[php] Header and footer in CodeIgniter

I really don't enjoy writing in every controller:

    $this->load->view('templates/header');
    $this->load->view('body');
    $this->load->view('templates/footer');

Is it possible to do, that header and footer would be included automatically and if we need to change it, we could also do that? How do you deal with that? Or it's not a problem in your opinion? Thanks.

This question is related to php codeigniter

The answer is


Yes.

Create a file called template.php in your views folder.

The contents of template.php:

$this->load->view('templates/header');
$this->load->view($v);
$this->load->view('templates/footer');

Then from your controller you can do something like:

$d['v'] = 'body';
$this->load->view('template', $d);

This is actually a very simplistic version of how I personally load all of my views. If you take this idea to the extreme, you can make some interesting modular layouts:

Consider if you create a view called init.php that contains the single line:

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

Now create the view html.php with contents:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
    <? $this->load->view('head'); ?>
    <? $this->load->view('body'); ?>
</html>

Now create a view head.php with contents:

<head>
<title><?= $title;?></title>
<base href="<?= site_url();?>">
<link rel="shortcut icon" href='favicon.ico'>
<script type='text/javascript'>//Put global scripts here...</script>
<!-- ETC ETC... DO A BUNCH OF OTHER <HEAD> STUFF... -->
</head>

And a body.php view with contents:

<body>
    <div id="mainWrap">
        <? $this->load->view('header'); ?>
        <? //FINALLY LOAD THE VIEW!!! ?>
        <? $this->load->view($v); ?>
        <? $this->load->view('footer'); ?>
    </div>
</body>

And create header.php and footer.php views as appropriate.

Now when you call the init from the controller all the heavy lifting is done and your views will be wrapped inside <html> and <body> tags, your headers and footers will be loaded in.

$d['v'] = 'fooview'
$this->load->view('init', $d);

CodeIgniter-Assets is easy to configure repository to have custom header and footer with CodeIgniter I hope this will solve your problem.


A simple rewrite of @Landons MY_Loader, to include multiple files for the body, e.i. page unique sidebars...

<?php

class MY_Loader extends CI_Loader {
    public function template($template_name, $vars = array(), $return = FALSE)
    {
        $content  = $this->view('frontend/templates/header', $vars, $return);

        if(is_array($template_name)) { //return all values in contents

            foreach($template_name as $file_to_load) { 
                  $content .= $this->view('frontend/'.$file_to_load, $vars, $return);
            }
        }
        else {             
            $content .= $this->view('frontend/'.$template_name, $vars, $return);
        }

        $content .= $this->view('frontend/templates/footer', $vars, $return);

        if ($return)
        {
            return $content;
        }
    }
}

This works both ways...

Including one file to template:

$data['moo'] = 'my data'];
$this->load->template('home', $data);

Include multiple files to template:

$data['catalog'] = 'catalog load 1';
$data['sidebar'] = 'sidebar load 2';           
$load = array('catalog/catalog', 'catalog/sidebar');        
$this->load->template($load, $data);

Try following

Folder structure

-application
 --controller
   ---dashboards.php
 --views
   ---layouts
      ----application.php
   ---dashboards
      ----index.php

Controller

class Dashboards extends CI_Controller
{

   public function __construct()
   {
     parent::__construct();
     $data                = array();
     $data['js']          = 'dashboards.js'
     $data['css']         = 'dashbaord.css'
   }

   public function index()
   { 
     $data                = array();
     $data['yield']       = 'dashboards/index';

     $this->load->view('layouts/application', $data);
   }
}

View

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
   <head>
      <meta charset="UTF-8" />
      <title>Some Title</title>
      <link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php echo base_url(); ?>assets/css/app.css" />
      <link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php echo base_url(); ?>assets/css/<?php echo $css; ?>" />
   </head>
   <body>
     <header></header>
     <section id="container" role="main">
     <?php $this->load->view($yield); ?>
     </section>
     <footer></footer>
     <script src="<php echo base_url(); ?>assets/js/app.js"></script>
     <script src="<php echo base_url(); ?>assets/js/<?php echo $js; ?>"></script>
  </body>
</html>

When you need to load different js, css or whatever in the header or footer use the __construct function to $this->load->vars

Kind of a rails like approach here


Using This Helper For Dynamic Template Loading

//  get  Template 
    function get_template($template_name, $vars = array(), $return = FALSE) {
        $CI = & get_instance();

        $content = "";
        $last = $CI - > uri - > total_segments();

        if ($CI - > uri - > segment($last) != 'tab') {
            $content = $CI - > load - > view('Header', $vars, $return);
            $content. = $CI - > load - > view('Sidebar', $vars, $return);
        }

        $content. = $CI - > load - > view($template_name, $vars, $return);

        if ($CI - > uri - > segment($last) != 'tab') {
            $content. = $CI - > load - > view('Footer', $vars, $return);
        }

        if ($return) {
            return $content;
        }
    }

I tried almost all the answers proposed on this page and many other stuff. The best option I finally keeped on all my websites is the following architecture:

A single view

I display only one view in the browser. Here is my main view (/views/page.php):

<?php defined('BASEPATH') OR exit('No direct script access allowed'); ?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <?= $header ?? '' ?>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div style="width:1200px">
                <?= $content ?? '' ?>
        </div> 
    </body>
</html>

Controllers deal with multiple views

Of course, I had several views but they are concatenated to build the $header and the $content variables. Here is my controller:

$data['header'] = $this->load->view('templates/google-analytics', '', TRUE)
                 .$this->load->view('templates/javascript', '', TRUE)
                 .$this->load->view('templates/css', '', TRUE);


$data['content'] = $this->load->view('templates/navbar', '', TRUE)
                  .$this->load->view('templates/alert', $myData, TRUE)
                  .$this->load->view('home/index', $myData, TRUE)
                  .$this->load->view('home/footer', '', TRUE)
                  .$this->load->view('templates/modal-login', '', TRUE);

$this->load->view('templates/page', $data);
  • Look how beautiful and clear is the source code.
  • You no longer have HTML markup opened in one view and closed in another.
  • Each view is now dedicated to one and only one stuff.
  • Look how views are concatenated: method chaining pattern, or should we say: concatanated chaining pattern!
  • You can add optional parts (for example a third $javascript variable at the end of the body)
  • I frequently extend CI_Controller to overload $this->load->view with extra parameters dedicated to my application to keep my controllers clean.
  • If you are always loading the same views on several pages (this is finally the answer to the question), two options depending on your needs:
    • load views in views
    • extend CI_Controller or CI_Loader

I'm so proud of this architecture...


Here is how I handle mine. I create a file called template.php in my views folder. This file contains all of my my main site layout. Then from this template file I call my additional views. Here is an example:

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset=utf-8">
  <title><?php echo $title; ?></title>
    <link href="<?php echo base_url() ;?>assets/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
    <link href="<?php echo base_url() ;?>assets/css/main.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<noscript>
Javascript is not enabled! Please turn on Javascript to use this site.
</noscript>

<script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
base_url = '<?php echo base_url();?>';
//]]>
</script>

</head>
<body>

<div id="wrapper">
    <div id="container">
        <div id="top">
            <?php $this->load->view('top');?>
        </div>

        <div id="main">
            <?php $this->load->view($main);?>
        </div>

        <div id="footer"> 
            <?php $this->load->view('bottom');?>
        </div>
    </div><!-- end container -->
</div><!-- end wrapper -->

<script type="text/javascript" src="<?php echo base_url();?>assets/js/jquery-1.8.2.min.js" ></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="<?php echo base_url();?>assets/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>

</body>
</html>

From my controller, I will pass the name of the view to $data['main']. So I will do something like this then:

class Main extends CI_Controller {

    public function index()
    {
        $data['main'] = 'main_view';
          $data['title'] = 'Site Title';
          $this->load->vars($data);
          $this->load->view('template', $data);
    }
}

I had this problem where I want a controller to end with a message such as 'Thanks for that form' and generic 'not found etc'. I do this under views->message->message_v.php

<?php
    $title = "Message";
    $this->load->view('templates/message_header', array("title" => $title));
?>
<h1>Message</h1>
<?php echo $msg_text; ?>
<h2>Thanks</h2>
<?php $this->load->view('templates/message_footer'); ?>

which allows me to change message rendering site wide in that single file for any thing that calls

$this->load->view("message/message_v", $data);

Redefine the CI_Loader::view function by adding a file named as 'MY_Loader.php' in your application/core folder and adding the following content

/**
* /application/core/MY_Loader.php
*/

class MY_Loader extends CI_Loader 
{  
        public function view($view, $vars = array(), $return = FALSE, $include_template=TRUE)
        {
            $header='';
            $footer='';

            if($include_template)
            {
                    $header=parent::view('templates/header',$vars,$return);
            }

            $content=parent::view($view, $vars,$return);

            if($include_template)
            {
                    $footer=parent::view('templates/footer',$vars,$return);
            }

            if($return)
                    return "$header$content$footer";

            return $this;
        }
}

Or more complex, but makes life easy is to use more constants in boot. So subclasses can be defined freely, and a single method to show view. Also selected constants can be passed to javascript in the header.

<?php
/*
 * extends codeigniter main controller
 */

class CH_Controller extends CI_Controller {

    protected $viewdata;

public function __construct() {
    parent::__construct();
            //hard code / override and transfer only required constants (for security) server constants
            //such as domain name to client - this is for code porting and no passwords or database details
            //should be used - ajax is for this

    $this->viewdata = array(
                "constants_js" => array(
                    "TOP_DOMAIN"=>TOP_DOMAIN,
                    "C_UROOT" => C_UROOT,
                    "UROOT" => UROOT,
                    "DOMAIN"=> DOMAIN
                )
            );

}

public function show($viewloc) {
            $this->load->view('templates/header', $this->viewdata);
    $this->load->view($viewloc, $this->viewdata);
    $this->load->view('templates/footer', $this->viewdata);
}

//loads custom class objects if not already loaded
public function loadplugin($newclass) {
    if (!class_exists("PL_" . $newclass)) {
        require(CI_PLUGIN . "PL_" . $newclass . ".php");
    }
}

then simply:

$this->show("<path>/views/viewname/whatever_V.php");

will load header, view and footer.


This question has been answered properly, but I would like to add my approach, it's not that different than what the others have mentioned.

I use different layouts pages to call different headers/footers, some call this layout, some call it template etc.

  1. Edit core/Loader.php and add your own function to load your layout, I called the function e.g.layout.

  2. Create your own template page and make it call header/footer for you, I called it default.php and put in a new directory e.g. view/layout/default.php

  3. Call your own view page from your controller as you would normally. But instead of calling $this-load->view use $this->load->layout, layout function will call the default.php and default.php will call your header and footer.

1) In core/Loader.php under view() function I duplicated it and added mine

   public function layout($view, $vars = array(), $return = FALSE)
   {
       $vars["display_page"] = $view;//will be called from the layout page
       $layout               = isset($vars["layout"]) ? $vars["layout"] : "default";
       return $this->_ci_load(array('_ci_view' => "layouts/$layout", '_ci_vars' =>  $this->_ci_object_to_array($vars), '_ci_return' => $return));
   }

2) Create layout folder and put default.php in it in view/layout/default.php

   $this->load->view('parts/header');//or wherever your header is
   $this->load->view($display_page);
   $this->load->view('parts/footer');or wherever your footer is

3) From your controller, call your layout

 $this->load->layout('projects');// will use 'view/layout/default.php' layout which in return will call header and footer as well. 

To use another layout, include the new layout name in your $data array

 $data["layout"] = "full_width";
 $this->load->layout('projects', $data);// will use full_width.php layout

and of course you must have your new layout in the layout directory as in:

view/layout/full_width.php 

You can use your config.php file, and also use the power of helpers in CodeIgniter.

$config['header_css'] = array('style.css','prettyPhoto.css','nivo-slider.css');
$config['header_js']  = array('core.js','core.js',
                              'jquery-1.4.1.min.js',
                              'jquery-slidedeck.pack.lite.js',
                              'jquery-prettyPhoto.js',
                              'jquery.nivo.slider.js');

Source: https://jamshidhashimi.com/dynamically-add-javascript-and-css-files-in-codeigniter-header-page/


i had reached for this and i hope to help all create my_controller in application/core then put this code in it with change as your file's name

    <?php
defined('BASEPATH') OR exit('No direct script access allowed');
// this is page helper to load pages daunamically
class MY_Controller extends CI_Controller {

 function loadPage($user,$data,$page='home'){

  switch($user){

   case 'user':
   $this->load->view('Temp/head',$data);
   $this->load->view('Temp/us_sidebar',$data);
   $this->load->view('Users/'.$page,$data);
   $this->load->view('Temp/footer',$data);
   break;

   case 'admin':
   $this->load->view('Temp/head',$data);
   $this->load->view('Temp/ad_sidebar',$data);
   $this->load->view('Admin/'.$page,$data);
   $this->load->view('Temp/footer',$data);
   break;

   case 'visitor';
    $this->load->view('Temp/head',$data);
   $this->load->view($page);
   $this->load->view('Temp/footer',$data);
   break;

   default:
   echo 'wrong argument';
   die();
       }//end switch

   }//end function loadPage
}

in your controller use this

class yourControllerName extends MY_Controller

note : about name of controller prefix you have to be sure about your prefix on config.php file i hope that give help to any one