codeigniter: extending common controller

Question

I\'ve read all the post I found regarding this issue but nothing works. I\'m using Codeigniter 2.02 in a LAMP with Apache2.2 and PHP5.3.2

I\'m trying to create a common

Answer 1

This bit is correct

public function __contstruct() instead of public function Parent_controller()

But what you're looking for is the MY_ prefix. So if you create the controller in the /application/libraries/ folder and call the file MY_Controller.php and the class MY_Controller it'll work.

You can also change the MY_ prefix to whatever you'd like in the config.php file. Look for:

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Class Extension Prefix
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| This item allows you to set the filename/classname prefix when extending
| native libraries.  For more information please see the user guide:
|
| http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/general/core_classes.html
| http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/general/creating_libraries.html
|
*/
$config['subclass_prefix'] = 'MY_';

For further reading and a more depth explanation see http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/general/core_classes.html

Answer 2

Also note it doesn't load a multitude of files. It simply looks for 1 controller called MY_Controller.php.

If you are thinking it will load MY_Test_Controller.php and MY_Web_Controller.php, it won't.

If you can include multiple controllers in that one file, or include other files from that file.

You could build around this of course, but a good bit of extra information to know.

Answer 3

Take a look at this post from Phil Sturgeon:

http://philsturgeon.co.uk/blog/2010/02/CodeIgniter-Base-Classes-Keeping-it-DRY

The key is using the native autoload as explained in his post:

/*
| -------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Native Auto-load
| -------------------------------------------------------------------
| 
| Nothing to do with cnfig/autoload.php, this allows PHP autoload to work
| for base controllers and some third-party libraries.
|
*/
function __autoload($class)
{
    if(strpos($class, 'CI_') !== 0)
    {
        @include_once( APPPATH . 'core/'. $class . EXT );
    }
}

NOTE

As a note, you'll want to put all of your "base" controllers in the core folder for CI2+