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Creating Ancillary Classes

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In some cases you may want to develop classes that exist apart from your controllers but have the ability to -utilize all of CodeIgniter's resources. This is easily possible as you'll see.

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get_instance()

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Any class that you instantiate within your controller functions can access CodeIgniter's native resources simply by using the get_instance() function. -This function returns the main CodeIgniter object.

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Normally, to call any of the available CodeIgniter functions requires you to use the $this construct:

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-$this->load->helper('url');

-$this->load->library('session');

-$this->config->item('base_url');

-etc.
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$this, however, only works within your controllers, your models, or your views. -If you would like to use CodeIgniter's classes from within your own custom classes you can do so as follows:

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First, assign the CodeIgniter object to a variable:

- -$CI =& get_instance(); - -

Once you've assigned the object to a variable, you'll use that variable instead of $this:

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-$CI =& get_instance();


-$CI->load->helper('url');

-$CI->load->library('session');

-$CI->config->item('base_url');

-etc.
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Note: You'll notice that the above get_instance() function is being passed by reference: -

-$CI =& get_instance(); -

-This is very important. Assigning by reference allows you to use the original CodeIgniter object rather than creating a copy of it.

CodeIgniter User Guide Version 2.0.3

Creating Ancillary Classes

get_instance()