Keeping HTML files separated from the PHP files (template based)

Question

I am trying to keep all the PHP files separated from the HTML files. Sort of a template based project but without using any template engines as they ar

Answer 1

Honestly, you should use a template system. If you don't want to hinder with learning how they work, there is a very easy approach: create a very simple one yourself. You'll need it sooner or later. The below solution should be very easy, and it's copy-pasteable.

The basic operation of such system is that you:

1. Load the template file with placeholder strings.
2. Process the template file (replace placeholders with actual values).
3. Output (or return) the HTML with now processed text.

An example class that is very easy to comprehend might be this:

class HtmlPage
{
    private $html;

    # Loads specified template file into $html
    public function Load($template)
    {
        if (!file_exists($template)) {
            echo "Specified template ($template) does not exist.";
            return false;
        }

        $this->html = file_get_contents($template);
        return true;
    }

    # Takes in an array of data, key is the placeholder replaced, value is the new text
    public function Process($data_array)
    {
        if (!is_array($data_array)) return;

        foreach ($data_array as $search => $replace)
        {
            # Add brackets so they don't have to be manually typed out when calling HtmlPage::Process()
            $search = "{$search}";

            $this->html = str_replace($search, $replace, $this->html);
        }
    }

    # Returns the page
    public function GetHtml()
    {
        return $this->html;
    }
}

Can be used as:

$page_title = "My fancy page title";
$page_text  = "All your base are belong to us.";

$page = new HtmlPage();

$page->Load('html/templates/mypage.html');
$page->Process(array(
    'TITLE' => $page_title,
    'TEXT' => $page_text
));
echo $page->GetHtml();

The above code will replace

    
        {TITLE}
    

    
        
{TEXT}
    

...to...

    
        My fancy page title
    

    
        
All your base are belong to us.
    

---

In your case, this will work like the following:

html/templates/product-item.html:

    

        

            {PRODUCT_NAME}
        

        

            
        

        

            {PRODUCT_PRICE_REDUCE} {PRODUCT_PRICE}
        
    

    

        Add to Cart Details
    

PHP code:

Load('html/templates/product-list.html');
        $product_html->Process(array(
            'PRODUCT_NAME' => $product['name'];
            'PRODUCT_ID' => $product['id'];
            'PRODUCT_PRICE' => $product['price'];
            'PRODUCT_PRICE_REDUCE' => $product['price_reduce'];
        ));
        $product_list .= $product_html->GetHtml();
    }
}