I'm developing a application with CakePHP, and I have two layouts: one for the home page, and another for the rest of the application. Except for some coding on the header, they're almost exactly the same. Is there something I can do to keep DRY, without using IFs all over the layout?
+1
A:
Define an interface to a layout type. Every place you have an "if layout main" or "if layout other" define an interface function
interface IMyLayout
{
function DrawArea1(...)
...
}
class CMyMainLayout implements IMyLayout
{
function DrawArea1()
{
//... draw area 1 for main
}
...
}
class CMyOtherLayout implements IMyLayout
{
function DrawArea1()
{
//... draw area 1 for other
}
}
Then you just select one or the other by newing the correct object
if ($main)
{
$layout = new CMyMainLayout;
}
else
{
$layout = new CMyOtherLayout;
}
$layout->DrawArea1();
Doug T.
2009-06-10 13:33:35
I'm not sure about interfaces, but I like the idea!
Julio Greff
2009-06-10 14:36:24
+5
A:
I'd suggest using a ton of elements. This way, you can still keep all of the code in one place. For example, if this is your home page layout (boilerplate excluded):
<body>
<?php echo $this->renderElement('pageHeader'); ?>
<?php echo $this->renderElement('frontPageNotification'); ?>
<?php echo $this->renderElement('navAndOtherStuff'); ?>
...
</body>
And this is your interior layout (where you want to display everything except for the frontPageNotification stuff:
<body>
<?php echo $this->renderElement('pageHeader'); ?>
<?php echo $this->renderElement('navAndOtherStuff'); ?>
...
</body>
Now, if they're almost exactly alike, I would probably just use a single layout and have a few if statements within the layout itself to determine what's to be displayed. Also, you can choose which elements get displayed by looking at the $this->params array to figure out which controller and action is behind the page being loaded. Like:
<body>
<?php echo $this->renderElement('pageHeader'); ?>
<?php if($this->params['controller'] == 'pages' && $this->params['action'] == 'index') { echo $this->renderElement('frontPageNotification'); } ?>
<?php echo $this->renderElement('navAndOtherStuff'); ?>
...
</body>
Which is, admittedly, rather ugly. Just trying to present all the options I could think of :)
Good luck
inkedmn
2009-06-10 14:42:39
I'd never heard of that, actually (and echo $this->renderElement() works just fine in 1.2) :)
inkedmn
2009-06-10 20:04:28
Actually, I've never used renderElement(), element() works just fine!
Julio Greff
2009-06-10 20:54:34