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HTML

The role of the HtmlHelper in CakePHP is to make HTML-related options easier, faster, and more resilient to change. Using this helper will enable your application to be more light on its feet, and more flexible on where it is placed in relation to the root of a domain.

Before we look at HtmlHelper’s methods, you’ll need to know about a few configuration and usage situations that will help you use this class. First in an effort to assuage those who dislike short tags (<?= ?>) or many echo() calls in their view code all methods of HtmlHelper are passed to the output() method. If you wish to enable automatic output of the generated helper HTML you can simply implement output() in your AppHelper.

function output($str) {
    echo $str;
}

Doing this will remove the need to add echo statements to your view code.

Many HtmlHelper methods also include a $htmlAttributes parameter, that allow you to tack on any extra attributes on your tags. Here are a few examples of how to use the $htmlAttributes parameter:

Desired attributes: <tag class="someClass" />
Array parameter: array('class'=>'someClass')

Desired attributes: <tag name="foo" value="bar" />
Array parameter:  array('name' => 'foo', 'value' => 'bar')

The HtmlHelper is available in all views by default. If you’re getting an error informing you that it isn’t there, it’s usually due to its name being missing from a manually configured $helpers controller variable.

Insérer des balises bien formatés

La tache la plus importante de l’assistant HTML est de créer des balises bien formatés. N’ayez pas peur de l’utiliser souvent - vous pouvez mettre en cache les Vues dans CakePHP pour économiser un peu de CPU lorsque les vues sont affichées. Cette section porte sur plusieurs des méthodes de l’assistant HTML et la façon de les utiliser.

charset

charset(string $charset=null)

Utilisé pour créer une balise META précisant le type d’encodage des caractères du document. Par défaut UTF-8.

<?php echo $this->Html->charset(); ?>

Va afficher:

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />

Ainsi que,

<?php echo $this->Html->charset('ISO-8859-1'); ?>

Va afficher:

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />

css

css(mixed $path, string $rel = null, array $options = array())

Crée un lien vers une feuille de style CSS. Si la clé “inline” est définie à false dans le paramètre $options, les balises seront ajoutées à la variable $scripts_for_layout que vous pouvez intégrer à l’intérieur de la balise head du document.

Cette méthode d’inclusion suppose que le fichier spécifié réside à l’intérieur du dossier /app/webroot/css …

<?php echo $this->Html->css('formulaires'); ?>

Affichera :

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/fr/css/formulaires.css" />

Le premier paramètre peut être un tableau pour inclure plusieurs fichiers.

<?php echo $this->Html->css(array('formulaires','tableaux','menu')); ?>

Affichera :

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/fr/css/formulaires.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/fr/css/tableaux.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/fr/css/menu.css" />

meta

meta(string $type, string $url = null, array $attributes = array())

This method is handy for linking to external resources like RSS/Atom feeds and favicons. Like css(), you can specify whether or not you’d like this tag to appear inline or in the head tag by setting the “inline” key in the $attributes parameter to false, ie - array('inline' => false).

If you set the « type » attribute using the $attributes parameter, CakePHP contains a few shortcuts:

type

translated value

html

text/html

rss

application/rss+xml

atom

application/atom+xml

icon

image/x-icon

 
  <?php echo $this->Html->meta(
    'favicon.ico',
    '/favicon.ico',
    array('type' => 'icon')
);?> //Output (line breaks added) </p>
<link
    href="http://example.com/favicon.ico"
    title="favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon"
    rel="alternate"
/>

<?php echo $this->Html->meta(
    'Comments',
    '/comments/index.rss',
    array('type' => 'rss'));
?>

//Output (line breaks added)
<link
    href="http://example.com/comments/index.rss"
    title="Comments"
    type="application/rss+xml"
    rel="alternate"
/>

This method can also be used to add the meta keywords and descriptions. Example:

<?php echo $this->Html->meta(
    'keywords',
    'enter any meta keyword here'
);?>
//Output <meta name="keywords" content="enter any meta keyword here"/>
//

<?php echo $this->Html->meta(
    'description',
    'enter any meta description here'
   );?>

//Output <meta name="description" content="enter any meta description here"/>

If you want to add a custom meta tag then the first parameter should be set to an array. To output a robots noindex tag use the following code:

echo $this->Html->meta(array('name' => 'robots', 'content' => 'noindex'));

docType

docType(string $type = 'xhtml-strict')

Retourne une balise doctype (X)HTML. Les doctypes fournis sont ceux du tableau suivant:

type

valeur traduite

html

text/html

html4-strict

HTML4 Strict

html4-trans

HTML4 Transitional

html4-frame

HTML4 Frameset

xhtml-strict

XHTML1 Strict

xhtml-trans

XHTML1 Transitional

xhtml-frame

XHTML1 Frameset

xhtml11

XHTML 1.1

 
<?php echo $html->docType(); ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

<?php echo $html->docType('html4-trans'); ?>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

style

style(array $data, boolean $oneline = true)

Construit des définitions de styles CSS, basées sur les clés et valeurs du tableau passé à la méthode. Particulièrement pratique si votre fichier CSS est dynamique.

<?php echo $this->Html->style(array(
    'background'     => '#633',
    'border-bottom' => '1px solid #000',
    'padding' => '10px'
)); ?>

Affichera :

background:#633;border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding:10px;

image

image(string $path, array $htmlAttributes = array())

Crée un tag d’image formaté. Le chemin fourni doit être relatif à /app/webroot/img/.

<?php echo $html->image('cake_logo.png', array('alt' => 'CakePHP'))?>

Cela affichera :

<img src="/img/cake_logo.png" alt="CakePHP" />

Pour créer une image avec un lien, spécifiez l’adresse en utilisant l’option url dans $htmlAttributes.

<?php echo $html->image("recettes/6.jpg", array(
    "alt" => "Brownies",
    'url' => array('controller' => 'recettes', 'action' => 'voir', 6)
)); ?>

Devrait afficher :

<a href="/fr/recettes/voir/6">
    <img src="/img/recettes/6.jpg" alt="Brownies" />
</a>

tag

tag(string $tag, string $text, array $htmlAttributes, boolean $escape = false)

Retourne le texte entouré du tag spécifié. Si aucun texte n’est spécifié, seul le <tag> ouvrant sera retourné.

<?php echo $html->tag('span', 'Bonjour le Monde.', array('class' => 'bienvenue'));?>

// Affichera
<span class="bienvenue">Bonjour le Monde.</span>

// Aucun texte spécifié
<?php echo $html->tag('span', null, array('class' => 'bienvenue'));?>

// Affichera
<span class="bienvenue">

div

div(string $class, string $text, array $options)

Used for creating div-wrapped sections of markup. The first parameter specifies a CSS class, and the second is used to supply the text to be wrapped by div tags. If the last parameter has been set to true, $text will be printed HTML-escaped.

<?php echo $this->Html->div('error', 'Please enter your credit card number.');?>

//Output
<div class="error">Please enter your credit card number.</div>

If $text is set to null, only an opening div tag is returned.

<?php echo $this->Html->div('', null, array('id' => 'register'));?>

//Output
<div id="register" class="register">

para

para(string $class, string $text, array $htmlAttributes, boolean $escape = false)

Returns a text wrapped in a CSS-classed <p> tag. If no text is supplied, only a starting <p> tag is returned.

<?php echo $this->Html->para(null, 'Hello World.');?>

//Output
<p>Hello World.</p>

script

script(mixed $url, mixed $options)

Creates link(s) to a javascript file. If key inline is set to false in $options, the link tags are added to the $scripts_for_layout variable which you can print inside the head tag of the document.

Include a script file into the page. $options['inline'] controls whether or not a script should be returned inline or added to $scripts_for_layout. $options['once'] controls, whether or not you want to include this script once per request or more than once.

You can also use $options to set additional properties to the generated script tag. If an array of script tags is used, the attributes will be applied to all of the generated script tags.

This method of javascript file inclusion assumes that the javascript file specified resides inside the /app/webroot/js directory.

<?php echo $this->Html->script('scripts'); ?>

Will output:

<script type="text/javascript" href="/fr/js/scripts.js"></script>

You can link to files with absolute paths as well to link files that are not in app/webroot/js

<?php echo $this->Html->script('/otherdir/script_file'); ?>

The first parameter can be an array to include multiple files.

<?php echo $this->Html->script(array('jquery','wysiwyg','scripts')); ?>

Will output:

<script type="text/javascript" href="/fr/js/jquery.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" href="/fr/js/wysiwyg.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" href="/fr/js/scripts.js"></script>

scriptBlock

scriptBlock($code, $options = array())

Generate a code block containing $code set $options['inline'] to false to have the script block appear in $scripts_for_layout. Also new is the ability to add attributes to script tags. $this->Html->scriptBlock('stuff', array('defer' => true)); will create a script tag with defer="defer" attribute.

scriptStart

scriptStart($options = array())

Begin a buffering code block. This code block will capture all output between scriptStart() and scriptEnd() and create an script tag. Options are the same as scriptBlock()

scriptEnd

scriptEnd()

End a buffering script block, returns the generated script element or null if the script block was opened with inline = false.

An example of using scriptStart() and scriptEnd() would be:

$this->Html->scriptStart(array('inline' => false));

echo $this->Js->alert('I am in the javascript');

$this->Html->scriptEnd();

tableHeaders

tableHeaders(array $names, array $trOptions = null, array $thOptions = null)

Crée une rangée de cellules d’en tête de tableau, à placer à l’intérieur des tags <table>.

<?php echo $html->tableHeaders(array('Date','Titre','Actif'));?> //Output
<tr><th>Date</th><th>Titre</th><th>Actif</th></tr>

<?php echo $html->tableHeaders(
    array('Date','Titre','Actif'),
    array('class' => 'status'),
    array('class' => 'product_table')
);?>

// Affichera
<tr class="status">
     <th class="product_table">Date</th>
     <th class="product_table">Titre</th>
     <th class="product_table">Actif</th>
</tr>

tableCells

tableCells(array $data, array $oddTrOptions = null, array $evenTrOptions = null, $useCount = false, $continueOddEven = true)

Creates table cells, in rows, assigning <tr> attributes differently for odd- and even-numbered rows. Wrap a single table cell within an array() for specific <td>-attributes.

<?php echo $this->Html->tableCells(array(
    array('Jul 7th, 2007', 'Best Brownies', 'Yes'),
    array('Jun 21st, 2007', 'Smart Cookies', 'Yes'),
    array('Aug 1st, 2006', 'Anti-Java Cake', 'No'),
));
?>

//Output
<tr><td>Jul 7th, 2007</td><td>Best Brownies</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr><td>Jun 21st, 2007</td><td>Smart Cookies</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr><td>Aug 1st, 2006</td><td>Anti-Java Cake</td><td>No</td></tr>

<?php echo $this->Html->tableCells(array(
    array('Jul 7th, 2007', array('Best Brownies', array('class'=>'highlight')) , 'Yes'),
    array('Jun 21st, 2007', 'Smart Cookies', 'Yes'),
    array('Aug 1st, 2006', 'Anti-Java Cake', array('No', array('id'=>'special'))),
));
?>

//Output
<tr><td>Jul 7th, 2007</td><td class="highlight">Best Brownies</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr><td>Jun 21st, 2007</td><td>Smart Cookies</td><td>Yes</td></tr>
<tr><td>Aug 1st, 2006</td><td>Anti-Java Cake</td><td id="special">No</td></tr>

<?php echo $this->Html->tableCells(
    array(
        array('Red', 'Apple'),
        array('Orange', 'Orange'),
        array('Yellow', 'Banana'),
    ),
    array('class' => 'darker')
);
?>

//Output
<tr class="darker"><td>Red</td><td>Apple</td></tr>
<tr><td>Orange</td><td>Orange</td></tr>
<tr class="darker"><td>Yellow</td><td>Banana</td></tr>

View more details about the tableCells function in the API

url

url(mixed $url = NULL, boolean $full = false)

Returns an URL pointing to a combination of controller and action. If $url is empty, it returns the REQUEST_URI, otherwise it generates the url for the controller and action combo. If full is true, the full base URL will be prepended to the result.

<?php echo $this->Html->url(array(
    "controller" => "posts",
    "action" => "view",
    "bar"));?>

// Output
/posts/view/bar

Here are a few more usage examples:

URL with named parameters

<?php echo $this->Html->url(array(
    "controller" => "posts",
    "action" => "view",
    "foo" => "bar"));
?>

// Output
/posts/view/foo:bar

URL with extension

<?php echo $this->Html->url(array(
    "controller" => "posts",
    "action" => "list",
    "ext" => "rss"));
?>

// Output
/posts/list.rss

URL (starting with “/”) with the full base URL prepended.

<?php echo $this->Html->url('/posts', true); ?>

//Output
http://somedomain.com/posts

URL with GET params and named anchor

<?php echo $this->Html->url(array(
    "controller" => "posts",
    "action" => "search",
    "?" => array("foo" => "bar"),
    "#" => "first"));
?>

//Output
/posts/search?foo=bar#first

For further information check Router::url in the API.

Changing the tags output by HtmlHelper

The built in tag sets for HtmlHelper are XHTML compliant, however if you need to generate HTML for HTML4 you will need to create and load a new tags config file containing the tags you’d like to use. To change the tags used create app/config/tags.php containing:

$tags = array(
    'metalink' => '<link href="%s"%s >',
    'input' => '<input name="%s" %s >',
    //...
);

You can then load this tag set by calling $this->Html->loadConfig('tags');

Creating breadcrumb trails with HtmlHelper

CakePHP has the built in ability to automatically create a breadcrumb trail in your app. To set this up, first add something similar to the following in your layout template.

echo $this->Html->getCrumbs(' > ','Home');

Now, in your view you’ll want to add the following to start the breadcrumb trails on each of the pages.

$this->Html->addCrumb('Users', '/users');
$this->Html->addCrumb('Add User', '/users/add');

This will add the output of « Home > Users > Add User » in your layout where getCrumbs was added.