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| admin | 9fc347d | 2006-09-21 00:00:28 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 36 | <td><h1>Code Igniter User Guide Version 1.4.1</h1></td>
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| admin | b0dd10f | 2006-08-25 17:25:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 37 | <td id="breadcrumb_right"><a href="../toc.html">Full Table of Contents</a></td>
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| 38 | </tr>
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| 39 | </table>
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| 42 |
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| 43 |
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| 45 | <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" style="width:100%">
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| 46 | <tr>
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| 47 | <td id="breadcrumb">
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| 48 | <a href="http://www.codeigniter.com/">Code Igniter Home</a> ›
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| 49 | <a href="../index.html">User Guide Home</a> ›
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| 50 | Controllers
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| 51 | </td>
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| 52 | <td id="searchbox"><form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/search"><input type="hidden" name="as_sitesearch" id="as_sitesearch" value="www.codeigniter.com/user_guide/" />Search User Guide <input type="text" class="input" style="width:200px;" name="q" id="q" size="31" maxlength="255" value="" /> <input type="submit" class="submit" name="sa" value="Go" /></form></td>
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| 58 |
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| 59 |
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| 60 | <!-- START CONTENT -->
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| 61 | <div id="content">
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| 62 |
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| 63 | <h1>Controllers</h1>
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| 64 |
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| 65 | <p>Controllers are the heart of your application, as they determine how HTTP requests should be handled.</p>
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| 66 |
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| 67 |
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| 68 | <ul>
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| 69 | <li><a href="#what">What is a Controller?</a></li>
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| 70 | <li><a href="#hello">Hello World</a></li>
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| 71 | <li><a href="#functions">Functions</a></li>
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| admin | 2c676ef | 2006-09-21 16:54:44 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 72 | <li><a href="#passinguri">Passing URI Segments to Your Functions</a></li>
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| admin | b0dd10f | 2006-08-25 17:25:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 73 | <li><a href="#default">Defining a Default Controller</a></li>
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| admin | c1fa074 | 2006-09-21 23:50:23 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 74 | <li><a href="#remapping">Remapping Function Calls</a></li>
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| 75 | <li><a href="#output">Controlling Output Data</a></li>
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| 76 | <li><a href="#private">Private Functions</a></li>
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| admin | b071bb5 | 2006-08-26 19:28:37 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 77 | <li><a href="#subfolders">Organizing Controllers into Sub-folders</a></li>
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| admin | b0dd10f | 2006-08-25 17:25:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 78 | <li><a href="#constructors">Class Constructors</a></li>
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| 79 | <li><a href="#reserved">Reserved Function Names</a></li>
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| 80 | </ul>
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| 81 |
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| 82 |
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| 83 | <a name="what"></a>
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| 84 | <h2>What is a Controller?</h2>
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| 85 |
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| 86 | <p><dfn>A Controller is simply a class file that is named in a way that can be associated with a URI.</dfn></p>
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| 87 |
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| 88 | <p>Consider this URI:</p>
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| 89 |
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| 90 | <code>www.your-site.com/index.php/<var>blog</var>/</code>
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| 91 |
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| 92 | <p>In the above example, Code Igniter would attempt to find a controller named <dfn>blog.php</dfn> and load it.</p>
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| 93 |
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| 94 | <p><strong>When a controller's name matches the first segment of a URI, it will be loaded.</strong></p>
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| 95 |
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| 96 | <a name="hello"></a>
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| 97 | <h2>Let's try it: Hello World!</h2>
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| 98 |
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| 99 | <p>Let's create a simple controller so you can see it in action. Using your text editor, create a file called <dfn>blog.php</dfn>, and put the following code in it:</p>
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| 100 |
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| 101 |
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| 102 | <textarea class="textarea" style="width:100%" cols="50" rows="10">
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| 103 | <?php
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| 104 | class Blog extends Controller {
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| 105 |
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| 106 | function index()
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| 107 | {
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| 108 | echo 'Hello World!';
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| 109 | }
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| 110 | }
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| 111 | ?>
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| 112 | </textarea>
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| 113 |
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| 114 |
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| 115 |
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| 116 | <p>Then save the file to your <dfn>application/controllers/</dfn> folder.</p>
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| 117 |
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| 118 | <p>Now visit the your site using a URL similar to this:</p>
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| 119 |
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| 120 | <code>www.your-site.com/index.php/<var>blog</var>/</code>
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| 121 |
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| 122 | <p>If you did it right, you should see <samp>Hello World!</samp>.</p>
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| 123 |
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| 124 | <p>Note: Class names must start with an uppercase letter. In other words, this is valid:
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| 125 |
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| 126 | <code><?php<br />
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| 127 | class <var>Blog</var> extends Controller {<br />
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| 128 | <br />
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| 129 | }<br />
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| 130 | ?></code>
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| 131 |
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| 132 | <p>This is <strong>not</strong> valid:</p>
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| 133 |
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| 134 | <code><?php<br />
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| 135 | class <var>blog</var> extends Controller {<br />
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| 136 | <br />
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| 137 | }<br />
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| 138 | ?></code>
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| 139 |
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| 140 | <p>Also, always make sure your controller <dfn>extends</dfn> the parent controller class so that it can inherit all its functions.</p>
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| 141 |
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| 142 |
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| 143 |
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| 144 | <a name="functions"></a>
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| 145 | <h2>Functions</h2>
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| 146 |
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| 147 | <p>In the above example the function name is <dfn>index()</dfn>. The "index" function is always loaded by default if the
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| 148 | <strong>second segment</strong> of the URI is empty. Another way to show your "Hello World" message would be this:</p>
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| 149 |
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| 150 | <code>www.your-site.com/index.php/<var>blog</var>/<samp>index</samp>/</code>
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| 151 |
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| 152 | <p><strong>The second segment of the URI determines which function in the controller gets called.</strong></p>
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| 153 |
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| 154 | <p>Let's try it. Add a new function to your controller:</p>
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| 155 |
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| 156 |
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| 157 | <textarea class="textarea" style="width:100%" cols="50" rows="15">
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| 158 | <?php
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| 159 | class Blog extends Controller {
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| 160 |
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| 161 | function index()
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| 162 | {
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| 163 | echo 'Hello World!';
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| 164 | }
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| 165 |
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| 166 | function comments()
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| 167 | {
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| 168 | echo 'Look at this!';
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| 169 | }
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| 170 | }
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| 171 | ?>
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| 172 | </textarea>
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| 173 |
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| 174 | <p>Now load the following URL to see the <dfn>comment</dfn> function:</p>
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| 175 |
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| 176 | <code>www.your-site.com/index.php/<var>blog</var>/<samp>comments</samp>/</code>
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| 177 |
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| 178 | <p>You should see your new message.</p>
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| 179 |
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| admin | 2c676ef | 2006-09-21 16:54:44 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 180 | <a name="passinguri"></a>
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| 181 | <h2>Passing URI Segments to your Functions</h2>
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| 182 |
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| 183 | <p>If your URI contains more then two segments they will be passed to your function as parameters.</p>
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| 184 |
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| 185 | <p>For example, lets say you have a URI like this:
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| 186 |
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| 187 | <code>www.your-site.com/index.php/<var>products</var>/<samp>shoes</samp>/<kbd>sandals</kbd>/<dfn>123</dfn></code>
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| 188 |
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| 189 | <p>Your function will be passed URI segments 3 and 4 ("sandals" and "123"):</p>
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| 190 |
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| 191 | <code>
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| 192 | <?php<br />
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| 193 | class Products extends Controller {<br />
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| 194 | <br />
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| 195 | function shoes($sandals, $id)<br />
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| 196 | {<br />
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| 197 | echo $sandals;<br />
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| 198 | echo $id;<br />
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| 199 | }<br />
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| 200 | }<br />
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| 201 | ?>
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| 202 | </code>
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| 203 |
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| 204 | <p class="important"><strong>Important:</strong> If you are using the <a href="routing.html">URI Routing</a> feature, the segments
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| 205 | passed to your function will be the re-routed ones.</p>
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| 206 |
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| 207 |
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| admin | c1fa074 | 2006-09-21 23:50:23 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 208 | <a name="default"></a>
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| 209 | <h2>Defining a Default Controller</h2>
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| 210 |
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| 211 | <p>Code Igniter can be told to load a default controller when a URI is not present,
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| 212 | as will be the case when only your site root URL is requested. To specify a default controller, open
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| 213 | your <dfn>application/config/routes.php</dfn> file and set this variable:</p>
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| 214 |
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| 215 | <code>$route['default_controller'] = '<var>Blog</var>';</code>
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| 216 |
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| 217 | <p>Where <var>Blog</var> is the name of the controller class you want used. If you now load your main index.php file without
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| 218 | specifying any URI segments you'll see your Hello World message by default.</p>
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| 219 |
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| 220 |
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| admin | 1cf89aa | 2006-09-03 18:24:39 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 221 |
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| 222 | <a name="remapping"></a>
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| 223 | <h2>Remapping Function Calls</h2>
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| 224 |
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| 225 | <p>As noted above, the second segment of the URI typically determines which function in the controller gets called.
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| 226 | Code Igniter permits you to override this behavior through the use of the <kbd>_remap()</kbd> function:</p>
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| 227 |
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| 228 | <code>function _remap()<br />
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| 229 | {<br />
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| 230 | // Some code here...<br />
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| 231 | }</code>
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| 232 |
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| 233 | <p class="important"><strong>Important:</strong> If your controller contains a function named <kbd>_remap()</kbd>, it will <strong>always</strong>
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| 234 | get called regardless of what your URI contains. It overrides the normal behavior in which the URI determines which function is called,
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| 235 | allowing you to define your own function routing rules.</p>
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| 236 |
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| admin | 2c676ef | 2006-09-21 16:54:44 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 237 | <p>The overridden function call (typically the second segment of the URI) will be passed as a parameter the <kbd>_remap()</kbd> function:</p>
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| admin | 1cf89aa | 2006-09-03 18:24:39 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 238 |
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| 239 | <code>function _remap(<var>$method</var>)<br />
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| 240 | {<br />
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| 241 | if ($method == 'some_method')<br />
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| 242 | {<br />
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| 243 | $this->$method();<br />
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| 244 | }<br />
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| 245 | else<br />
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| 246 | {<br />
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| 247 | $this->default_method();<br />
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| 248 | }<br />
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| 249 | }</code>
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| 250 |
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| 251 |
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| 252 |
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| 253 |
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| admin | c1fa074 | 2006-09-21 23:50:23 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 254 |
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| 255 | <a name="output"></a>
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| 256 | <h2>Processing Output</h2>
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| 257 |
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| 258 | <p>Code Igniter has an output class that takes care of sending your final rendered data to the web browser automatically. More information on this can be found in the
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| 259 | <a href="views.html">Views</a> and <a href="../libraries/output.html">Output class</a> pages. In some cases, however, you might want to control
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| 260 | how the output gets sent to the browser, or you might want to post process the finalized data in some way. Code Igniter permits you to
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| 261 | add a function named <dfn>_output()</dfn> to your controller that will receive the finalized output data.
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| 262 |
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| 263 | <p class="important"><strong>Important:</strong> If your controller contains a function named <kbd>_output()</kbd>, it will <strong>always</strong>
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| 264 | be called by the output class instead of echoing the finalized data directly. The first parameter of the function will contain the finalized output.</p>
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| 265 |
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| 266 | <p>Here is an example:</p>
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| 267 |
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| 268 | <code>
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| 269 | function _output($output)<br />
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| 270 | {<br />
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| 271 | echo $output;<br />
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| 272 | }</code>
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| 273 |
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| 274 | <p>Please note that your <dfn>_output()</dfn> function will receive the data in its finalized form - including rendered benchmark and memory usage data,
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| 275 | so if you are using this feature the page execution timer might not be perfectly accurate.</p>
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| 276 |
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| admin | b0dd10f | 2006-08-25 17:25:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 277 | <a name="private"></a>
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| 278 | <h2>Private Functions</h2>
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| 279 |
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| admin | c1fa074 | 2006-09-21 23:50:23 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 280 |
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| admin | 1cf89aa | 2006-09-03 18:24:39 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 281 | <p>In some cases you may want certain functions hidden from public access. To make a function private, simply add an
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| admin | b0dd10f | 2006-08-25 17:25:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 282 | underscore as the name prefix and it will not be served via a URL request. For example, if you were to have a function like this:</p>
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| 283 |
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| 284 | <code>
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| 285 | function _utility()<br />
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| 286 | {<br />
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| 287 | // some code<br />
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| 288 | }</code>
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| 289 |
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| 290 | <p>Trying to access it via the URL, like this, will not work:</p>
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| 291 |
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| 292 | <code>www.your-site.com/index.php/<var>blog</var>/<samp>_utility</samp>/</code>
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| 293 |
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| 294 |
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| 295 |
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| admin | b071bb5 | 2006-08-26 19:28:37 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 296 | <a name="subfolders"></a>
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| 297 | <h2>Organizing Your Controllers into Sub-folders</h2>
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| 298 |
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| 299 | <p>If you are building a large application you might find it convenient to organize your controllers into sub-folders. Code Igniter permits you to do this.</p>
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| 300 |
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| 301 | <p>Simply create folders within your <dfn>application/controllers</dfn> directory and place your controller classes within them.</p>
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| 302 |
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| admin | 1082bdd | 2006-08-27 19:32:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 303 | <p><strong>Note:</strong> When using this feature the first segment of your URI must specify the folder. For example, lets say you have a controller
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| admin | b071bb5 | 2006-08-26 19:28:37 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 304 | located here:</p>
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| 305 |
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| 306 | <code>application/controllers/<kbd>products</kbd>/shoes.php</code>
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| 307 |
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| 308 | <p>To call the above controller your URI will look something like this:</p>
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| 309 |
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| 310 | <code>www.your-site.com/index.php/products/shoes/123</code>
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| 311 |
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| admin | e3817a3 | 2006-09-05 03:30:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 312 | <p>Each of your sub-folders may contain a default controller which will be
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| 313 | called if the URL contains only the sub-folder. Simply name your default controller as specified in your
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| 314 | <dfn>application/config/routes.php</dfn> file</p>
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| 315 |
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| 316 |
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| admin | b071bb5 | 2006-08-26 19:28:37 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 317 | <p>Code Igniter also permits you to remap your URIs using its <a href="routing.html">URI Routing</a> feature.
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| 318 |
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| 319 |
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| admin | e3817a3 | 2006-09-05 03:30:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 320 |
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| admin | b0dd10f | 2006-08-25 17:25:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 321 | <a name="constructors"></a>
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| 322 | <h2>Class Constructors</h2>
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| 323 |
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| 324 |
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| 325 | <p>If you intend to use a constructor in any of your Controllers, you <strong>MUST</strong> place the following line of code in it:</p>
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| 326 |
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| 327 | <code>parent::Controller();</code>
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| 328 |
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| 329 | <p>The reason this line is necessary is because your local constructor will be overriding the one in the parent controller class so we need to manually call it.</p>
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| 330 |
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| 331 |
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| admin | 2c676ef | 2006-09-21 16:54:44 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 332 | <p>If you are not familiar with constructors, in PHP 4, a <em>constructor</em> is simply a function that has the exact same name as the class:</p>
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| admin | b0dd10f | 2006-08-25 17:25:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 333 |
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| 334 | <code>
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| 335 | <?php<br />
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| 336 | class <kbd>Blog</kbd> extends Controller {<br />
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| 337 | <br />
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| 338 | function <kbd>Blog()</kbd><br />
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| 339 | {<br />
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| 340 | <var>parent::Controller();</var><br />
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| 341 | }<br />
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| 342 | }<br />
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| 343 | ?></code>
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| 344 |
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| 345 | <p>In PHP 5, constructors use the following syntax:</p>
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| 346 |
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| 347 | <code>
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| 348 | <?php<br />
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| 349 | class <kbd>Blog</kbd> extends Controller {<br />
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| 350 | <br />
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| 351 | function <kbd>__construct()</kbd><br />
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| 352 | {<br />
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| 353 | <var>parent::Controller();</var><br />
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| 354 | }<br />
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| 355 | }<br />
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| 356 | ?></code>
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| 357 |
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| 358 | <p>Constructors are useful if you need to set some default values, or run a default process when your class is instantiated.
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| 359 | Constructors can't return a value, but they can do some default work.</p>
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| 360 |
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| 361 | <a name="reserved"></a>
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| 362 | <h2>Reserved Function Names</h2>
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| 363 |
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| 364 | <p>Since your controller classes will extend the main application controller you
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| 365 | must be careful not to name your functions identically to the ones used by that class, otherwise your local functions
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| 366 | will override them. The following
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| 367 | is a list of reserved names. Do not name your controller functions any of these:</p>
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| 368 |
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| 369 | <ul>
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| 370 | <li>Controller</li>
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| 371 | <li>CI_Base</li>
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| 372 | <li>_ci_autoload</li>
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| 373 | <li>_ci_autoloader</li>
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| 374 | <li>_ci_assign_core</li>
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| 375 | <li>_ci_initialize</li>
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| 376 | <li>_ci_init_database</li>
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| 377 | <li>_ci_init_scaffolding</li>
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| 378 | <li>_ci_is_loaded</li>
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| 379 | <li>_ci_load</li>
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| 380 | <li>_ci_scaffolding</li>
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| 381 | <li>_ci_set_view_path</li>
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| 382 | </ul>
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| 383 |
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| 384 | <p><br />If you are running PHP 4 there are some additional reserved names. These ONLY apply if you are running PHP 4.</p>
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| 385 |
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| 386 | <ul>
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| 387 | <li>CI_Loader</li>
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| 388 | <li>config</li>
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| 389 | <li>database</li>
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| 390 | <li>file</li>
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| 391 | <li>helper</li>
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| 392 | <li>helpers</li>
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| 393 | <li>language</li>
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| 394 | <li>library</li>
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| 395 | <li>plugin</li>
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| 396 | <li>plugins</li>
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| 397 | <li>scaffolding</li>
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| 398 | <li>script</li>
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| 399 | <li>view</li>
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| 400 | <li>vars</li>
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| 401 | </ul>
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| 402 |
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| 403 |
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| 404 |
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| 405 |
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| 406 |
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| 407 |
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| 408 | <h2>That's it!</h2>
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| 409 |
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| 410 | <p>That, in a nutshell, is all there is to know about controllers.</p>
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| 411 |
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| 412 |
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| 413 |
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| 414 | </div>
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| 415 | <!-- END CONTENT -->
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| 416 |
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| 417 |
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| 418 | <div id="footer">
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| 419 | <p>
|
| 420 | Previous Topic: <a href="urls.html">Code Igniter URLs</a>
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| 421 | ·
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| 422 | <a href="#top">Top of Page</a> ·
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