PHP templates - with PHP [closed]

Answer 1

I use Modulo like you did in your example all the time.

Answer 2

I use PHPTAL for templating because it is written in 100% actual HTML with placeholder data, so it even works in a WYSIWYG editor for a web designer. That and it's just way easy to understand.

Here's what it would look like for me. Please forgive the markup, I'm new here and the four spaces block wasn't working right for me (the list was a list, not the markup).

PHP Code:

  $tal = new PHPTAL;
  $tal->setTemplate('people.htm')
      ->set('people', array('John', 'Jack', 'Jill', 'Jason'));
  echo $tal->execute();

Template:

  <ul>
    <li tal:repeat="person people" tal:content="person">John Doe</li>
  </ul>

Output:

John

Jack

Jill

Jason

Now obviously I wouldn't make a template for this little, but I could use a macro for it or build a whole page and include that variable. But you get the idea. Using PHPTAL has just about tripled my speed at templating and programming, just by the simplicity (no new syntax to learn like smarty).

Answer 3

I created a simple templating system in PHP to solve this problem a while ago:

http://code.google.com/p/templatephp/

It takes a multidimensional array, and requires the addition of some extra tags to the HMTL to create the combined template.

It's not as complicated (albeit powerful) as Smarty and some other solutons, but wins out in simplicity a lot of the time. A demo of the menu creation:

<p>Main Menu</p>
<ul>
{block:menu_items}
        <li><a href="{var:link}">{var:name}</a></li>
{/block:menu_items}
</ul>

Merged with...

    array (
        'menu_items' => array (
                array (
                        'link' => 'home.htm',
                        'name' => 'Home'
                ),
                array (
                        'link' => 'about.htm',
                        'name' => 'About Us'
                ),
                array (
                        'link' => 'portfolio.htm',
                        'name' => 'Portfolio'
                ),
                array (
                        'link' => 'contact.htm',
                        'name' => 'Contact Us'
                )
        )
);

Will create the menu...

<p>Main Menu</p>
<ul>
        <li><a href="home.htm">Home</a></li>
        <li><a href="about.htm">About Us</a></li>
        <li><a href="portfolio.htm">Portfolio</a></li>
        <li><a href="contact.htm">Contact Us</a></li>
</ul>

Answer 4

It ain't pure PHP (the templating syntax then), but it works realy nice; Smarty.

For loops you can do:

<ul>
{foreach from=$var name=loop item=test}
  {if $smarty.foreach.loop.first}<li>This is the first item</li>{/if}
  <li class="{cycle values="odd,even"}">{$var.name}</li>
  {if $smarty.foreach.loop.last}<li>This was the last item</li>{/if}
{/foreach}
</ul>

Answer 5

I have been a fan of HAML for quite a while, it looks like PHP folk have HAML now: see http://phphaml.sourceforge.net/

Answer 6

How's about XSLT? The only template system that has a standards body behind it. Works the same across programming languages. Learn it once, use it everywhere!