Views¶

Alternative Echos¶

Echo, or print a variable in your template:

<?php echo $variable; ?>

Using Short Tag support:

<?= $variable ?>

Alternative Control Structures¶

Control structures, like if, for, foreach, switch, and while can be written in a simplified format. Notice that there are no braces. Instead, the end brace for the foreach is replaced with endforeach. Each of the control structures listed above has a similar closing syntax: endif, endfor, endforeach, and endwhile. Also notice that instead of using a semicolon after each structure (except the last one), there is a colon.

The following is an example using foreach:

<ul>
<?php foreach ($todo as $item): ?>
  <li><?= $item ?></li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>

Another example, using if/elseif/else. Notice the colons:

<?php if ($username === 'sally'): ?>
   <h3>Hi Sally</h3>
<?php elseif ($username === 'joe'): ?>
   <h3>Hi Joe</h3>
<?php else: ?>
   <h3>Hi unknown user</h3>
<?php endif; ?>

If you’d prefer using a templating language like Twig, a subclass of View will bridge your templating language and CakePHP.

Template files are stored in src/Template/, in a folder named after the controller that uses the files, and named after the action it corresponds to. For example, the view file for the Products controller’s view() action, would normally be found in src/Template/Products/view.ctp.

The view layer in CakePHP can be made up of a number of different parts. Each part has different uses, and will be covered in this chapter:

• templates: Templates are the part of the page that is unique to the action being run. They form the meat of your application’s response.

• elements: small, reusable bits of view code. Elements are usually rendered inside views.

• layouts: template files that contain presentational code that wraps many interfaces in your application. Most views are rendered inside a layout.

• helpers: these classes encapsulate view logic that is needed in many places in the view layer. Among other things, helpers in CakePHP can help you build forms, build AJAX functionality, paginate model data, or serve RSS feeds.

• cells: these classes provide miniature controller-like features for creating self contained UI components. See the View Cells documentation for more information.

View Variables¶

Any variables you set in your controller with set() will be available in both the view and the layout your action renders. In addition, any set variables will also be available in any element. If you need to pass additional variables from the view to the layout you can either call set() in the view template, or use a Using View Blocks.

You should remember to always escape any user data before outputting it as CakePHP does not automatically escape output. You can escape user content with the h() function:

<?= h($user->bio); ?>

Setting View Variables¶

Cake\View\View::set(string $var, mixed $value)¶

Views have a set() method that is analogous to the set() found in Controller objects. Using set() from your view file will add the variables to the layout and elements that will be rendered later. See Setting View Variables for more information on using set().

In your view file you can do:

$this->set('activeMenuButton', 'posts');

Then, in your layout, the $activeMenuButton variable will be available and contain the value ‘posts’.

Extending Views¶

View extending allows you to wrap one view in another. Combining this with view blocks gives you a powerful way to keep your views DRY. For example, your application has a sidebar that needs to change depending on the specific view being rendered. By extending a common view file, you can avoid repeating the common markup for your sidebar, and only define the parts that change:

<!-- src/Template/Common/view.ctp -->
<h1><?= h($this->fetch('title')) ?></h1>
<?= $this->fetch('content') ?>

<div class="actions">
    <h3>Related actions</h3>
    <ul>
    <?= $this->fetch('sidebar') ?>
    </ul>
</div>

The above view file could be used as a parent view. It expects that the view extending it will define the sidebar and title blocks. The content block is a special block that CakePHP creates. It will contain all the uncaptured content from the extending view. Assuming our view file has a $post variable with the data about our post, the view could look like:

<!-- src/Template/Posts/view.ctp -->
<?php
$this->extend('/Common/view');

$this->assign('title', $post->title);

$this->start('sidebar');
?>
<li>
<?php
echo $this->Html->link('edit', [
    'action' => 'edit',
    $post->id
]);
?>
</li>
<?php $this->end(); ?>

// The remaining content will be available as the 'content' block
// In the parent view.
<?= h($post->body) ?>

The post view above shows how you can extend a view, and populate a set of blocks. Any content not already in a defined block will be captured and put into a special block named content. When a view contains a call to extend(), execution continues to the bottom of the current view file. Once it is complete, the extended view will be rendered. Calling extend() more than once in a view file will override the parent view that will be processed next:

$this->extend('/Common/view');
$this->extend('/Common/index');

The above will result in /Common/index.ctp being rendered as the parent view to the current view.

You can nest extended views as many times as necessary. Each view can extend another view if desired. Each parent view will get the previous view’s content as the content block.

You can get the list of all populated blocks using the blocks() method:

$list = $this->blocks();

Displaying Blocks¶

You can display blocks using the fetch() method. fetch() will output a block, returning ‘’ if a block does not exist:

<?= $this->fetch('sidebar') ?>

You can also use fetch to conditionally show content that should surround a block should it exist. This is helpful in layouts, or extended views where you want to conditionally show headings or other markup:

// In src/Template/Layout/default.ctp
<?php if ($this->fetch('menu')): ?>
<div class="menu">
    <h3>Menu options</h3>
    <?= $this->fetch('menu') ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>

You can also provide a default value for a block if it does not exist. This allows you to add placeholder content when a block does not exist. You can provide a default value using the second argument:

<div class="shopping-cart">
    <h3>Your Cart</h3>
    <?= $this->fetch('cart', 'Your cart is empty') ?>
</div>

Using Blocks for Script and CSS Files¶

The HtmlHelper ties into view blocks, and its script(), css(), and meta() methods each update a block with the same name when used with the block = true option:

<?php
// In your view file
$this->Html->script('carousel', ['block' => true]);
$this->Html->css('carousel', ['block' => true]);
?>

// In your layout file.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
    <head>
    <title><?= h($this->fetch('title')) ?></title>
    <?= $this->fetch('script') ?>
    <?= $this->fetch('css') ?>
    </head>
    // Rest of the layout follows

The Cake\View\Helper\HtmlHelper also allows you to control which block the scripts and CSS go to:

// In your view
$this->Html->script('carousel', ['block' => 'scriptBottom']);

// In your layout
<?= $this->fetch('scriptBottom') ?>

Using Layouts from Plugins¶

If you want to use a layout that exists in a plugin, you can use plugin syntax. For example, to use the contact layout from the Contacts plugin:

namespace App\Controller;

class UsersController extends AppController
{
    public function viewActive()
    {
        $this->viewBuilder()->setLayout('Contacts.contact');
        // or the following before 3.4
        $this->viewBuilder()->layout('Contacts.contact');
        // or the following before 3.1
        $this->layout = 'Contacts.contact';
    }
}

Passing Variables into an Element¶

You can pass data to an element through the element’s second argument:

echo $this->element('helpbox', [
    "helptext" => "Oh, this text is very helpful."
]);

Inside the element file, all the passed variables are available as members of the parameter array. In the above example, the src/Template/Element/helpbox.ctp file can use the $helptext variable:

// Inside src/Template/Element/helpbox.ctp
echo $helptext; // Outputs "Oh, this text is very helpful."

Keep in mind that in those view vars are merged with the view vars from the view itself. So all view vars set using Controller::set() in the controller and View::set() in the view itself are also available inside the element.

The View::element() method also supports options for the element. The options supported are ‘cache’ and ‘callbacks’. An example:

echo $this->element('helpbox', [
        "helptext" => "This is passed to the element as $helptext",
        "foobar" => "This is passed to the element as $foobar",
    ],
    [
        // uses the "long_view" cache configuration
        "cache" => "long_view",
        // set to true to have before/afterRender called for the element
        "callbacks" => true
    ]
);

Element caching is facilitated through the Cache class. You can configure elements to be stored in any Cache configuration you’ve set up. This gives you a great amount of flexibility to decide where and for how long elements are stored. To cache different versions of the same element in an application, provide a unique cache key value using the following format:

$this->element('helpbox', [], [
        "cache" => ['config' => 'short', 'key' => 'unique value']
    ]
);

If you need more logic in your element, such as dynamic data from a datasource, consider using a View Cell instead of an element. Find out more about View Cells.

Caching Elements¶

You can take advantage of CakePHP view caching if you supply a cache parameter. If set to true, it will cache the element in the ‘default’ Cache configuration. Otherwise, you can set which cache configuration should be used. See Caching for more information on configuring Cache. A simple example of caching an element would be:

echo $this->element('helpbox', [], ['cache' => true]);

If you render the same element more than once in a view and have caching enabled, be sure to set the ‘key’ parameter to a different name each time. This will prevent each successive call from overwriting the previous element() call’s cached result. For example:

echo $this->element(
    'helpbox',
    ['var' => $var],
    ['cache' => ['key' => 'first_use', 'config' => 'view_long']]
);

echo $this->element(
    'helpbox',
    ['var' => $differenVar],
    ['cache' => ['key' => 'second_use', 'config' => 'view_long']]
);

The above will ensure that both element results are cached separately. If you want all element caching to use the same cache configuration, you can avoid some repetition by setting View::$elementCache to the cache configuration you want to use. CakePHP will use this configuration when none is given.

Requesting Elements from a Plugin¶

If you are using a plugin and wish to use elements from within the plugin, just use the familiar plugin syntax. If the view is being rendered for a plugin controller/action, the plugin name will automatically be prefixed onto all elements used, unless another plugin name is present. If the element doesn’t exist in the plugin, it will look in the main APP folder:

echo $this->element('Contacts.helpbox');

If your view is a part of a plugin, you can omit the plugin name. For example, if you are in the ContactsController of the Contacts plugin, the following:

echo $this->element('helpbox');
// and
echo $this->element('Contacts.helpbox');

are equivalent and will result in the same element being rendered.

For elements inside subfolder of a plugin (e.g., plugins/Contacts/Template/Element/sidebar/helpbox.ctp), use the following:

echo $this->element('Contacts.sidebar/helpbox');

Routing prefix and Elements¶

If you have a Routing prefix configured, the Element path resolution can switch to a prefix location, as Layouts and action View do. Assuming you have a prefix “Admin” configured and you call:

echo $this->element('my_element');

The element first be looked for in src/Template/Admin/Element/. If such a file does not exist, it will be looked for in the default location.

Caching Sections of Your View¶

Cake\View\View::cache(callable $block, array $options = [])¶

Sometimes generating a section of your view output can be expensive because of rendered View Cells or expensive helper operations. To help make your application run faster CakePHP provides a way to cache view sections:

// Assuming some local variables
echo $this->cache(function () use ($user, $article) {
    echo $this->cell('UserProfile', [$user]);
    echo $this->cell('ArticleFull', [$article]);
}, ['key' => 'my_view_key']);

By default cached view content will go into the View::$elementCache cache config, but you can use the config option to change this.

Event List¶

• View.beforeRender

• View.beforeRenderFile

• View.afterRenderFile

• View.afterRender

• View.beforeLayout

• View.afterLayout

You can attach application event listeners to these events or use Helper Callbacks.