Is there a CodeIgniter mechanism for partial views?

Absolutely, you're looking for a way to achieve dynamic content loading in CodeIgniter without having to reload the header and menu every time a menu entry is clicked. While CodeIgniter itself doesn't provide a built-in mechanism specifically for this, you can indeed achieve this behavior using a combination of technologies.

Here's an approach you can take:

Partial Views: CodeIgniter allows you to load partial views using its built-in view system. You can create separate view files for your header, menu, and main content area.

Controller Methods: Create separate methods in your controller to handle the loading of different partial views. For example, you might have methods like load_header(), load_menu(), and load_main_content().

AJAX Requests: To achieve the dynamic loading of content without refreshing the entire page, you can use AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) requests. When a menu entry is clicked, you can use JavaScript to send an AJAX request to a controller method that loads the appropriate partial view and returns the HTML content.

JavaScript and DOM Manipulation: Use JavaScript to handle the AJAX requests and update the content of the main content area with the received HTML. You can manipulate the DOM to insert the loaded partial view into the right spot on the page.

Routes: Set up appropriate routes in CodeIgniter to map the AJAX requests to the corresponding controller methods.

Here's a simplified example of what your JavaScript might look like:

Code:

// Assuming you're using jQuery for simplicity
$(".menu-entry").click(function() {
    var menuId = $(this).data("menu-id");
   
    $.ajax({
        url: "/controller/load_main_content/" + menuId,
        method: "GET",
        success: function(response) {
            $("#main-content").html(response);
        }
    });
});

In this example, menu-entry is a class you assign to your menu items, and data-menu-id could be an attribute that holds an identifier for the specific content you want to load.

Remember, while this approach provides the desired behavior, you'll need to ensure proper error handling, security measures, and other considerations depending on your project's requirements.

In essence, while CodeIgniter doesn't offer a dedicated built-in helper for this exact use case, by combining CodeIgniter's partial views, AJAX, JavaScript, and route management, you can achieve the dynamic content loading behavior you're aiming for.