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Pascal Kriete1f622292011-04-07 12:06:51 -040031<td><h1>CodeIgniter User Guide Version 2.0.2</h1></td>
Derek Allard2067d1a2008-11-13 22:59:24 +000032<td id="breadcrumb_right"><a href="../toc.html">Table of Contents Page</a></td>
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47<td id="searchbox"><form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/search"><input type="hidden" name="as_sitesearch" id="as_sitesearch" value="codeigniter.com/user_guide/" />Search User Guide&nbsp; <input type="text" class="input" style="width:200px;" name="q" id="q" size="31" maxlength="255" value="" />&nbsp;<input type="submit" class="submit" name="sa" value="Go" /></form></td>
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57
58<h1>Views</h1>
59
60<p>A <dfn>view</dfn> is simply a web page, or a page fragment, like a header, footer, sidebar, etc.
61In fact, views can flexibly be embedded within other views (within other views, etc., etc.) if you need this type
62of hierarchy.</p>
63
64<p>Views are never called directly, they must be loaded by a <a href="controllers.html">controller</a>. Remember that in an MVC framework, the Controller acts as the
65traffic cop, so it is responsible for fetching a particular view. If you have not read the <a href="controllers.html">Controllers</a> page
66you should do so before continuing.</p>
67
68<p>Using the example controller you created in the <a href="controllers.html">controller</a> page, let's add a view to it.</p>
69
70<h2>Creating a View</h2>
71
72<p>Using your text editor, create a file called <dfn>blogview.php</dfn>, and put this in it:</p>
73
74<textarea class="textarea" style="width:100%" cols="50" rows="10">
75&lt;html>
76&lt;head>
77&lt;title>My Blog&lt;/title>
78&lt;/head>
79&lt;body>
80 &lt;h1>Welcome to my Blog!&lt;/h1>
81&lt;/body>
82&lt;/html>
83</textarea>
84
85<p>Then save the file in your <dfn>application/views/</dfn> folder.</p>
86
87<h2>Loading a View</h2>
88
89<p>To load a particular view file you will use the following function:</p>
90
91<code>$this->load->view('<var>name</var>');</code>
92
93<p>Where <var>name</var> is the name of your view file. Note: The .php file extension does not need to be specified unless you use something other than <kbd>.php</kbd>.</p>
94
95
96<p>Now, open the controller file you made earlier called <dfn>blog.php</dfn>, and replace the echo statement with the view loading function:</p>
97
98
99<textarea class="textarea" style="width:100%" cols="50" rows="10">
Derek Allard4b6d4932008-12-07 17:04:56 +0000100&lt;?php
Greg Aker16fcb2e2010-11-09 13:53:07 -0600101class Blog extends CI_Controller {
Derek Allard2067d1a2008-11-13 22:59:24 +0000102
103 function index()
104 {
105 $this->load->view('blogview');
106 }
107}
Derek Allard4b6d4932008-12-07 17:04:56 +0000108?&gt;
Derek Allard2067d1a2008-11-13 22:59:24 +0000109</textarea>
110
111
Derek Jonese77162b2010-09-27 09:08:00 -0500112<p>If you visit your site using the URL you did earlier you should see your new view. The URL was similar to this:</p>
Derek Allard2067d1a2008-11-13 22:59:24 +0000113
114<code>example.com/index.php/<var>blog</var>/</code>
115
116<h2>Loading multiple views</h2>
Derek Jonese77162b2010-09-27 09:08:00 -0500117<p>CodeIgniter will intelligently handle multiple calls to $this-&gt;load-&gt;view from within a controller. If more than one call happens they will be appended together. For example, you may wish to have a header view, a menu view, a content view, and a footer view. That might look something like this:</p>
Derek Allard2067d1a2008-11-13 22:59:24 +0000118<p><code>&lt;?php<br />
119<br />
Greg Aker16fcb2e2010-11-09 13:53:07 -0600120class Page extends CI_Controller {<br /><br />
Derek Allard2067d1a2008-11-13 22:59:24 +0000121
122 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;function index()<br />
123&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;{<br />
124&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$data['page_title'] = 'Your title';<br />
125&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$this-&gt;load-&gt;view('header');<br />
126&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$this-&gt;load-&gt;view('menu');<br />
127&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$this-&gt;load-&gt;view('content', $data);<br />
128&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$this-&gt;load-&gt;view('footer');<br />
129&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;}<br />
130<br />
131}<br />
132 ?&gt;</code></p>
133<p>In the example above, we are using &quot;dynamically added data&quot;, which you will see below.</p>
134<h2>Storing Views within Sub-folders</h2>
135<p>Your view files can also be stored within sub-folders if you prefer that type of organization. When doing so you will need
136to include the folder name loading the view. Example:</p>
137
138<code>$this->load->view('<kbd>folder_name</kbd>/<var>file_name</var>');</code>
139
140
141<h2>Adding Dynamic Data to the View</h2>
142
143<p>Data is passed from the controller to the view by way of an <strong>array</strong> or an <strong>object</strong> in the second
144parameter of the view loading function. Here is an example using an array:</p>
145
146<code>$data = array(<br />
147&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'title' => 'My Title',<br />
148&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'heading' => 'My Heading',<br />
149&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'message' => 'My Message'<br />
150&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;);<br />
151<br />
152$this->load->view('blogview', <var>$data</var>);</code>
153
154<p>And here's an example using an object:</p>
155
156<code>$data = new Someclass();<br />
157$this->load->view('blogview', <var>$data</var>);</code>
158
159<p>Note: If you use an object, the class variables will be turned into array elements.</p>
160
161
162<p>Let's try it with your controller file. Open it add this code:</p>
163
164<textarea class="textarea" style="width:100%" cols="50" rows="14">
165&lt;?php
Greg Aker16fcb2e2010-11-09 13:53:07 -0600166class Blog extends CI_Controller {
Derek Allard2067d1a2008-11-13 22:59:24 +0000167
168 function index()
169 {
170 $data['title'] = "My Real Title";
171 $data['heading'] = "My Real Heading";
Barry Mienydd671972010-10-04 16:33:58 +0200172
Derek Allard2067d1a2008-11-13 22:59:24 +0000173 $this->load->view('blogview', $data);
174 }
175}
176?&gt;
177</textarea>
178
179
180<p>Now open your view file and change the text to variables that correspond to the array keys in your data:</p>
181
182
183<textarea class="textarea" style="width:100%" cols="50" rows="10">
184&lt;html>
185&lt;head>
186&lt;title>&lt;?php echo $title;?>&lt;/title>
187&lt;/head>
188&lt;body>
189 &lt;h1>&lt;?php echo $heading;?>&lt;/h1>
190&lt;/body>
191&lt;/html>
192</textarea>
193
194<p>Then load the page at the URL you've been using and you should see the variables replaced.</p>
195
196<h2>Creating Loops</h2>
197
198<p>The data array you pass to your view files is not limited to simple variables. You can
199pass multi dimensional arrays, which can be looped to generate multiple rows. For example, if you
200pull data from your database it will typically be in the form of a multi-dimensional array.</p>
201
202<p>Here's a simple example. Add this to your controller:</p>
203
204<textarea class="textarea" style="width:100%" cols="50" rows="17">
205&lt;?php
Greg Aker16fcb2e2010-11-09 13:53:07 -0600206class Blog extends CI_Controller {
Derek Allard2067d1a2008-11-13 22:59:24 +0000207
208 function index()
209 {
210 $data['todo_list'] = array('Clean House', 'Call Mom', 'Run Errands');
211
212 $data['title'] = "My Real Title";
213 $data['heading'] = "My Real Heading";
Barry Mienydd671972010-10-04 16:33:58 +0200214
Derek Allard2067d1a2008-11-13 22:59:24 +0000215 $this->load->view('blogview', $data);
216 }
217}
218?&gt;
219</textarea>
220
221
222<p>Now open your view file and create a loop:</p>
223
224
225<textarea class="textarea" style="width:100%" cols="50" rows="24">
226&lt;html>
227&lt;head>
228&lt;title>&lt;?php echo $title;?>&lt;/title>
229&lt;/head>
230&lt;body>
231&lt;h1>&lt;?php echo $heading;?>&lt;/h1>
Barry Mienydd671972010-10-04 16:33:58 +0200232
233&lt;h3>My Todo List&lt;/h3>
Derek Allard2067d1a2008-11-13 22:59:24 +0000234
235&lt;ul>
Pascal Krietefeba2de2011-02-14 13:25:30 -0500236&lt;?php foreach ($todo_list as $item):?>
Derek Allard2067d1a2008-11-13 22:59:24 +0000237
238&lt;li>&lt;?php echo $item;?>&lt;/li>
239
240&lt;?php endforeach;?>
241&lt;/ul>
Barry Mienydd671972010-10-04 16:33:58 +0200242
Derek Allard2067d1a2008-11-13 22:59:24 +0000243&lt;/body>
244&lt;/html>
245</textarea>
246<p><strong>Note:</strong> You'll notice that in the example above we are using PHP's alternative syntax. If you
247are not familiar with it you can read about it <a href="alternative_php.html">here</a>.</p>
248
249<h2>Returning views as data</h2>
250
251<p>There is a third <strong>optional</strong> parameter lets you change the behavior of the function so that it returns data as a string
252rather than sending it to your browser. This can be useful if you want to process the data in some way. If you
253set the parameter to <kbd>true</kbd> (boolean) it will return data. The default behavior is <kbd>false</kbd>, which sends it
254to your browser. Remember to assign it to a variable if you want the data returned:</p>
255
256<code>$string = $this->load->view('<var>myfile</var>', '', <kbd>true</kbd>);</code>
257
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Derek Jones700205a2011-01-28 07:44:28 -0600270<p><a href="http://codeigniter.com">CodeIgniter</a> &nbsp;&middot;&nbsp; Copyright &#169; 2006 - 2011 &nbsp;&middot;&nbsp; <a href="http://ellislab.com/">EllisLab, Inc.</a></p>
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