Dymanic navigation - URL question

[eluser]ZioN[/eluser]
Hi,

I have an administration area in which I can dynamicly add or delete 'pages'. But when I want to load the pages I use their ID's. But those look horrible in the url not to mention SEO.

Controller(Site):

Code:

public function page(){
  $this->load->model('settings_model');
  $this->load->model('pages_model');
  
  $data['pages'] = $this->pages_model->get_page();
  $data['settings'] = $this->settings_model->get_settings();
  
  $this->load->view('page_view', $data);
  
  if ($data = $this->pages_model->get_page()){
  $this->load->model('settings_model');
  $this->load->model('pages_model');
  
  $data['pages'] = $this->pages_model->get_page();
  $data['settings'] = $this->settings_model->get_settings();
  }
  else{
  redirect('site');
  }  
}

Model(pages_model):

Code:

public function get_page(){
  $id = $this->input->get('id');
  $query = $this->db->get_where('pages', array('id' => $id));
  
  if ($query->num_rows() > 0){
   $data = $query->result();
   return $data;
  }
  else{
  return false;
  }
}

index_view:

Code:

<?php
  foreach($settings as $setting){
  echo "<title>" . $setting->site_title . " • Settings</title>";
}

foreach($pages as $row){
  echo "<ul>";
  echo "<li><a id=". $row-&gt;id .">". $row->page_title ." ". $row->id ." </a></li>";
  echo "</ul>";
}
?&gt;

This is where I create the navigation (for testing purposes it's just an UL and LI)

page_view:

Code:

<?php
  foreach($settings as $setting){
  echo "<title>" . $setting->site_title . " • Settings</title>";
}
  foreach($pages as $row){
   echo $row->page_title;
   echo $row->content;
   echo $row->author;
   echo $row->datetime;
  }

?>

When I click an item in the navigation it directs me to site/page?id=1 for example. This works fine, but I want to translate the id=1 to the actual "page_title". This would result in site/page/home for example.

PS: I only included relevant code.

[eluser]Otemu[/eluser]
Hi,

Quick example using your code above that should give you an idea that you can improve on:

Controller

Code:

//get segment from url
$getPage = $this->uri->segment(2);
//pass segment to model
$data['pages'] = $this->pages_model->get_page($getPage);

Model

Code:

public function get_page($getPage){
//query database for matching page title
  $query = $this->db->get_where('pages', array('page_title' => getPage));

index_view:

Code:

//display page title as url
foreach($pages as $row){
  echo "<ul>";
  echo "<li><a href="/page/">page_title.">/page/".$row->page_title." </a></li>";
  echo "</ul>";
}

[eluser]ZioN[/eluser]
Thanks alot! It works. The only thing I have to do now is make the pages work. It shows a "not found" now.

Edit: It works perfectly.

[eluser]Otemu[/eluser]
Hi,

I offer some suggestions also to improve your controller:

Code:

public function page(){

//loaded the model, no need to load them again further down the page in your if statement
  $this->load->model('settings_model');
  $this->load->model('pages_model');
  
//now you have the data stored in your variables no need to call this again
  $data['pages'] = $this->pages_model->get_page();
  $data['settings'] = $this->settings_model->get_settings();
  
//move your if statement, to something like if get_page exists load view else redirect
  $this->load->view('page_view', $data);
  
//your making another call to the database, although you already have the data stored in  
//$data['pages'], no need to make another call to database just use
//if ($data['pages'] ){
  if ($data = $this->pages_model->get_page()){

//already loaded no need to load again
  $this->load->model('settings_model');
  $this->load->model('pages_model');
  
//remove this not needed
  $data['pages'] = $this->pages_model->get_page();
  $data['settings'] = $this->settings_model->get_settings();
  }
  else{
//codeigniter has a 404 function http://ellislab.com/codeigniter/user-guide/general/errors.html
//which you can call like this show_404();
//which is normally the standard way when a page is not found,
//you can custom the look of the page here
//application/errors/error_404.php
//of course if your site requires a redirect then use it
//some people else like to redirect on the model, as an alternative instead of
//returning false in your model you could just redirect straight away
//and then you won't even need to worry about if statement in your controller,
//but that depends on your own preference
  redirect('site');
  }  
}

[eluser]ZioN[/eluser]
Thank you for your suggestions. I improved the code to:

Code:

public function page(){
//Load models
   $this->load->model('settings_model');
  $this->load->model('pages_model');
// Grab the 3rd url segment - the segment after /page/
  $getPage = $this->uri->segment(3);
  
  $data['settings'] = $this->settings_model->get_settings();
  $data['pages'] = $this->pages_model->get_page($getPage);
  
  $this->load->view('page_view', $data);
  // If page cannot be found, redirect to frontpage.
  if (! $data['pages']){

   redirect('site');
  }  
}