Learning CodeIgniter - equivalent of PHP includes

Question

First time!

I'm learning Code Igniter, and as my first project I'm rewriting an existing site in CI.

On the existing site, all pages, dynamic or static, use a PHP include to load sidebar.php which is populated from the categories table in the database.

<div id="sidebar">
<?php

$result = mysql_query('SELECT category_id, name, url FROM categories ORDER BY category_id    ASC');

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
$name=$row['name'];
$url=$row['url'];

print "<p><a href=\"category/$url\">$name</a></p>";

}

?>

</div>

So now I've started in CI, I figured that the way to go was to make a sidebar model with the database call, a sidebar controller, a sidebar view, and then to load this view in the default page controller.

So, in /application/models I've got sidebar_model.php

<?php
class Sidebar_model extends CI_Model {

public function __construct()
{
    $this->load->database();
}

public function get_categories()
{
    $query = $this->db->get('categories');
    return $query->result();    
}

}

Then in applications/controllers there is sidebar.php

<?php
class Sidebar extends CI_Controller {

public function __construct()
{
    parent::__construct();

}

public function index()
{
    $this->load->model('sidebar_model');

    $data['result'] = $this->sidebar_model->get_categories();

    $this->load->view('templates/sidebar_view', $data);
}


}

And then in applications/views/templates there is sidebar_view.php

<div id="sidebar">
<?php foreach($result as $row): ?>

<p><?php echo $row['name'] ?></p>

<?php endforeach ?>
</div>

This is called from my main page controller -

<?php

class Pages extends CI_Controller {

public function view($page = 'home')
{

    if ( ! file_exists('application/views/pages/'.$page.'.php'))
    {
        // Whoops, we don't have a page for that!
        show_404();
    }


    $data['title'] = ucfirst($page); // Capitalize the first letter

    $this->load->view('templates/header', $data);
    $this->load->view('pages/'.$page, $data);
    $this->load->view('templates/sidebar_view', $data);
    $this->load->view('templates/footer', $data);

}
}

The trouble I'm having is that whilst the page controller is obviously loading the sidebar view (the box is showing with the correct CSS styling) it's throwing up PHP errors.

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Notice

Message: Undefined variable: result

Filename: templates/sidebar_view.php

Line Number: 2

Can anyone point me in the right direction here? Whilst just using a php include for the sidebar would be quick and easy, it doesn't seem like the MVC way of doing things.

Apologies for the lengthy post, and thanks in advance!

J.D. Pace · Answer 1 · 2013-04-16T19:57:34.490

0

Your $data array in the Pages controller needs to have a "results" entry. Values in the array passed to a view are converted to local variables for use in the view. You do it correctly in the Sidebar controller (which you don't really need).

edited Apr 16 '13 at 19:57

answered Apr 16 '13 at 19:43

J.D. Pace

586
1
3
17

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 16 '13 at 19:47

you are loading Pages controller and calling a view of Sidebar controller the variable $result gets data when Sidebar controller will load and you are loading Pages controller you have to load model of sidebar in pages controller like

class Pages extends CI_Controller {

public function view($page = 'home')
{
  $this->load->model('sidebar_model');
  $data['result'] = $this->sidebar_model->get_categories();
if ( ! file_exists('application/views/pages/'.$page.'.php'))
{
    // Whoops, we don't have a page for that!
    show_404();
}


$data['title'] = ucfirst($page); // Capitalize the first letter

$this->load->view('templates/header', $data);
$this->load->view('pages/'.$page, $data);
$this->load->view('templates/sidebar_view', $data);
$this->load->view('templates/footer', $data);

}
}

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 16 '13 at 19:51

if you need sidebar for your all pages you can do in a good way like this first you need to extend MY_Controller and then extend you all controllers with MY_Controller

MY_Controller put in application core directory

<? 
 MY_Controller extends CI_Controller{

   public $_sidebar = '';

   public function __construct() {
      parent::__construct();
      $this->_sidebar = $this->sidebar();
   }

   private function sidebar(){
       $this->load->model('sidebar_model');

      $data['result'] = $this->sidebar_model->get_categories();

      return $this->load->view('templates/sidebar_view', $data,TRUE);
    }    

 }

now your page Controller

<?php

class Pages extends MY_Controller {

   public function __construct() {
      parent::__construct();
   }

public function view($page = 'home')
{

    if ( ! file_exists('application/views/pages/'.$page.'.php'))
    {
        // Whoops, we don't have a page for that!
        show_404();
    }


    $data['title'] = ucfirst($page); // Capitalize the first letter
    $data['sidebar'] = $this->_sidebar;
    $this->load->view('templates/header', $data);
    $this->load->view('pages/'.$page, $data);
    $this->load->view('templates/footer', $data);

}
}

now you have sidebar as variable and it will be available to your controllers every time just define sidebar in you main template html any where you want

Learning CodeIgniter - equivalent of PHP includes

3 Answers3