PHP

JV’s Power Tips for PHP (1)

In this article Justin provides some tips for improving our PHP applications such as a very simple but effective template technique.

Author Info:

By: Justin Vincent

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January 29, 2003

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

JV’s Power Tips for PHP (1) - Accessing Other Variables from Within this Type of Template
(Page 5 of 7 )

Of course not all PHP variables come in the form of $basic_var. So how can we access more complex variables such as associative arrays, objects, cookies and variables submitted by forms within our templates? Here’s how:

Variables posted via a forms

Simply wrap the standard variable access syntax within {}’s like so:

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Simple Template</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    {$_POST[‘var_from_form’]}
  </body>
</html>

This works for associative arrays as well...actually this works anywhere in PHP. For example instead of this:

<?php

  $turkey_speach = “Hello “ . $_POST[‘turkey_name’] . ” how are you?”;
  echo $turkey_speach;

?>

You can do this and save yourself breaking the “’s:

<?php

  $turkey_speach = “Hello {$_POST[‘turkey_name’]} how are you?”;
  echo $turkey_speach;

?>

It also works here:

<?php

$turkey = array (“lover”=>”me”,”in_person” =>”dustin”);

print “Page by {$turkey[‘lover’]}<p>”;

print <<<END
  Hello {$turkey[‘in_person’]} how are you?<br>
  “OK?”
END;

?>

Object syntax works too:

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Simple Template</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    $object_name->var_name
  </body>
</html>

You can also use object syntax within PHP print statements (and while assigning variables). I prefer using objects to arrays for this type of thing and often create objects on the fly to use in templates and dynamic output. Here’s how:

<?php

// Create an object on the fly..
$output->{‘my_turkey’} = “Gobble”;
$output ->{‘my_dog’} = “Rex”;

$turkey_buffer = “Page by: $output->my_turkey:<p>”;

echo $turkey_buffer;

print <<<END
  Hello $output->my_dog how are you?<br>
  “OK?”
END;

?>

Next: Using Objects to Store Multiple Output Values >>