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How to create a custom template system in PHP

Answer 1

+1 A:

The way I do it is to create a template file(.tpl if you wish) and insert markers which will be replaced with str_replace in PHP. The code will look something like this:

For template.tpl file

<body>
  <b>Something: </b> <!-- marker -->
</body>

For the PHP

$template = file_get_contents('template.tpl');
$some_data = 'Some Text'; //could be anything as long as the data is in a variable
$template = str_replace('<!-- marker -->', $some_data, $template);
echo $template;

That's it in a nutshell but it can get a lot more complex. The marker can be anything as long as it's unique.

Meloth 2010-08-13 06:29:00

You will need to quote that filename, of course. :)

alex 2010-08-13 06:37:42

Thanks, quotes added.

Meloth 2010-08-13 07:46:30

that is absolutely unusable in the real world.

Col. Shrapnel 2010-08-13 08:09:12

at least you will need blocks to make it usable

Col. Shrapnel 2010-08-13 08:32:02

Please explain. I use this method every day and it works perfectly.

Meloth 2010-08-13 10:34:25

Answer 2

+1 A:

I want to keep away my php codes from design, I would like to use a tpl file for designs

...and mix your tpl codes with "design"!
what's the difference then? :)

PHP itself is efficient templating system.
And nowadays most developers agreed that dividing your PHP code to business logic part and display logic part is most preferable way.
It can be very limited subset of PHP of course. You will need an output operator (<?=$var?>) one, a condition <? if(): ?>...<? endif ?>, a loop <? foreach(): ?>...<? endforeach ?> and include.

An example of such a template:

<table>
<? foreach ($data as $row): ?> 
  <tr>
    <td><b><?=$row['name'] ?></td>
    <td><?=$row['date'] ?></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td colspan=2><?=$row['body'] ?></td>
  </tr>
  <? if ($row['answer']): ?>
  <tr>
    <td colspan=2 valign="top">
      <table>
        <tr>
          <td valign="top"><b>Answer: </b></td>
          <td><?=$row['answer'] ?></td>
        </tr>
      </table>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <? endif ?>
  <? if($admin): ?>
  <tr>
    <td colspan=2>
  <? if($row['del']): ?>
      <a href="/gb/?action=undelete&id=<?=$row['id']?>">show</a>
  <? else: ?>
      <a href="/gb/?action=delete&id=<?=$row['id']?>">hide</a>
  <? endif ?>
      <a href="/gb/?action=edit&id=<?=$row['id']?>">edit</a>
    </td>
  </tr>
  <? endif ?>
<? endforeach ?>
</table>

Col. Shrapnel 2010-08-13 08:20:46

+1 Yep, this is a good answer. The only thing I'd add is to mention `short_tags` and that this won't work with it switched off.

alex 2010-08-14 00:07:24

@alex there are many things than won't work if switched off. display_errors, PDO support, mod_rewrite - anything. That's not a reason to mention it. That's the purpose of such a configuration option - to be switched on and off. Nothing bad or even worth mentioning I'd say.

Col. Shrapnel 2010-08-14 04:00:42

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How to create a custom template system in PHP

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