

To avoid using $_SESSION that seems to be a bit overkill for this particular case you can set seoController attributes, for example,

Class seoController
{
    $public $page_tile = '';

    public method getPageTitle()
    {
        $model = new seoModel();
        $page_title = $model->get_page_title();
        $this->page_tile = $page_title;
        //you could also return the page title here, skipping that  
    }
}

And access them from the caller

$controller = new seoController;
$controller->getPageTitle();
$page_title = $controller->page_title;

Martin Bean · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-21 13:12:28Z

1

You would normally have things like meta tags stored with the model it’s describing. So if you’re loading say, a product from a model, then that model may also return the meta tags for that product:

public function show($productId)
{
    $product = $this->productModel->findById($productId);

    // Meta title may be available at $product->meta_title

    return new ViewModel(array(
        'product' => $product,
    ));
}

Your controller action would then return the data needed to be displayed in a view, which could be a HTML template, JSON, XML etc.

answered Apr 21, 2015 at 13:12

Martin Bean

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1 Comment

menriquez Over a year ago

also very helpful...i like this style..wish i could mark both these answers correct :)

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