Writing a Template System in PHP

**tomyknoker** · 03-26-2007, 08:30 AM

I don't want to use SMARTY would it be a stupid idea to write my own code from scratch? Are there any tutorials on this?

**djr33** · 03-26-2007, 08:52 AM

<?php
echo "<html>.............";
echo $database_variables;
echo "......... ..</html>";
?>

There ya go.

Just expand on that.

Check out php.net for specific function reference, and http://php-mysql-tutorial.com for a general overview of using databases with PHP.

EDIT: Actually, two things I should add--
You don't need to use echo like that.
Here are two possibly better options:

PHP Code:


<?php ... ?>
html here like normal
<?php
echo $vars;
?>
more html
...etc

OR

PHP Code:


<?php
echo <<<OUT
This is actually
a string
but even line breaks and " and '
are ok, since it's a special way to hold a string.
It starts with <<<NAME (then a line break)
then you keep going with it and end with:
NAME; (must be the only thing on the line, no tabs, etc.)
Also, you can use variables in this
(unlike plain html)
do this: {$var}, and it will replace that
with the value of $var, including the {}.
And... that's it for this method...
OUT;
?>

**shachi** · 03-26-2007, 03:23 PM

Or, if you want a complex templating system, here are a few tutorials:

http://www.phpfreaks.com/tutorials/70/0.php

http://codewalkers.com/tutorials/58/1.html

**djr33** · 03-27-2007, 02:31 AM

Sure. What I have above is very basic, but it IS really the basic framework of any system.

Also, something important to remember is that you could store template html (standard stuff on each page) in the database AND individual content for each page, so those database variables would cover the template and the content both, with anything specific to the page not in the database in the php itself.

Using ifs and such, you can create a one-php-files site with many "pages" based on GET variables (?page=3) then you can control how it is all output.

In that case, you might just store the system wide template on the page, such as CSS, etc., then just get stuff from the database and you're set.

That's how I've made some cool pages. Easy to modify later, too.

**tomyknoker** · 03-27-2007, 04:06 AM

Heya dj well say I have this page, it's pretty simple but how would I make it so it works better, and I keep the php seperate to the html

PHP Code:


<?php

/* connect to the mysql database and use different queries for the count of members */

include 'library/config.php';
include 'library/opendb.php';

//navigation
include("nav.php");

//approved
$a = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `tblmembers` WHERE `MemberApproved`='A'");
$aCount = mysql_num_rows($a);

//deleted
$d = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `tblmembers` WHERE `MemberApproved`='D'");
$dCount = mysql_num_rows($d);

//on hold
$h = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `tblmembers` WHERE `MemberApproved`='H'");
$hCount = mysql_num_rows($h);

//pending
$p = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `tblmembers` WHERE `MemberApproved`='P'");
$pCount = mysql_num_rows($p);

//not sure
$n = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `tblmembers` WHERE `MemberApproved`='N'");
$nCount = mysql_num_rows($n);

//rejected
$r = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `tblmembers` WHERE `MemberApproved`='R'");
$rCount = mysql_num_rows($r);


/* Make the layout */
?>
<link href="cs_style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1">
  <tr valign="top">
    <td colspan="2">Membership Status</td>
  </tr>
 
  <tr valign="top">
    <td>Status</td>
    <td>Total</td>
  </tr>

  <tr valign="top">
    <td>Approved</td>
    <td><a href="showMembers.php?cat=a"><?php echo $aCount;?></a></td>
  </tr>

  <tr valign="top">
    <td>Deleted</td>
    <td><a href="showMembers.php?cat=d"><?php echo $dCount;?></a></td>
  </tr>

  <tr valign="top">
    <td>On Hold</td>
    <td><a href="showMembers.php?cat=h"><?php echo $hCount;?></a></td>
  </tr>

  <tr valign="top">
    <td>Pending</td>
    <td><a href="showMembers.php?cat=p"><?php echo $pCount;?></a></td>
  </tr>

  <tr valign="top">
    <td>Not sure</td>
    <td><a href="showMembers.php?cat=n"><?php echo $nCount;?></a></td>
  </tr>

  <tr valign="top">
    <td>Rejected</td>
    <td><a href="showMembers.php?cat=r"><?php echo $rCount;?></a></td>
  </tr>
   <tr valign="top">
    <td>Total</td>
    <td><?php echo $aCount + $dCount + $hCount + $pCount + $nCount + $rCount;?></a></td>
  </tr>
</table>

**djr33** · 03-27-2007, 05:23 AM

That looks just fine to me. Not really sure what you want. You can't seperate the php and html as the php must generate the html.

You could move the code around some, but that looks just fine.

**Sparaker** · 03-27-2007, 05:28 AM

If you want to totally seperate the html and the php then you should create your html pages seperately and where ever you need php to insert values like for example in your code above your using <?php echo $aCount;?> since the html code is in a php file and php will replace that code with the string value. What you could do is that you could write something like {aCount} there instead of that code and then let php read the html file and replace the {} with the variables and then echo everything. This way you'll have php and html totally seperated from each other

I'd give you a full detailed example once i get back from school. Just let me know that you want it.

**tomyknoker** · 03-27-2007, 06:40 AM

Hi Sparaker, yes that would be great if you could do it thanks a million!

Heya dj... maybe I'm confusing myself I thought that with a php templating system the html and php were kept completely seperate...

**djr33** · 03-27-2007, 07:23 AM

"templating" is just as vague/general as saying "using a database", really. I can only help how I think I would do it, though there are many ways.
You could try to seperate them, but I think that's not gonna help much.

The template you have is fine.

One thing you could try is to include the template html in the database too, if you think that would help.

**mburt** · 03-27-2007, 10:24 AM

To put it in "real" terms, I use it for my site. I have the main page, and everything else is completely based on it. I use page includes for each page when the "p" variable is used accordingly.

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