Creating a CI service for using templating engine?

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+--- Thread: Creating a CI service for using templating engine? (/showthread.php?tid=70297)

Creating a CI service for using templating engine? - happyape - 03-22-2018

I want to understand what is the best place to create instance of $templates object. I am using Plates templating engine.

Code:
// Create new Plates instance

$templates = League\Plates\Engine::create('/path/to/templates');

// Render a template with the given data

echo $templates->render('profile', ['name' => 'Jonathan']);

e.g.

Code:
class Blog extends \CodeIgniter\Controller

{

        public function index()

        {

                $data = [

                        'todo_list' => ['Clean House', 'Call Mom', 'Run Errands'],

                        'title'     => "My Real Title",

                        'heading'   => "My Real Heading"

                ];

                echo view('blogview', $data);

        }

}

I know I could create that Plates instance in index() method but I'd have to repeat in every method OR I could assign to $this e.g. $this->templates and set it in the contructor. It still feels like is not the best method.

I have very little experience of Laravel but I have noticed I could simply use their view() method to make use of their Blade templating engine without explicitly defining layout in each controller.

I would like to achieve something similar so that I don't have to create $templates instance in each and every controller files.

I have read throught the documentation of CI-4 and I have an inkling that it might be achieveable by creating a Service (https://bcit-ci.github.io/CodeIgniter4/concepts/services.html ) or pehaps simply using config files? I am not sure.

Any ideas how do I achieve that in CI-4? What do you say?

RE: Creating a CI service for using templating engine? - gabpnr - 03-22-2018

Hello,

yes, the best way is certainly by creating a service to initliase the Plate class and call his render.

Something like this :

application/Config/Services.php

Code:
// ...

public static function plates(string $view, array $data = null, string $path = '/path/to/template')

{

    $templates = \League\Plates\Engine::create($path);

    return $templates->render($view, $data);

}

// ...

and in any controller action

Code:
$data = [

    'todo_list' => ['Clean House', 'Call Mom', 'Run Errands'],

    'title'     => "My Real Title",

    'heading'   => "My Real Heading"

];

// with the default template

echo \Config\Services::plates('profile', $data); 

// or with another template

echo \Config\Services::plates('blogview', $data, '/path/to/template/blog');

RE: Creating a CI service for using templating engine? - happyape - 03-22-2018

@gabpnr - Thanks very much. Let me give it a go.