Breadcrumb Helper (Articles) | The Bakery, Everything CakePHP

Breadcrumb Helper

By Anoop M (toxic_brain)

If you are tired of setting up breadcrumbs for your screens, this helper is for you.

This line adds the current page to the breadcrumb list stored in session and returns the breadcrumb html.

View Template:




echo $crumb->getHtml('Postings') ;

second argument is used to instruct the helper to perform some pre-defined actions. Currently supported is 'reset'. It is used to clear the old stored list and start a new one. Normally, this option should be used when calling from the template to which the first link in the breadcrumb point to.

Download code




echo $crumb->getHtml('Postings', 'reset') ;

The third parameter is to handle browser's Back button clicks. For example, If we have a listing page 'Postings' which links to an Edit page and an Add page. Here, give the level something like 'Post'. So the Helper can identify the Add and Edit screens falls in the same level as Postings > Add and Postings > Edit. Otherwise it will build one as, Postings->Add->Edit if we clicked on the Edit link followed by "Back" button then the Add link.

Download code




echo $crumb->getHtml('Postings', null, 'Post' ) ;

If you are not sure what to use for the third parameter, use 'auto' and let the Breadcrumb helper to analyse it for you.

Download code




echo $crumb->getHtml('Postings', null, 'auto' ) ;

Create this file app/views/helpers/crumb.php:

Helper Class:

Download code


<?php 

class CrumbHelper extends Helper

{

var $link_class    = 'crumb_link'    ;    // css class for anchor tags.

var $span_class    = 'crumb_span'    ;    // css class for the span element .(last label).

var $separator    = ' > '            ;    // separator between links.

var $protocol    = 'http'            ;

var $helpers     = Array("Session");



function addThisPage($title = null, $what_to_do = null , $level = null )    // add the calling page

{

    define('THIS_URL' , $this->protocol.  '://' . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] .  $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) ;



    $controller       =    $this->params['controller']    ;

    $action            =    $this->params['action']        ;



    if (is_null($title)) {

        $title = Inflector::humanize($controller);

    }



    if ($what_to_do == 'reset' )    { // add this argument if it comes from menu.

        $this->Session->del('crumb_links') ;

        $this->Session->del('crumb_titles') ;

        $this->Session->del('crumb_levels') ;

    }

    if ( !isset($_SESSION['crumb_links'])) {

        $_SESSION['crumb_links'] = array() ;

        $_SESSION['crumb_titles'] = array() ;

        $_SESSION['crumb_levels'] = array() ;

    }

    $arr_links    = $this->Session->read('crumb_links')    ;

    $arr_titles    = $this->Session->read('crumb_titles');

    $arr_levels    = $this->Session->read('crumb_levels');



    if (is_null($level) AND $this->params['action'] != 'index' && $level != 'auto') {

        $level = $controller ;

    }

    if ( $level == 'unique'){

        $level = $controller . '_' . $action ;

    }



    // check that same level exists. if yes strip all after it.

    if ( is_array($arr_levels)) {

        $level_found_at    =    array_search($level, $arr_levels );

    }

    if (is_numeric($level_found_at)) {

        $arr_links    = $this->__stripAfter($arr_links    , $level_found_at  )        ;                // Delete items after current

        $arr_titles    = $this->__stripAfter($arr_titles    , $level_found_at  )        ;                // Delete items after current

        $arr_levels    = $this->__stripAfter($arr_levels    , $level_found_at  )        ;                // Delete items after current

        // reindex

        unset($arr_links[$level_found_at] )    ;

        unset($arr_titles[$level_found_at] );

        unset($arr_levels[$level_found_at] );

        $arr_links    = array_values( $arr_links )     ;

        $arr_titles    = array_values( $arr_titles )     ;

        $arr_levels    = array_values( $arr_levels )     ;

    }

    // check last item is current page. if not, add, else do nothing.

    if ( is_array($arr_titles)) {

        $found_at    =    array_search($title, $arr_titles);

    }

    if ( is_numeric($found_at)) {    //            ;    // already in the link, don't add

        $arr_links    = $this->__stripAfter($arr_links    , $found_at  )    ;                // Delete items after current

        $arr_titles    = $this->__stripAfter($arr_titles    , $found_at  )    ;                // Delete items after current

        $arr_links[count($arr_links) - 1]    =     THIS_URL            ;

    } else { // not in list, add

        $arr_links[]    =     THIS_URL;

        $arr_titles[]    =    $title    ;

        $arr_levels[]    =    $level    ;

    }



    //write back to session

    $_SESSION['crumb_links'] = $arr_links ;

    $_SESSION['crumb_titles'] = $arr_titles ;

    $_SESSION['crumb_levels'] = $arr_levels ;



}



/**

 * Add called page to the Bredcrumb session array and returns the new breadcrumb string.

 * @param string $title        : Title for the href tag.

 * @param string $action     : predefined actions, now supports 'reset'.

 * @param string $level        : Page level. Calling controller name by default.

 */

function getHtml($title = null, $what_to_do=null, $level = null)

{

    $this->addThisPage($title, $what_to_do, $level)    ;



    $arr_links    = $this->Session->read('crumb_links') ;

    $arr_titles    = $this->Session->read('crumb_titles') ;

    $last_index    = count($arr_titles) - 1        ;

    $string        = '' ;

    for ($i = 0  ; $i <= $last_index  ; $i++) {

        $title    =    $arr_titles[$i]    ;

        $link    =    $arr_links[$i]    ;

        if ($i < $last_index) { // no need to build link for last item

            $link = sprintf('<a href="%s" class="%s">%s</a> %s ', $link, $this->link_class, $title, $this->separator)        ;

        } else {

            $link = sprintf("<span class='%s'>%s</span>", $this->span_class, $title )                    ;     //last text, ie current page without link

        }

        $string    .=  $link                            ;

    }

    return $string;

}





 function __stripAfter($arr, $after)

{

    $count = count($arr)    ;

    for ($i = $after + 1 ; $i < $count ; $i++ ) {

        unset($arr[$i])    ;

    }

    return $arr ;

}

}

?>

Sample Code

app/contollers/wizards_controller.php

Controller Class:

Download code


<?php 

class WizardsController extends AppController {



    var $helpers = array('Html', 'Crumb');

    var $uses     = array() ;



    public function index(){

    }

    public function one(){

    }

    public function two(){

    }

    public function three(){

    }

}?>

app/views/wizards/index.ctp( or .thtml if you have old version of
cake)

View Template:

Download code




<?

echo $crumb->getHtml('Home Page', 'reset' ) ;

echo '<br /><br />' ;

echo $html->link('One', 'one') ;

?>

app/views/wizards/one.ctp

View Template:

Download code




<?

echo $crumb->getHtml('First Page', null, 'auto' ) ;

echo '<br /><br />' ;

echo $html->link('Two', 'two') ;

?>

app/views/wizards/two.ctp

View Template:

Download code




<?

echo $crumb->getHtml('Second Page' , null, 'auto') ;

echo '<br /><br />' ;

echo $html->link('Three', 'three') ;

?>

app/views/wizards/three.ctp

View Template:

Download code




<?

echo $crumb->getHtml('Third Page' , null, 'auto') ;

?>

Comments

CakePHP Team Comments Author Comments

Comment

1 comments

hello guys, this is my first submission to the Bakery. I would like to know your valuable comments. :)

Comment

2 example

How about a working example with a sample page?

Thanks!

Comment

3 Working example

Working sample pages has been added. Thanks jigga smoka.

Comment

4 How to get this work

How can i add Links there? I dont understand this System, sorry

Can anyone explain me more in detail? Iam very new at Cake

Question

5 Regarding Breadcrumb Use

Hi
Can please explain it step by step how to use.
its very urgent.

Thanks
Binay

Comment

6 steps

the steps are simple.
1. Download crumb.php and copy to ur helpre folder(probably app/views/helpers/).
2. Add var $helpers = array(...,...,'Html', 'Crumb'); to the controllers of views which u are planning to show breadcrumbs. or even app_controller itself.
3. Out the line echo $crumb->getHtml('My Page') ; in ur views.
4. Thats it!.

u can PM me on anoopchat@yahoo.com if u still have questions.

Bug

7 Code doesnt work

Code shown abowe doesn't work.
You use $action variable in addThisPage() mothod in two separate context.

One is coltroller action, other action passed in as a parameter ('reset' for exmple). To fix this, make the following changes.

Replace line:




function addThisPage($title = null, $action = null , $level = null ) {

with:




function addThisPage($title = null, $act = null , $level = null ) {

and replace line:




if ($action == 'reset' )    {

with line:




if ($act == 'reset' )    {

Comment

8 Very helpful, thank you

This is a great helper, thanks.

A little more explanation of what is happening in the third parameter would be helpful - I don't understand exactly when it is to my benefit to put in a string versus leaving it as auto - though I was able to get it to work correctly with a minimum of trial and error around that third parameter.

All in all really useful. thanks.

Comment

9 Great Helper: A Few Questions

Could this helper be made to work with multiple subdomains? At present, the plugin immediately purges the list if you go from example.com to subd.example.com. Also, it would be nice to be able to add a page to the list without displaying it. I'm thinking in particular for home pages, which you'd want your audience to be able to navigate back to, but which you wouldn't want displaying "home."

Thanks!

Comment

10 solution for subdomain problem

Could this helper be made to work with multiple subdomains? At present, the plugin immediately purges the list if you go from example.com to subd.example.com.

add line in the helper file.




<?php 

ini_set('session.cookie_domain',substr($_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'],strpos($_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'],"."),100));



class CrumbHelper extends Helper

{

var $link_class    = 'crumb_link'    ;    // css class for anchor tags.

var $span_class    = 'crumb_span'    ;    // css class for the span 

.....

.....

I couldn't able to setup sub domain in my desktop, so not able to test the new code, let me know if this code doenst make what is suppose to.

The Bakery Everything CakePHP