+- CodeIgniter Forums (https://forum.codeigniter.com)
+-- Forum: Archived Discussions (https://forum.codeigniter.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=20)
+--- Forum: Archived Development & Programming (https://forum.codeigniter.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=23)
+--- Thread: Creating my own helpers? Is this the good way to clean the view? (/showthread.php?tid=56884)
Pages:
1
2
Creating my own helpers? Is this the good way to clean the view? - El Forum - 01-27-2013
[eluser]behnampmdg3[/eluser]
Hello friends;
Lates say I want to write some code that creates a drop down that shows months of the year.
I can easily write loose php in view which sucks:
Code:
<select name="post_month">
<option selected="selected"></option>
<?php
$m = 0;
while($m<12)
{
++$m;
?><option value="<?php echo $m;?>" <?php if($post_m ?> selected="selected" <?php } ?>
><?php echo date("F", mktime(0, 0, 0, $m));?></option><?php
}
?>
</select>Controller:
Code:
$this->load->library('months_drop_down','','drop_down');
$data['months'] = $this->drop_down->index('month');Code:
<?php if ( ! defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');
class Months_drop_down
{
protected $posted_month = "";
public function index($name=NULL)
{
$CI =& get_instance();
$CI->posted_month = $CI->input->post($name) ? $CI->input->post($name) : "";
$m = 0;
$CI->dropdown="<select name=\\"".$name."\">";
while($m<12)
{
$m++;
$CI->dropdown.="<option value=\"".$m."\""; if($CI->posted_m
{
$CI->dropdown.="selected=\"selected\"";
}
$CI->dropdown.= ">\n".date("F", mktime(0, 0, 0, $m))."</option>";
}
$CI->dropdown.="</select>";
return $CI->dropdown;
}
}Code:
<?php echo $months;?>Creating my own helpers? Is this the good way to clean the view? - El Forum - 01-27-2013
[eluser]Harold Villacorte[/eluser]
You only need to reference the super object to access the native classes. Other than that write like you normally write a php class. Set the the property then access it within the method using $this->property or self::$property.
Creating my own helpers? Is this the good way to clean the view? - El Forum - 01-27-2013
[eluser]behnampmdg3[/eluser]
Harold, please explain more. Thanks
Creating my own helpers? Is this the good way to clean the view? - El Forum - 01-27-2013
[eluser]Harold Villacorte[/eluser]
This is a Codeigniter specific forum so I cannot post tutorials on PHP fundamentals. But I can tell you this much, you do not need to devote an entire library to one function. Just put it in a model. CI allows you to load any model from any controller.
Creating my own helpers? Is this the good way to clean the view? - El Forum - 01-28-2013
[eluser]PhilTem[/eluser]
There's a helper called "form_helper" that creates dropdowns from an array passed as an argument. Look at the user's guide to see, how it works.
The only thing you would need to do: Create the array of months in another helper (or extend the form_helper with a MY_form_helper and add a month_dropdown() function that takes care of all this
)
Creating my own helpers? Is this the good way to clean the view? - El Forum - 01-28-2013
[eluser]InsiteFX[/eluser]
Add to your_helper ./application/helpers
Code:
// --------------------------------------------------------------------
/**
* build_dropdown()
*
* Builds a select/options dropdown.
*
* @access public
* @param string - the select css class id
* @param string - the select css class vlaues
* @param object - the database object
* @param string - the selected option value
* @param string - the onchanged method
* @return string - the output string
*/
if ( ! function_exists('build_dropdown'))
{
// id class name array selected onchange
function build_dropdown($id = '', $classes, $name, $dropdown, $selected_value, $onchange_method = '')
{
$output = "<select id='$id' class='$classes' name='$name' $onchange_method>\n";
foreach ($dropdown as $key => $text)
{
$output .= "<option value=\"" . $key . "\"";
if ($key == $selected_value)
{
$output .= " selected";
}
$output .= ">" . $text . "</option>\n";
}
$output .= "</select>\n";
return ($output);
}
}
// --------------------------------------------------------------------
/**
* sel_month()
*
* Description:
*
* @access public
* @param string
* @return void
*/
if ( ! function_exists('sel_month'))
{
function sel_month()
{
$data = array(
'' => 'Month',
'1' => 'January',
'2' => 'Febuary',
'3' => 'March',
'4' => 'April',
'5' => 'May',
'6' => 'June',
'7' => 'July',
'8' => 'August',
'9' => 'September',
'10' => 'October',
'11' => 'November',
'12' => 'December',
);
return $data;
}
}Creating my own helpers? Is this the good way to clean the view? - El Forum - 01-28-2013
[eluser]CroNiX[/eluser]
CI already has helpers to build form elements like form_dropdown(). Have you tried that before making your own?
Creating my own helpers? Is this the good way to clean the view? - El Forum - 01-31-2013
[eluser]behnampmdg3[/eluser]
[quote author="Harold Villacorte" date="1359356266"]But I can tell you this much, you do not need to devote an entire library to one function. Just put it in a model. CI allows you to load any model from any controller.[/quote]But isn't model suppose to look after database actions?
Creating my own helpers? Is this the good way to clean the view? - El Forum - 01-31-2013
[eluser]behnampmdg3[/eluser]
Thanks for all the replies above. Form helper is a great solution BUT, I have become lazy using all these helpers lol
I feel tough to handcode a few things
Creating my own helpers? Is this the good way to clean the view? - El Forum - 01-31-2013
[eluser]Harold Villacorte[/eluser]
Well yeah. I think we already both got our answer that stuff like that in basic Codeigniter belongs in a helper. I tend to follow a slightly different pattern because I write everything as an HMVC module with no libraries and no helpers, just modules. And modular CI is not addressed in the documentation.
The point I was making was that you were writing a class called Months_drop_down as a library and method called index() to generate a select form. So to call this function you would have to something like:
$this->load->library('months_drop_down');
$this->months_drip_down->index();
Wouldn't it be much cooler to call it like this:
$this->load->library('my_awesome_library');
$this->my_awesome_library->months_dropdown();
But we already got an answer on where to put helper functions.