View Layouts - Input Desired

I'm not sure if this would help but in CI3, I usually implement a helper. Something like:

PHP Code:

//view_helper.php
function render($partial)
{
  view('layouts/header');
  view('partials/' . $partial);
  view('layouts/footer');
} 


And in either controller or view, I call it like:

PHP Code:

//User.php
public function index()
{
  //Some stuff...
  vars(['users' => $users]);
  render('users/index');
} 


Long live CodeIgniter!