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Question

Is there a better way to write this php code?

Answer 1

+3 A:

Yes. Use double quotes for the PHP string (and single quotes for the HTML attributes), then you can just use PHP variables in the string, like so:

"<a href='nano.com/$username'>";

Is processing time really an issue? I doubt it, but profile to be sure.

Edit: If anyone is unsure about using single quotes in HTML attributes, have a look at this question. It's pretty unanimously agreed that single quotes are fine. If anyone can give a decent counter-argument I'd be happy to hear it.

Skilldrick 2010-09-17 11:57:14

Such bad practice! All attribute values should be enclosed in double quotes as is the standard.

Alex 2010-09-17 12:00:06

@Alex - If only I could upvote that comment more. We have developers who use single quotes for attribute values, and it makes me lose my mind sometimes.

Joel Etherton 2010-09-17 12:02:38

thanks @alex and @joel and @skilldrick, so shall i leave my code the way it is.

getaway 2010-09-17 12:06:08

No, more thorough refactoring is needed ;) why would you want to return that blob of html from a method anyway?

thomasmalt 2010-09-17 12:08:52

lol @thomasmalt, i dont know it just seemed ideal at the time, basically the function retrieves the users twitter statuses and then echos them in a list hence the "li" list!!!

getaway 2010-09-17 12:12:16

what I would do, of the bat, is split the code into a template part, containing just the html and then "decorate" the twitter input with the html.

thomasmalt 2010-09-17 12:18:32

@Alex, @Joel, other upvoters: what’s wrong with single quotes? The standard explicitly allows both. Why is it bad practice?

Konrad Rudolph 2010-09-17 12:18:40

confused.com, is this way standard or not, it looks pretty neat to me

getaway 2010-09-17 12:26:00

I wouldn't say there's anything wrong exactly, but it's just one of those things that should be a consistency for everyone. And as far as my time in the web design industry goes I've never come across any reason to deviate from that standard. It's like using a <i>, <u> or even <b> tag. They're there, but using them is somehow... wrong.

Alex 2010-09-17 12:52:15

cheers everyone

getaway 2010-09-17 13:14:07

@Alex You should be pragmatic - it's easier to write PHP with double-quoted strings a single-quoted attributes. For a single line heredoc is too much overhead. There's nothing wrong with single-quoted attributes. Nothing whatsoever.

Skilldrick 2010-09-17 13:58:58

@Alex - have a read of this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/273354/html-single-quotes-a-problem

Skilldrick 2010-09-17 14:02:31

Can't you just use "<a href=\"nano.com/$username\">"; ?

Dai 2010-09-17 14:16:18

@Dai of course you can, but I find it easier to read 'something quoted' than \"something quoted\".

Skilldrick 2010-09-17 14:17:51

@Skilldrick - At the end of the day it's down to personal preference. I personally prefer 'something '.$var.' something else' simply because, in my editor, it highlights PHP and fades out HTML allowing me to easily debug/see the PHP snippits mixed in with HTML. However, I'm much more a fan of frameworks over inline PHP anyways

Alex 2010-09-17 14:25:00

@Alex Personal preference is fine - "Such bad practice" isn't, when it's not. I'm just doing my best to dispel the FUD about single-quoted HTML attributes.

Skilldrick 2010-09-17 14:29:34

@Skilldrick - I am not against the single quoted stuff, I was just pointing out to all the "double quotes or gtfo" people that you can have the best of both worlds here.

Dai 2010-09-17 15:25:42

See my question on that: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2887714/quoting-html-attribute-values

Flavius 2010-09-17 20:12:03

Answer 2

+1 A:

Cleaner template and php code -> use MVC

Anpher 2010-09-17 11:58:29

i dnt like the MVC approach i just dnt get it!! thanky anway :))

getaway 2010-09-17 12:04:09

@getaway Well you'd do a lot better if you pushed yourself abit more with MVC. It is a major 'gateway' to better write code especially with the problem you are facing.

zaf 2010-09-17 12:38:11

@zaf i tried using codeigntier, i understood the concept, but it was more confusing to me than just normal coding, im not really having trouble with this code, i was just curious if thier was a better way to write it!!

getaway 2010-09-17 12:41:01

@getaway You can do MVC without a framework.

zaf 2010-09-17 13:56:32

@zaf MVC is architecture. It has nothing to do with this code snipped

Col. Shrapnel 2010-09-17 14:35:41

@Col. Shrapnel "MVC is architecture" <check> "It has nothing to do with this code snipped (sic)" <check> Q.E.D.

zaf 2010-09-17 18:31:06

Answer 3

A:

I would cut in several pieces and use sprintf() to tie it all together.

Dennis Haarbrink 2010-09-17 12:00:19

Why the downvote? It's a viable solution that could make the intent more clear.

Dennis Haarbrink 2010-09-17 12:18:39

+1 : This is one reasonable way of cleaning it up. Don't hold your breath for the down voter to explain why this is not useful.

zaf 2010-09-17 12:33:57

@zaf well, if you insists. 1. no code example to estimate the real value of such an improvement. sprintf is still ugly approach to encapsulate HTML into PHP into string into function... Leave HTML alone! It's a language too. And it deserves formatting/highlighting. And a programmer, who would read this code, would save some headache for more important task.

Col. Shrapnel 2010-09-17 14:31:42

Of course there are better ways than this. To correctly solve the problem his design needs to be reconsidered IMHO. My suggested approach might not fit *your* ideal of good code, and I would agree with you, but it could definitely solve/improve this problem in isolation.

Dennis Haarbrink 2010-09-17 14:44:10

@Col. Shrapnel Thank you for returning and leaving a comment! Upvote for you but I'll also keep the upvote to this question.

zaf 2010-09-17 18:26:56

Answer 4

+1 A:

Yes, there is one, and you don't need MVC (only a template):

<li>
 <a href="nano.com/<?=$username ?>">
  <img class="avatar" src="images/<?=$picture ?>" width="48" height="48" alt="avatar" />
 </a>
 <div class="tweetTxt">
  <strong><a href="nano.com/<?=$username ?>"><?=$username ?></a></strong>
  <? echo autolink($tweet) ?>
  <div class="date"><?=relativeTime($dt) ?></div>
  <div class="date"><?=$reply_info ?></div>
  <a class="reply" href="home.php?replyto=@<?=$username?>&status_id=<?=$id?>&reply_name=<?=$username?>">
  reply
  </a>
 </div>
 <div class="clear"></div>
</li>

Must read: http://wiki.yet-another-project.com/php/the_one_single_step_for_a_cleaner_code . It describes how you have to use the code above.

Flavius 2010-09-17 12:04:30

Formatted it a bit. People are way underestimate code formatting/highlighting.

Col. Shrapnel 2010-09-17 14:18:17

Answer 5

+3 A:

You could use HEREDOC syntax :

$auto = autolink($tweet);
$rel = relativeTime($dt);
return <<<ENDOFRETURN
    <li>
    <a href="nano.com/$username"><img class="avatar" src="images/$picture" width="48" height="48" alt="avatar" /></a>
    <div class="tweetTxt">
    <strong><a href="nano.com/$username">$username</a></strong> $auto
    <div class="date">$rel</div><div class="date">$reply_info</div> <a class ="reply"  href="home.php?replyto=@$username&status_id=$id&reply_name=$username"> reply </a>
    </div>
    <div class="clear"></div>
    </li>
ENDOFRETURN;

M42 2010-09-17 12:14:35

now thats looks so clean

getaway 2010-09-17 12:15:45

Could the downvoter explain why ?

M42 2010-09-17 12:21:04

is it not standard to use heredoc syntax

getaway 2010-09-17 12:25:19

I must admit, I quite like this approach. Tend to keep it for such things as E-Mail templates though. But it'd work just fine.

Alex 2010-09-17 12:53:46

Yes, it is.[...]

M42 2010-09-17 12:55:09

would i be able to do if statements inside the heredoc

getaway 2010-09-17 13:01:26

No, you can't, it is just a way to build a string. You can't neither call a function, that's why I assign 2 variables before.

M42 2010-09-17 13:10:23

kool kool, its actually much better that way, so you can do all the processing then neatly echo it which is kool, thanks anyway!!

getaway 2010-09-17 13:13:37

@getaway this ugly syntax won't let your editor to highlight HTML code. If you have idea of code highlighting, of course :)

Col. Shrapnel 2010-09-17 14:11:58

@col do you suggest another idea?

getaway 2010-09-17 14:27:39

@getaway Flavius already suggested down here. If you *really* need to return this code, not output it as it ought to be, you can use ob_start() output buffering to grab PHP code output into a variable

Col. Shrapnel 2010-09-17 14:33:43

Answer 6

A:

You can use a template engine i.e. smarty, twig, ...

ipsum 2010-09-17 12:25:12

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Is there a better way to write this php code?

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