Element Helper
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I needed a simple, yet flexible way for backend users to add certain pre-defined HTML
elements like Youtube videos to posts. I came up with this little
helper that replaces bbcode-like element tags with the contents of an element.
elements like Youtube videos to posts. I came up with this little
helper that replaces bbcode-like element tags with the contents of an element.
What it does
It replaces tags in the form of [element:element_name] with the content
of the respective element. It also allows to pass parameters to the
element:
[element:element_name var1="var1 will be passed to the element."]
An example for the shorthand notation:
[e:youtube id=ARjzIyWvhn4]
Requirements
- Place the helper found below in your /app/views/helpers folder
- Create a folder "templates" in /app/views/elements
- Place elements that will be used in tags in the new folder
How to use it
- Include the element helper in your controller
- Pass the string to be formatted to $element->format()
Examples
Testing the helper in one line:
View Template:
<?php echo $element->format("A youtube video: [element:youtube id=ARjzIyWvhn4] ") ?>
Example for a youtube video element:
View Template:
<div class="youtube_video">
<object width="425" height="344">
<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/<?php echo $id ?>&hl=en&fs=1"></param>
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param>
<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/<?php echo $id ?>&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed>
</object>
</div>
The Helper
Save as element.php in your helpers folder
Helper Class:
<?php
/**
* Element Helper
* Helps formatting strings with custom markup
*
* @author Stefan Zollinger
* @license MIT
* @version 1.0
*/
class ElementHelper extends Helper {
/**
* The base directory containing your elements.
* Set to '' to include all elements in your views/elements folder
*/
var $baseDir = 'templates';
/**
* Applies all the formatting defined in this helper
* to $str
* (Currently only $this->getElements() )
*
* @return $str Formatted string
* @param string $str
*/
function format($str) {
$str =& $this->getElements($str);
return $str;
}
/**
*
* Replaces [element:element_name] tags in a string with
* output from cakephp elements
* Options can be defined as follows:
* [element:element_name id=123 otherVar=var1 nextvar="also with quotes"]
* [e:element_name]
*
* @return formatted string
* @param $str string
*/
function getElements(&$str){
$View =& ClassRegistry::getObject('view');
preg_match_all('/\[(element|e):([A-Za-z0-9_\-]*)(.*?)\]/i', $str, $tagMatches);
for($i=0; $i < count($tagMatches[1]); $i++){
$regex = '/(\S+)=[\'"]?((?:.(?![\'"]?\s+(?:\S+)=|[>\'"]))+.)[\'"]?/i';
preg_match_all($regex, $tagMatches[3][$i], $attributes);
$element = $tagMatches[2][$i];
$options = array();
for($j=0; $j < count($attributes[0]); $j++){
$options[$attributes[1][$j]] = $attributes[2][$j];
}
$str = str_replace($tagMatches[0][$i], $View->element($this->baseDir.DS.$element,$options), $str);
}
return $str;
}
}
?>
"Undefined variable: variablename"
---
Quick fix, change second regular expression to:
/(\S+)=[\'"]?((?:.(?![\'"]?\s+(?:\S+)=|[>\'"]))*.)[\'"]?/i
This will make the single char variables work, thanks goes to Teefee.
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