Tagcloud Helper
This is an intro on how to create well made tag clouds that are normalized based on relative scores. Feel free to use in your projects.
Helper Class:
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<?php
/*
* @author: Suhail Doshi
*/
class TagcloudHelper extends Helper {
/*
* @param array $dataSet Example: array('name' => 100, 'name2' => 200)
*
* returns associative array.
*/
public function formulateTagCloud($dataSet) {
asort($dataSet); // Sort array accordingly.
// Retrieve extreme score values for normalization
$minimumScore = intval(current($dataSet));
$maximumScore = intval(end($dataSet));
// Populate new data array, with score value and size.
foreach ($dataSet as $tagName => $score) {
$size = $this->getPercentSize($maximumScore, $minimumScore, $score);
$data[$tagName] = array('score'=>$score, 'size'=>$size);
}
return $data;
}
/*
* @param int $maxValue Maximum score value in array.
* @param int $minValue Minimum score value in array.
* @param int $currentValue Current score value for given item.
* @param int [$minSize] Minimum font-size.
* @param int [$maxSize] Maximum font-size.
*
* returns int percentage for current tag.
*/
private function getPercentSize($maximumScore, $minimumScore, $currentValue, $minSize = 90, $maxSize = 200) {
if ($minimumScore < 1) $minimumScore = 1;
$spread = $maximumScore - $minimumScore;
if ($spread == 0) $spread = 1;
// determine the font-size increment, this is the increase per tag quantity (times used)
$step = ($maxSize - $minSize) / $spread;
// Determine size based on current value and step-size.
$size = $minSize + (($currentValue - $minimumScore) * $step);
return $size;
}
/*
* @param array $tags An array of tags (takes an associative array)
*
* returns shuffled array of tags for randomness.
*/
public function shuffleTags ($tags) {
while (count($tags) > 0) {
$val = array_rand($tags);
$new_arr[$val] = $tags[$val];
unset($tags[$val]);
}
if (isset($new_arr))
return $new_arr;
}
?>
Some example usage:
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<?php
Formatting an array outputted by CakePHP:
// Format tags for tagcloud
foreach($tags as $tag)
$tags = array_merge($tags, array($tag['Tag']['name'] => $tag[0]['count']));
// array('tag_name_here' => 'score_value', 'Tagsclouds' => 34);
$this->set('tags', $tags);
In view:
$cloud = $tagcloud->formulateTagCloud($tags);
pr($cloud); // See what it looks like in an array.
// array('tag_name' => array('size'=>200, 'score'=>34)); <-- Format
// Note: 'size' is a percentage and should be used as font-size: 200%
?>
Comments
Question
1 variable tags
Comment
2 love it
Only problem i have is that css doesn't like -20% as value for very low scores.
Comment
3 Very Good
Controller Class:
<?phpforeach($tags as $tag){
/**
* $tag['Tag']['articlesCount'] says how many
* Articles are tagged with this Tag
**/
$foo = array_merge($foo, array($tag['Tag']['name'] => $tag['Tag']['articlesCount']));
}
?>
Thank you a lot