php: simple template engine

Question

I have a function called load_template()

this function has two parameters

$name => the name of the template
$vars => array of key => value variables to be replaced in the template.

the way I want this to work is.

in the template ('test') I want to be able to write

<?php echo $title; ?>

then call

load_template('test', array('title' => 'My Title'));

and have it fill it out.

how can I do this?

Output buffering method. I have come up with the code below.
I am sure it can be improved.

public static function template($name, $vars = array()) {
  if (is_file(TEMPLATE_DIR . $name . '.php')) {
    ob_start();
    extract($vars);
    require(TEMPLATE_DIR . $name . '.php');
    $contents = ob_get_contents();
    ob_end_clean();
    return $contents;
  }
  throw new exception('Could not load template file \'' . $name . '\'');
  return false;
}

ob-way is okay if you need to return the contents. However, I see no use for this, save for some rare exceptional cases. Why not to let it go straight to the browser? — Your Common Sense
– Your Common Sense, Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 20:45
Whats wrong with standard includes? Are you templating the variable names? why is $title = "My Title"; include "test.templ" insufficient? — Captain Giraffe
– Captain Giraffe, Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 21:15

Oswald · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-20 20:31:55Z

10

function load_template($name, $vars)
{
  extract($vars);
  include $name;
}

Wrap with ob_start and ob_get_clean if you want to capture the output in a variable.

answered Jan 20, 2011 at 20:31

Oswald

31.8k3 gold badges45 silver badges72 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

zzzzBov · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-20 20:53:17Z

2

Something like this?

function load_template($name, $vars)
{
  include('template/'.$name.'.tpl'); //.tpl, .inc, .php, whatever floats your boat
}

and in template/whatever.tpl you'd have:

...
<title><?php echo $vars['title'] ?></title>
...

...
<?php if (!empty($vars['content'])): //template still needs to know if the content is empty to display the div ?>
    <div id="content">
<?php echo $vars['content']; ?>
    </div>
<?php endif; ?>
...

Of course, that assumes the output being printed directly. You could have the tpl file print directly, or produce a string, or buffer the output from the tpl file and return it from load_template

edited Jan 20, 2011 at 20:53

answered Jan 20, 2011 at 20:32

zzzzBov

180k57 gold badges328 silver badges375 bronze badges

3 Comments

Hailwood Over a year ago

not quite. I want to be able to return the loaded template as a string once it it processed. also, I would add in extract($vars) so that the variables do not have to be referenced from an array.

zzzzBov Over a year ago

yea, extract was the way to go in this case. I'd completely forgotten about it actually, just make sure you handle the cases of $vars['vars'] and $vars['name'] properly.

Your Common Sense Over a year ago

Get rid of all that if (!empty crap. it's business logic job. A template should be always supplied with full set of variables

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

php: simple template engine

2 Answers 2

Comments

3 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

3 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related