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Views

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A view is simply a web page, or a page fragment, like a header, footer, sidebar, etc. -In fact, views can flexibly be embedded within other views (within other views, etc., etc.) if you need this type -of hierarchy.

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Views are never called directly, they must be loaded by a controller. Remember that in an MVC framework, the Controller acts as the -traffic cop, so it is responsible for fetching a particular view. If you have not read the Controllers page -you should do so before continuing.

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Using the example controller you created in the controller page, let's add a view to it.

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Creating a View

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Using your text editor, create a file called blogview.php, and put this in it:

- - - -

Then save the file in your application/views/ folder.

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Loading a View

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To load a particular view file you will use the following function:

- -$this->load->view('name'); - -

Where name is the name of your view file. Note: The .php file extension does not need to be specified unless you use something other than .php.

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Now, open the controller file you made earlier called blog.php, and replace the echo statement with the view loading function:

- - - - - -

If you visit your site using the URL you did earlier you should see your new view. The URL was similar to this:

- -example.com/index.php/blog/ - -

Loading multiple views

CodeIgniter will intelligently handle multiple calls to $this->load->view from within a controller. If more than one call happens they will be appended together. For example, you may wish to have a header view, a menu view, a content view, and a footer view. That might look something like this:

<?php - -class Page extends CI_Controller { - - function index() - { - $data['page_title'] = 'Your title'; - $this->load->view('header'); - $this->load->view('menu'); - $this->load->view('content', $data); - $this->load->view('footer'); - } - -} - ?>

In the example above, we are using "dynamically added data", which you will see below.

Storing Views within Sub-folders

Your view files can also be stored within sub-folders if you prefer that type of organization. When doing so you will need -to include the folder name loading the view. Example:

- -$this->load->view('folder_name/file_name'); - - -

Adding Dynamic Data to the View

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Data is passed from the controller to the view by way of an array or an object in the second -parameter of the view loading function. Here is an example using an array:

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$data = array(

-               'title' => 'My Title',

-               'heading' => 'My Heading',

-               'message' => 'My Message'

-          );

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-$this->load->view('blogview', $data);

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And here's an example using an object:

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$data = new Someclass();

-$this->load->view('blogview', $data);

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Note: If you use an object, the class variables will be turned into array elements.

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Let's try it with your controller file. Open it add this code:

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Now open your view file and change the text to variables that correspond to the array keys in your data:

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Then load the page at the URL you've been using and you should see the variables replaced.

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Creating Loops

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The data array you pass to your view files is not limited to simple variables. You can -pass multi dimensional arrays, which can be looped to generate multiple rows. For example, if you -pull data from your database it will typically be in the form of a multi-dimensional array.

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Here's a simple example. Add this to your controller:

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Now open your view file and create a loop:

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Note: You'll notice that in the example above we are using PHP's alternative syntax. If you -are not familiar with it you can read about it here.

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Returning views as data

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There is a third optional parameter lets you change the behavior of the function so that it returns data as a string -rather than sending it to your browser. This can be useful if you want to process the data in some way. If you -set the parameter to true (boolean) it will return data. The default behavior is false, which sends it -to your browser. Remember to assign it to a variable if you want the data returned:

- -$string = $this->load->view('myfile', '', true); - -

CodeIgniter User Guide Version 2.0.3

Views

Creating a View

Loading a View

Loading multiple views

Storing Views within Sub-folders

Adding Dynamic Data to the View

Creating Loops

Returning views as data